Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to all our viewers online. Today, VTech Holdings Limited is announcing its annual results for the year end, March 31st, 2012. For your reference, the webcast of this announcement, accompanied by the presentation you will receive shortly, will be available on VTech's website starting at 10:00 P.M. this evening, Hong Kong time.
Here to present the results on my left are Ms. Shereen Tong, Group Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Allan Wong, Chairman and Group CEO of VTech Holdings; Mr. King Pang, Executive Director and Group President. First of all, Ms. Tong will present the group's financial performance. Next, Mr. Pang will review the group's operations and talk about the group's strategy. Mr. Wong will then give his outlook. After that, we will have a Q&A session. Now, may I invite Ms. Tong to open today's presentation. Ms. Tong, please.
Thank you, Corina. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and all viewers online. First of all, I would like to share with you the financial highlights of the group for the year end of March 31st, 2012, compared with the same period of the last year. As you see from the slide, the revenue of the group rose by 4.2% to $1,784.5 million, and it was also our record revenue for the second consecutive year. Our gross profit rose by 0.7% to $570.8 million. Our gross profit margin, however, reduced from 33.1%- 32%.
The decrease in gross profit margin was mainly due to the higher cost of materials, the further increase in labor cost, and the continuing appreciation of the renminbi. Our operating profit reduced by 4.2% to $209.5 million, and our operating profit margin also reduced from 12.8%- 11.7% over the same period of the last year. Our profit attributable to shareholders reduced by 5% to $191.9 million, and our net profit margin also reduced from 11.8% - 10.8%.
The decrease in both operating profit and net profit was mainly due to the decrease in gross profit margin and the increased spending on advertising and promotional activities during the financial year. It was partially offset by the decrease in administrative and other operating expenses compared with the same period of the last year. The basic earning per share of the group reduced by 5.5% to $0.77. Our Board of Directors has proposed a final dividend of $0.16, bringing the total dividend per share for the year to $0.76.
Turning to the revenue by region. North America remains the largest market of the group, representing 50.6% of the group's revenue. Our sales in North America rose by 3.3% to $903.5 million. The growth in revenue was mainly due to the higher sales of our electronic learning product and the contract manufacturing services business, which offset a decrease in revenue of our telecom products. Our sales to European market rose by 7.7% to $719.3 million. The sales growth in Europe was largely driven by the higher sales of our electronic learning products and the contract manufacturing services business, which offset a slight decrease in revenue of our telecom products.
In Asia- Pacific region, the revenue of the group reduced by 4.2% to $94.1 million. The decrease in revenue was mainly due to the decrease in sales of our telecom products, which offset the higher sales of our electronic learning products during the financial year. Other regions include Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. The group revenue in other regions reduced by 6.2% to $67.6 million . The revenue decrease in other regions was mainly due to the decline in sales of our telecom products, which offset the higher sales of our electronic learning products compared with the same period of the last year.
Our stock balance as at March 31st, 2012, increased from $229.8 million- $239.2 million . Our stock turnover days, however, reduced from 85 days to 82 days. The increase in stock level was mainly to cater for the increased demand of the group's product in the first quarter of the financial year 2013. We have also arranged early production of the group's product in order to better utilize the group's production capacities. Our trade debtors balance as at March 31st, 2012, increased from $198.8 million- $210.6 million .
Our trade debtors turnover days, however, reduced from 63 days to 56 days. The increase in trade debtor balance was mainly due to the increase in revenue in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2012 compared with the same period of the last year. Our financial positions remains very strong. We were debt-free, and our net cash balance as at March 31st, 2012, was $326.5 million . That's all of my presentation. I will now invite Mr. King Pang to share with you our operations review and strategies. Mr. Pang, please.
Thank you, Shereen. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and greetings to viewers online. I'm glad to have the chance again to take you through our operations during the last financial year. I first make a few comments about the cost environment. As you have seen from Shereen's report, input cost remains the most challenging factor during the past financial year, characterized by intensive high raw material costs, rising labor costs in China, and the continuous appreciation of RMB.
We have countered this by judiciously raising prices, by intensifying our cost reduction and design optimization efforts, as well as in increasing our operating efficiency. We have been able to mitigate our cost pressure to a certain effect, but as you have seen from Shereen's report, the increase is nevertheless not completely compensated. I'll now take you through our operations in our different regions, starting with North America.
Our revenue in North America was $903 million, up 3.3% compared to financial year 2011. North America represents 50.6% of group's revenue. The higher revenues from our CMS and electronic learning products in this region was offset by a slight decline of revenue from our telecoms products. Specifically, our telecom products revenue was down 1.4% to $415 million. This decrease reflects the maturity of the U.S. residential phone market. However, we managed to maintain our number one position in the indoor corded and cordless phone market in the U.S.
In light of the maturity of the U.S. residential phone market, we have put efforts into developing products for other markets, specifically the business market. We have been working on and shipping products to the small and medium business telephone market, where we continue to gain traction, especially with the multi-line cordless product called SynJ. We have also entered the hospitality market, and we have started shipping products into hotel chains since the second half of the year. This is culminated by the shipment of our first SIP phones to Caesars Palace Hotel in March of this year.
