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Luceco has reported a strong start to FY25, continuing the acceleration seen in Q4. This was down to a combination of particularly strong sales growth in residential RMI, the EV charging business performing exceptionally well and of course, the two acquisitions also completed in the year (D-Line in Feb and CMD in Sept). Overall sales for FY24 we... ...
Animal spirits returned to Luceco after it said it now expects to report operating profits of £28.5-29m, which is £2m or almost 8% ahead of previous forecasts. The improving trend in order intake experienced in Q3 accelerated through Q4 with strong demand driving organic growth of 5%. Margins “moved towards 12%” (2023:11.5%). The strong order... ...
A superb eps enhancing deal this month. Luceco has acquired CMD for £30m on a cash and debt-free basis. Established in 1984, CMD is the No.1 in wiring accessories for commercial premises, including underfloor powertrack and power hub power distributions systems, floor boxes and AV/data modules for monitors. Over the last three years, revenues ha... ...
Ahead of reporting on 10 September, Luceco said H1 sales were +8% to £109m (+3.5% excluding acquisitions) but operating profit is up +15% to £12.5m. Despite the freight costs inflation that has emerged in recent months, increased volumes allowing for better fixed cost absorption as well a change of leadership and an improvement in focus at the f... ...
SCSW’s Growth Portfolio 3 has had a scorcher of a month. In fact, it’s the third great month in a row, during which time the portfolio has gained 21.7%. Even before this recent rally, a few subscribers who had recently joined asked me if I would start Growth Portfolio 4. Yes, I think that time is approaching but for now, I’m just hoping to cont... ...
Luceco has made a nice eps enhancing bolt-on of D-Line (Europe) for an initial £8.6m. D-Line supplies cable management solutions, including decorative cable trunking and accessories, fire-rated cable supports, floor cable protectors and cable organisers, which are a natural fit to sell alongside Luceco’s existing ranges. The deal also gives Luce... ...
Luceco enjoyed a bumper Q4 with profit exceeding expectations. In the light of this Numis has upgraded its forecast to £20.6m pretax profit/eps 10.8p. Margins were 11% in H2 (H1:10.7%). But the fantastic bit is that net debt has come down to just £23m, which is much faster than expected, for a net debt/EBITDA ratio of <0.6x, paving the way fo... ...
SCSW’s traditional New Year ritual is the NAPS mini-portfolio each January. Derived from a French card game named Napoleon, shortened to “Nap,” it refers to the best hand one can have and for us, it is an exercise of providing a select-once-and-leave-for-a-year portfolio. In 2023, I am not sure how satisfying it was that despite witnessing a do... ...
Luceco has reported accelerating sales in Q3, +8.3% compared with the decline of 5% reported for H1 23. There was strong growth in Professional Projects during the quarter. The success of trading also shows destocking has come to an end with hybrid remaining stable, although there is slightly softer demand conditions in retail. Operating margin... ...
Luceco looks to be back in an upgrade cycle with its latest interims triggering the second eps upgrade since July. This time, FY23 eps is upgraded by 12% to 10.4p. Although H1 sales were down 5% to £101.5m (like-for-like revenue -5.8%), there was a seismic Q2 improvement following the -9% LFL seen in Q1. Adjusted pretax profit was £9.4m for eps... ...