Runco Enjoys Two Record-Breaking Quarters

A few dozen Runco dealers, reps, staffers, reporters and special guests are tanner and plumper after returning from the annual Runco Getaway held in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, last week.

They are, perhaps, a little wiser as well.

There were several hours of presentations, demos and formal discussions during the event, as well as some productive networking poolside and at the numerous all-you-can-indulge bars and restaurants (honest, boss).

Here are a few tidbits I picked up during the Getaway.

Runco Thriving on the High End

Runco chief Sam Runco boasted that the company had its best-ever quarter Q4 2006. And then broke that record the first quarter of 2007.

What gives? Sam says the "higher-end products are at an all-time high."

In particular, dealers are taking advantage of Runco's ultra-widescreen CineWide projectors, which stretch the old 16:9 format to the "real" CinemaScope 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Runco pretty much invented the 2.35 category a few years ago, and still dominates, with more than a dozen CineWide models and an AutoScope option that enables remote control of the anamorphic lens to widen the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 to 2.35:1.

"All the new theaters are coming out in 2.35," says Runco general manager Rick Bergamaschi. "Our sales of 2.35 with AutoScope are out the roof. ... We are outselling our forecasts on the really high end."

Dealers are backing up the Runco claims. Bob Cole of World Wide Stereo, Montgomeryville, Pa., says the 2.35 format "has been huge." He adds, "That's all we sell."

Customers really respond to demonstrations of a movie going from the old 16:9 format to a wider screen image that fills the entire screen, Cole says. The demo is so compelling that customers want to replace their older systems with CineWide projectors.

The retrofit isn't necessarily easy, Cole warns. Theaters built for 16:9 screens may not be wide enough for 2.35 projectors. "It's not a simple switch-out," he says "Sometimes you have to move prosceniums."

Michael Pope of Audio Video Interiors, Medina, Ohio, says his 2.35 business is ramping up, and now comprises about 20 percent of all projector sales. Attending the Runco event as the vendor's most improved dealer, AVI is one of the few top Runco dealers that caters to the mid market.

"Up until recently," he says, "most of the [2.35] projectors were very expensive. Now Runco has products as low as $10,000."

Flat Panels Brisk, Too

In the soon-to-be-released CE Pro Top 100, you'll see that Runco rules in the front-projector category, with 45% of the Top 100 using Runco projectors, compared to 40% for Sony and 15% for Marantz.

But Runco apparently is doing well in the flat-panel category, as well, with sales now split about 50/50 between projectors and flat screens.

Among the CE Pro Top 100 dealers, Runco ranks #3 for plasma TVs (29%), below Fujitsu (40%) and Pioneer (36%). For LCDs, 17% of Top 100 dealers use Runco products, which puts the manufacturer #4 behind Sony (51%), Sharp (47%) and LG (32%).

Of course, these figures do not have implications for dealer sales in general, which would put Runco further behind the pack. But still ... not bad for a high-end vendor that only got into the LCD business two years ago.