Electronic learning products. Revenue was up 7.5% to $308 million. Growth of our electronic learning revenue in North America was driven primarily by platform products. InnoTab, the children's tablet that we introduced last fall, sold especially well, and this offset the lower sales for the financial year from our two key platforms, namely MobiGo and V.Reader. Our electronic learning revenue for standalone products was essentially flat. Higher sales in our preschool category was offset by lower sales in our infant category. CMS. Our CMS revenue went up 7.8% to $179 million.
Professional audio equipment and internet phones were the key drivers for this growth, where commercial solid-state lighting products also supported this growth. Turning to Europe, I do not have to emphasize the uncertain economic environment and the difficult operating conditions. Nevertheless, group's revenue there was up 7.7% to $719 million. This region represents 40.3% of group's revenue. As Shereen reported, higher revenues from ELP and CMS were offset by lower sales of telecoms products.
Telecommunication products. Revenue was down 1% to $215 million. We sell in this region on ODM basis. We also have an exclusive supply agreement with Deutsche Telekom. During this period, we've expanded our relationships with telecom operators, with telecom brands, and with distributors. I'm glad to report that we gained market share in this region, and in this year we became the number one manufacturer of cordless telephones in Europe with 29% of the market share. We have also started supplying hotel telephones in this region during the financial year.
Electronic learning products in Europe. Revenue was up 13.2% to $310 million. The strength of our electronic learning products in this region is broad-based. Both platform and standalone products contribute significantly to this growth. The full launch of MobiGo and Storio for the entire financial year through our major Western European markets contribute significantly to this growth, whereas the Kidi- series was also a major driver for growth. I have to report that sales was especially strong in France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
One point that I need to take to the note, though, is we saw a slight decline of our KidiZoom business, which is into the fifth year in this region. Contract manufacturing services. Revenue was up 9.9% to $193 million. Wireless headset was the best-performing category of our CMS business in this region, where we benefited from a supplier consolidation situation. Our professional audio also recorded higher sales, both from existing customers and from new customers. Switching mode power supply demands remain stable, whereas the demand for solar power inverters was soft, affected by oversupply and intensive price competition that our customers faced.
Asia- Pacific. Revenue was down 4.2% to $94 million. This region represents 5.3% of group's revenue. Our telecommunications revenue decreased by 16.4% to $29 million. This was primarily due to weakness in the Japanese market and also lower sales in Australia, which also faces a similar maturation situation in the residential indoor consumer market. We did have growth in other smaller countries in this region.
For example, we started shipping 2.4 GHz cordless telephones in China through a number of local distributors. We have also started shipping our hotel phones to some hotel chains in this region in the second half of the financial year. Revenue of our electronic learning products grew by 10.1% to $17.5 million . This growth was most strongly driven by our sales growth in China. Contributions of this country is still small though because it started from a low base. CMS revenue increased slightly by 0.2% to $47 million .
Higher sales in medical and wireless products in this region were offset by significantly lower orders for LED light bulb, where our customer faced keen price competitions in their market. One thing I should report, though, is that during the period, our CMS business gained a new Japanese customer in marine radio. This customer has been manufacturing their products in-house, but they will be transferring most of the production to our CMS in phases. Other regions include Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
This region represents 3.8% of group's revenue. In the last financial year, it grew 6.2% to $67.6 million . This revenue decrease was due to lower sales of our telecom products, where we have seen customers delaying their orders. Telecom products revenue fell 14% to $46 million . On the flip side, our revenues from both our ELP and CMS rose by 16.2% and 14.3% respectively, to $20.8 million and a little below $1 million respectively.
This concludes my review of the various regions where we operate. I will now take you through our growth strategy again, and as always, it is based on the four pillars of product innovation, geographic expansion, market share gains, and operational excellence. Product innovation. They are the heart of the VTech story. I am sure you have gained some sense of our drive and ability for doing this through our results in the successes in entering the SMB and hospitality telephone markets, as well as in our ELP, being able to deliver a children's tablet product together with the associated software last year.
As you will hear from Allan shortly, this relentless drive will continue. Here, I will give you some specific previews of future new products. In the telecommunications area, we will be introducing a new micro-business telephone system during the current financial year. In electronic learning products, both InnoTab and MobiGo will be refreshed with new generations this year. Whereas in Europe, we will be launching in all the major Western European markets, Storio 2, which is our children's tablet product for these markets.
Also noteworthy is a new line of standalone products called Switch & Go Dinos, which have already been launched earlier this year in several of our major European markets, and it will be launched in the U.S. this month. On market share. We take pride in holding market leadership positions in all the markets that we participate in. As I have reported, in the telecommunications market, we remain the world's number one manufacturer of cordless telephones, and the same can be said for our electronic learning products. Our CMS business consistently outgrows the global EMS market, and our position of being 27th on the top 50 EMS providers speaks loudly to our strength.
