Sonomax signs five year licensing agreement with Dutch company

Sep 26 2009

Sonomax Hearing Healthcare Inc. (TSX Venture: SHH) announces that it has signed a five year licensing agreement with a newly formed Dutch company which has adopted the name Sonomax Europe BV (hereafter SEBV) with Sonomax's approval. Sonomax is not a stakeholder in SEBV. The investors in SEBV have engaged Mr. Luuk Helmhout who formerly headed Sonomax's European operations, to be its Managing Director. The agreement is renewable for an additional 5 years if all contractual conditions and minimum quarterly commitments are met.

Said Mr. Nick Laperle, President and CEO of Sonomax, "This is the first of what we plan to expand to many contracts which conform to Sonomax's new business model as a licensing and product development company. The progression will be our improved, more cost-effective V3 in the hearing protection space, followed by consumer rollout of the V4 self-fit earphones through major players in the retail space after the turn of the year. Our present intention on the product development front is to make the self-fit V4 available to our industrial licensees as advanced hearing protection within 12 to 18 months."

Mr. Helmhout, the participants in SEBV, and the current Sonomax distributors who will now fall under the umbrella of SEBV, have had excellent collective success over the years in the sale of conventional (non-instant) custom hearing protection. Their shared customer base is impressive. It includes Dupont, Saab, Volvo, Arco U.K., Arla Foods, 3M Germany, Kellogg, Coca Cola U.K., Metropolitan Police London, Scottish Police, Rolling contract are now in progress to fit the entire Ministry of Defense Fire & Rescue Service across 100 plus military establishments in UK, Germany, Cyprus, Gibraltar. Other institutional and military customers include Statoil/Hydro Norway and the Swedish Defense Material Command.

Said Mr. Helmhout, "Sonomax Europe BV has an enviable customer list and we will be penetrating markets that are extremely fertile for the sale of custom hearing protection which enjoys 25% market share in a number of our markets. We have the customer relationships, the financial resources, and the right product at the right price to deploy the strategy for Europe that Sonomax has always wanted to implement. Sonomax has done everything right in our book, it's now time for us to execute."

Source: SONOMAX HEARING HEALTHCARE INC.