Lighting group switches on to power of European investments
WORCESTERSHIRE lighting group F W Thorpe has invested nearly £1m in a Spanish LED manufacturer as it looks to continue to expand.
The investment, which has given it a 40% stake in Luxintec, follows its purchase last year of Dutch company Lightronics. It paid £5.7m for 65% of Lightronics, with a commitment to acquire the remaining shares between April 2018 and April 2021.
FW Thorpe chairman Andrew Thorpe, who is the grandson of founder Frederick William Thorpe, said: “Both the investments in Lightronics and Luxintec allow a wide scope for the interchange of products in both directions but most probably allowing a wider platform for most group companies to participate in the Netherlands and Spanish speaking markets of which there are many.
“The first half of the 2015/16 year has been driven by exceptional performance of Lightronics BV and marked further progress at TRT Lighting our road tunnel and street lighting systems manufacturer.”
Revenue for the six months to December 2015 increased 27% to £41.4m, with pre-tax profits rising 14% to £5.2m. The group said that stripping out the impact of Lightronics, revenues and operating profits increased by 5.2% and 5.1% respectively.
Mr Thorpe said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the Redditch-based group’s performance in the second half of its financial year. However he warned about the impact of the “general malaise” in the global economy.
He added: “In our overseas markets business is, therefore, currently hard fought, your company having to persuade new customers, often with different cultures, of the benefits of using our product offering of high quality, highly sophisticated lighting systems and excellent before and after sales service.
“The Thorlux offices in Dusseldorf, Germany and Dublin, Ireland are continuing to make forward strides, however, the Thorlux office in Brisbane, Australia and the group office in the UAE are still not performing as required.”
