Harman International Industries Inc. inked its first-ever contract with General Motors Corp., valued at $900 million, with the Stamford-based company set to provide infotainment systems for GM vehicles.
Harman added nearly 1,300 employees in the past year, including some 900 in North America.
In its fiscal fourth quarter ending June 30, Harman earned $49 million with sales increasing 6 percent from a year ago to $1.1 billion. For its 2012 fiscal year, Harman had a $330 million profit on sales of $4.4 billion.
In August Harman announced the acquisition of Interchain Solution, a Bangalore, India, company that develops telematics, fleet management, Android based in-vehicle infotainment and location-based systems.
“Our innovation emphasis drove an increase of 37 percent in our new patents and patents filings this past year,” said CEO Dinesh Paliwal, in a prepared statement. “We are on the forefront of developing connected car technologies with a focus on active driver safety ”¦ Embedded infotainment system penetration will continue to grow rapidly and it will be complimented by smart mobile devices.”
