Lighting group’s shares jump 18%
Shares in Luceco jumped 18% on Friday after the lighting group produced much brighter profit forecasts.
Sales in the first four months of 2019 mean it believes its adjusted operating profit for the year will be “materially ahead” of current market expectations. In 2018 it saw a 42% drop in that profit figure despite revenues only slipping by 2%, to £163.9m.
It is the latest good news for the Telford-based group which had previously been affected by customers destocking its lighting products.
Its share price has surged in 2019, up from a January low of 33p to close last week at 120p, after an 18% jump on Friday after its upbeat update to the markets. The jump increased Luceco’s market value to nearly £200m.
However the company’s turnaround still has a long way to go. Its shares traded mostly above 200p in 2017, before a precipitous fall that winter.
In a statement issued ahead of Friday’s AGM, the company said: “The group has built upon the improved trading performance delivered in the second half of 2018.
“Whilst sales to UK professional customers continue to be subdued in the uncertain economic environment, we are making strong progress in overseas markets. Furthermore, margins that benefited from an improved input cost environment, manufacturing savings and pricing changes in the second half of 2018 have improved further in 2019.”
