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Luceco PLC shares surged on Tuesday after the company reported that its business model was ‘driving long term performance improvement.’
Shares in the Shropshire, England-based LED lighting manufacturer and distributor were trading up 15% at 89.90 pence each in London.
Despite the positive outlook, pretax profit fell to £4.6 million from £16.6 million in the first six months of 2022.
Revenue fell to £106.4 million from £108.2 million in the same period, a decrease of 1.7%.
This reflects a normalisation from the record profits posted in 2021, Luceo noted, as demand for DIY products has cooled.
Revenue remains 29% ahead of pre-pandemic levels, however, representing ‘strategic process’ for the company.
An interim dividend of 1.6 pence per share was declared, down from the 2.6p distributed to shareholders the year prior.
Chief Executive Officer John Hornby said: ‘Our trading performance relative to prior year comparatives reflects the very buoyant demand we experienced in 2021, boosted by Covid lockdowns and stocking up by our distributor customers. It also reflects slower demand in 2022 as DIY markets have normalised and as our customers have run their stocks down.’
Longer term, the company hopes to profit from the growing UK electric vehicle charging market after acquiring Sync EV in March 2022. Sync EV holds a 2% share of the market, which is expected to expand to £500 million by 2025, and Luceco said it has ‘both the product and channel access necessary to gain a material share.’
The company expects earnings for 2022 to match current expectations.
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