Profits warning from Luceco
Lighting products maker Luceco has issued a profits warning.
For the first half of this year the Telford-based business, which makes LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers, saw adjusted operating profit fall from £19.2 million to around £11.5m
It expect to report revenue of around £106m, up from £108.2m a year earlier.
The company said: “Consumer spending on home improvement continues to slow as disposable incomes reduce in the face of rising inflation.
“A continued slowdown in consumer demand at rates similar to that experienced to date, combined with broadly stable professional demand, would leave 2022 adjusted operating profit at the bottom end of current analyst expectations. The final outcome will largely depend upon how consumers and our distributor customers react to macroeconomic developments in the second half of the financial year.”
On a like-for-like basis for the six months to the end of June it expects first half revenue to be 17 per cent lower than the first half of 2021, but 13 per cent ahead of the group's 2019 pre-Covid performance.
The performance last year was boosted by Covid lockdowns. This year there has been destocking by distributor customers
On electric vehicle charging, Sync EV, acquired by the group in March, is now fully integrated.
Luceco launched a new range of EV chargers in the second quarter of the year, branded jointly under BG and Sync brands, which are selling well.
Luceo expects EV charger sales to increase from £1m in 2021 to around £7m this year.
