Luceco invests in key customer to drive energy efficiency
A Telford designer and manufacturer of LED lighting products has announced that it now owns 9% of the shares of eEnergy Group, a net-zero energy services provider.
Luceco has subscribed to 35 million shares totalling £1.75m in eEnergy, which is a key customer of its lighting division and is thought to be well-positioned to become an “important channel” for clean energy categories in the non-residential sector.
eEnergy announced today that following the receipt of a number of approaches, it is currently in exclusive negotiations to sell its Energy Management division, which saw revenues of £19.5m to June 2023, representing 87% year-on-year growth.
Offers have valued the division in excess of £30m, with the board planning to re-invest proceeds from any sale to ensure it can capitalise on the substantial growth potential.
Revenues were reported to be 8.3% ahead of last year. Adjusted operating margin was just below 12% in Q3, against a first-half adjusted operating margin of 10.7%.
Completion of the subscription is subject to admission of shares to trading on AIM.
John Hornby, CEO of Luceco commented: “Energy efficiency has been an important driver of growth for Luceco through our LED lighting category. More recently we have invested in EV charging because we anticipate that this, and the clean energy category more generally, will be an important growth area.
“eEnergy’s Energy Services division is already an important customer for our lighting projects business. As the economy decarbonises it is well positioned to become an increasingly relevant channel in the non-residential segment, and we look forward to supporting the growth of eEnergy and exploring the potential for increased co-operation between our businesses.”
Harvey Sinclair, CEO of eEnergy plc, commented: “The strategic investment cements our already longstanding relationship and demonstrates our combined confidence in the growth opportunities for our markets. I look forward to working with John and his team on this new partnership.
“As discussed at our Interim Results, we continue to position the Group to be able to win new larger mandates and optimise financing solutions. Following a number of inbound enquiries earlier in the year we have appointed an independent adviser and entered into a short period of exclusivity with one of the parties which has expressed interest in acquiring our Energy Management division. We will update shareholders on this process as appropriate”.
