Tele Atlas continues to produce red ink, but the digital mapping provider offset that with news that it has been selected by Garmin to provide mapping data for its PNDs (portable navigation devices).
Financial terms of the contract win were not disclosed, but Tele Atlas will initially provide the digital maps for the Garmin GVN 52 in Malaysia and Singapore, with further opportunities expected in other emerging markets.
The GVN 52 is a black-box GPS navigation system that features Garmin’s GPS hardware and user interface. It integrates with mobile audio/video entertainment systems, and allows users to plot routes to a specific address or point of interest (typically a restaurant, hotel, shop, petrol station, or bank). It provides turn-by-turn directions.
With this agreement, seven of the eight top portable navigation companies worldwide now trust Tele Atlas for rich, fresh and accurate map data, said president and COO George Fink.
Tele Atlas provides digital maps and location-based content to PND players such as TomTom, Mio, Navman and ViaMichelin. TomTom remains Tele Atlas’s largest customer, accounting for 30% of revenue in the first quarter.
Both companies recently executed an amended agreement for the supply of map products to TomTom’s PND portfolio.
TomTom recently decided to opt for a dual supply of maps, said a Tele Atlas spokesman, but we now see them coming back to Tele Atlas.
We have always been the main supplier of digital maps to TomTom, and we definitely have more points of interest on our maps than that of Navteq, (Tele Atlas’s rival).
Last year Tele Atlas signed new agreements with Nokia Corp to supply maps for its popular Nokia N95 handset, and with Research in Motion for the BlackBerry Pearl. The company also signed a contract with HP in the PDA/personal navigation segment.
Meanwhile, the ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands-based company also revealed a first quarter net loss of 8.4m euros ($11.4m), down 22% from a net loss of 11m euros ($14.9m) a year earlier. Sales meanwhile rose 13% to 64m euros ($87m) from 56.5m euros ($76.7m) in the year-ago quarter.
In comparison, US-based Navteq earlier in the week posted a first quarter profit up 93% at $30.2m, while sales rose 31% to $160m.
Sector wise, Tele Atlas saw a 56% rise in revenues from personal navigation to 32.2m euros ($43.6m) during the first three months of 2005, reflecting the strong demand from that market. Revenues from automotive navigation fell 8% to 11.5m euros ($15.6m), while sales from enterprise and government (business-to-business) decreased 14% to 13.3m euros ($18m). Sales from data products navigation decreased 26% to 4.3m euros ($5.8m).
Shares in the company fell 6.26% to 15.28 euros ($20.73) on the Amsterdam stock exchange.
