Signify weathers the supply chain as sales and profits rise

Added on 30 January 2022

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Signify weathers the supply chain as sales and profits rise

Product redesign has played a role. So have price increases. Horticulture remains strong, and UV-C could be picking up.

Supply chain difficulties continued to dog Signify in the fourth quarter, but the company still increased comparable sales by 4.5% and reported a 24.5% leap in income compared to a year earlier, helped by ongoing cost cutting, a comparatively soft 2020 quarter, and price increases.

Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 registered 2 billion ($2.23B) and net income tallied 170 million ($190M). For the year, the world's largest lighting company reported similar percentage gains, as comparable sales grew 5.5% to 6.86B ($7.63B) and net income gained 21.4% to 407M ($453.81M).

In announcing financial results, Signify also revealed a large ultraviolet C-band (UV-C) disinfection system deployment across 34 TTFB chain restaurants in Taiwan, with another 100 locations to possibly follow. It is the latest sign that UV-C uptake of Signify products could be accelerating. Earlier this month, the company said that it is providing 7500 mobile UV-C products to schools in Munich. Signify uses mercury-vapor technology rather than LED for its UV-C, which is used to deactivate pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

Today, CEO Eric Rondolat also expressed optimism that the horticultural business would continue on a strong path, anticipating 20% industry wide growth to 1.6B ($1.78B) by 2024. He did not specify what Signify's share of that would be. But he noted that the company's recent agreement to acquire Fluence by Osram will be a significant contributor, along with the company's existing horticultural business, which continues to rack up deployments.