2011 in Review
The NAS Australia team would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you, our customer, for your continued support. We wish you and your family a safe and joyous Christmas and we look forward to serving you again in 2012.
As I sat down to write the 2011 review I was astounded at how quickly the year had passed and felt somewhat humbled by the many challenges we faced along the way.As a proud Queensland based business operating out of the Brisbane riverside suburb of Newstead and Cairns, Mother Nature threw a few challenges at us this year. Our Brisbane operations were halted suddenly on Tuesday the 11th of January when we commenced clearing our offices and warehouse in preparation for the impending flood. Thankfully our building was spared and we reopened on Monday the 17th of January. Luckily for our entire team that resides across the length and breadth of Brisbane, all of our properties escaped unscathed.
Cyclone Yasi forced the Cairns branch to close on Wednesday the 2nd of February. The severe cyclone passed to the south of Cairns but damaged enough infrastructure to close the Cairns branch till Monday the 7th of February. Thankfully, our Cairns team members and their residences escaped unscathed.
Whilst our Cairns and Brisbane staff were very lucky to escape these major natural disasters, many of our customers were not so fortunate. I would like to take this opportunity to re-convey my sympathy to those who lost possessions and property during the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi. I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly recognise the herculean efforts of the NAS team to get our businesses back up and running with haste once the immediate threats had passed.
The challenges faced throughout 2011 were not all natural. The unstable economic climate encountered since late 2009 continued, and some may say, gathered pace ensuring a year of negative consumer sentiment. Due to the nature of our collective businesses, NAS customers are very reliant on the building and consumer electronics industries to generate revenue. Both industries are struggling and consumer confidence remains low. Whilst I support the RBA’s recent decisions to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points on Melbourne Cup Day and on the 6th of December, in isolation, the likely effect on the property market, the consumer electronics industry and on consumer confidence in general may be negligible. Domestic and global conditions have shifted. Our local economy continues to be two-paced. Our avenues to trade have become concentrated in what we export and where we export to. The European crisis remains unsolved. We will continue to be challenged in 2012.
On the bright side though, our industry is approaching the analogue switchover at an ever increasing pace. The switchover and restack projects will present us with business opportunities that will last for a few years to come.
In 2011 NAS yet again substantially increased and diversified our product range. I am sure you would agree that NAS now has a range that is unrivalled by our major competitors. The leading brands and products have been added to our stable include the award winning Humax Dual Tuner PVR, Xantec IR distribution equipment, Belkin power filtration products, Novonde HDMI HD encoder, GSS commercial VAST solution, Sefram 7806, 7808 and 7846 field strength meters, Sefram calibration services, Pro 2 specialist AV equipment, NextWave single tuner PVR, SignalMAX HD satellite receiver, Resi-linx digital modulators, Snap AV (Binary) HDMI matrix switch, Meliconi ‘Stile’ brackets, Locktek brackets, Kordz HDBaseT solution, Kordz EVS Redmere range of active long length HDMI cables and TangoTec Ethernet over legacy cable solutions.
Whilst we lost Mitchell Figg from our team this year we welcomed three new NAS team members. Keith Griffin and Matthew Thomson joined in February are very welcome additions to our Brisbane warehouse team. Long time NAS customer Craig Sinclair joined our sales team in July as our SEQ trade sales rep. Craig brings with him a great deal of custom installation experience and a customer-centric attitude. Welcome aboard Keith, Matthew and Craig.
In 2011 we again took the opportunity to give back to some worthy charities through company donations and staff led fundraising. We proudly supported the Mudjimba Island Charity Swim, the Aunties and Uncles Charity and the Cancer Council’s annual signature fund-raising event ‘Daffodil Day’. Giving back is an important component of our desire to operate our business in a sustainable and responsible manner.
Once again, thank you for your support in 2011. The NAS team look forward to serving you again in 2012; a year in which we will celebrate our 30th year in business. In the mean time, if there is anything I can do to assist you; please do not hesitate to contact me.
John Kimbell
General Manager