TomTom's car deals worth $1.76 billion in revenue boost
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - TomTom said on Tuesday its deals with carmakers are worth about 1.6 billion euros ($1.76 billion), as the Dutch navigation company aims to accelerate revenue growth and considers a share buyback program.
Earlier this year, the Amsterdam-based company said it would focus on growing its digital maps business after it sold its fleet management business to Japan's Bridgestone for 910 million euros.
Ahead of an investor day on Tuesday, TomTom said it expected to increase its revenue from location technologies, such as maps, by 10% each year until 2021, aiming to speed up that growth in the years after that.
The company also said it would look at its cash position next year to decide on a possible share buyback program.
"We see great opportunities in connected driver navigation, autonomous driving and maps applications, where location-based applications are key components," Chief Executive Harold Goddijn said.
TomTom faces a turning point after Google broke into the market to supply maps to carmakers last year, striking deals with Renault and Volvo and upsetting a duopoly between TomTom and its traditional larger rival HERE.
The Dutch company said in July that it expected revenue from location technologies to increase to 435 million euros this year.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Louise Heavens)
