SMS Takes Minority Shareholding Position with Cyrus Audio
With immediate effect, SMS – Smart Made Simple (www.smartmadesimple.com), announce that they have invested in high-end specialist audio company Cyrus Audio (www.cyrusaudio.com).
Cyrus Audio, like SMS – Smart Made Simple, has grown through strong brand reputation and solid customer relations. Cyrus Audio has a heritage of over three decades of award-winning products that are proudly designed and made in the UK. SMS – Smart Made Simple has a century of electronics manufacturing experience and has been conceptualising, creating, and taking to commerce, products within the consumer audio industry for over forty years. It’s clear to see where the company synergy exists between both of these well-established British brands.
Within this commercial agreement, SMS – Smart Made Simple has taken a substantial minority shareholding in the Cyrus Audio business. This will enable significant investment to be made into sales and marketing, as well are enhancing the strength of Cyrus Audio’s Cambridge based Research and Development (R&D) team.
The partnership agreement means that Cyrus Audio will become an integrated and component part of the SMS – Smart Made Simple business model, which entitles Cyrus Audio to embed themselves in the state-of-the-art design and development facilities that exist within the SMS – Smart Made Simple facility in Nottingham, UK. SMS made a substantial investment in increasing their OEM partners speed-to-market in June 2017, when the company opened its dedicated in-house Development Centre. The Development Centre is designed to accelerate the production lifecycle, without compromise. For example, the recently launched Cyrus Audio QXR DAC card was tried, tested, and delivered through this development channel.
Two-years ago, SMS – Smart Made Simple, also made the strategic decision to transform its business, transitioning from the traditional EMS build-to-print model, to a full-service provider, up and down the supply chain. SMS – Smart Made Simple has always nurtured and taken care of its customers supply chain needs. For Cyrus Audio, they will continue to manage their supplier relationships and component sourcing, and will remain the manufacturing partner for the production of all sub-assemblies with current and future technological products.
Cyrus Audio’s Chairman, Simon Freethy, said of the agreement, ‘We are delighted to secure the manufacturing services of SMS – Smart Made Simple as part of our on-going expansion plans. SMS has been an excellent partner for us over a number of years and the expansion of that relationship will not just improve our service to customers. It creates an excellent framework for growth, giving us improved development facilities, increased manufacturing capacity and increased procurement bandwidth. Cyrus is very proud to be a British brand, and the SMS partnerships expands our UK footprint.
SMS – Smart Made Simple are UK market leaders in Surface Mount Technology, working with numerous high-performance electronics manufacturers. This relationship will be key to securing improved supply chains for Cyrus, giving greater certainty over supply of finished goods to customers, and improving speed-to-market of new products. It also generates inward investment and allows Cyrus’ Cambridge-based team to focus on developing its core technologies for a new generation of products and customers.”
Andrew Maddock, Co-Owner and Managing Director of SMS – Smart Made Simple continued by stating; “This investment is a significant landmark in the history of our company. It’s announced only two-months after Craig Taylor, and I took ownership, and I think it’s a clear indicator that we are immersing ourselves in exploring alternative opportunities that are open to us to help our company dominate and succeed. Our relationship with Cyrus Audio is one we have fostered over a significant period of time, to the point that complete business and management style synergy exists. Craig and I are both very excited about the future of SMS – Smart Made Simple, and investments like this one demonstrate our commitment to SMS, our talented team, our loyal customers, and our steadfast suppliers.”