We continue to expand geographically, both our footprint as well as intensifying our business in countries and regions where we have already established footprint. As we have reported in several occasions, China remains our focus. As you have heard, we have launched AT&T-branded cordless telephones in China, and you can be assured that we will continue our drive of our ELP business in China. Finally, we continue to maintain our costs very tightly and raise productivity through automation. A good example is our ability to manage our SG&A expenses.
In this financial year 2012, we again are able to maintain our SG&A cost at 17% of our revenue. In conclusion, as we move forward, we retain four powerful competitive advantages. Our excellent R&D guarantees that there is a continuous stream of innovative, competitive and high-value products going into the market. Our strong balance sheet allows us to weather financial storms. Our leadership positions in our markets help us to gain even higher market shares, driving our business growth. Our efficient operation allows us the best overhead cost possible, delivering ever-increasing value to our customers. Thank you. I will now turn over to our Chairman and Group CEO, Mr. Allan Wong, who will share with us the outlook. Allan?
Thank you, King, and good afternoon, everyone. I would like to take you through our outlook for the coming financial year. First, the macroeconomic environment remains challenging. We are seeing a slow but continuous recovery in the U.S. But in Europe, consumer demand is affected by the austerity measures and the economic uncertainty. Despite all these challenges, we are planning for overall top-line growth in the financial year 2013. Sales of our telecommunication products will rebound, driven by additional placements in retail channels in the U.S., increasing sales of small and medium-sized business and hotel phones, and also restocking in Europe.
Our ELPs are expected to grow, led by the launch of a new platform and standalone products. CMS will continue to outperform the global EMS market and expand further. With the anticipated growth in top-line, we are cautiously optimistic that profitability will improve. The lower prices of raw materials are beginning to feed into the margin. Profitability will also be supported by the efficiency enhancement measures that we push hard in the last financial year, including higher automation and product design optimization and other measures.
However, we expect that the labor cost in China will continue to rise. So as always, we will continue to manage our expense very tightly. We foresee a rebound for our telecommunication products in the financial year 2013. As the world's number one manufacturer of cordless phones, our strong design capabilities, economy of scale, and brand reputation will strengthen our leadership position. In North America, we expect the good momentum of our small and medium-sized business telephones and hotel telephones to continue. In the first half, we will launch a new micro business phone system. This will add further impetus.
Sales of our residential phones are expected to recover as we gain market share with new product lines. These include a new connect-to-cell system with high-definition voice quality, user-friendly cell phone registration, as well as smartphone apps to manage the transfer of phonebooks to our cordless system. The new lineup has been well received by our customers. In Europe, the prospect of telecommunication product is positive as customers will restock in the first half. Gains in market share are also expected as we plan to market our products in Germany more aggressively in conjunction with our exclusive partner, Deutsche Telekom.
In Asia- Pacific and other regions, we expect to return to a growth path in telecommunication products as we make more inroads in Australia and build on the encouraging progress we have made in Latin America. Let's turn to ELP products. Although the retail environment in Europe remains challenging, healthy growth of our ELP products are expected for the financial year 2013. In North America, platform products will lead the way. InnoTab has strong momentum and will be refreshed with new versions offering innovative features.
We are also expand the content in both cartridge and downloadable formats. A new generation of MobiGo with new functionalities will lend further impetus to platform products. We will start to roll out a new line of standalone products, Switch & Go Dinos, in North America in May. This branch out beyond the learning aisle and add another revenue of growth. In Europe, we expect a continuation of the good performance from Storio and MobiGo. This will be augmented by the introduction of Storio 2, a multifunction educational tablet for children.
As in the U.S., InnoTab in the U.K. will also be updated with a new version. For standalone products, the Toot-Toot Drivers range should again perform well, and there will be a full year contribution from Switch & Go Dinos, which has been on the retail shelf in Europe since February. The momentum we have seen for our standalone products in Asia- Pacific and the rest of the world is expected to continue. The global EMS market is forecast to grow modestly in 2012, and our CMS will continue to outperform the industry.
The new factory building we opened at our existing site in November last year has increased the capacity by 40%. The enhanced manufacturing facility is enabling us to support customers who target domestic sales in China. The new setup will also allow us to manufacture sophisticated products with stringent safety and quality requirements, including those requiring FDA approval. This will further expand our portfolio of products in the medical and healthcare areas.
We expect to continue to add customers in the professional audio segment as our reputation continue to grow. We will also benefit from further consolidation of the supplier base by our wireless headset customer. Business in switching mode power supplies should stabilize. Though the market for solar panel or solar power inverters may remain under pressure. Growth in commercial solid-state lighting will offset an anticipated further decline in consumer LED light bulbs.
Marine radio, as King had talked about, our new product category will see rapid growth over the next two years as our customer continue to move productions from their in-house to us. In conclusion, we have proven strategy in product development, strong balance sheet, market leadership position, and efficient operations. This should enable us to achieve further growth in revenue and hence deliver sustainable returns to shareholders.