Norway’s Glamox AS reported a 16.9% increase in first-quarter revenue and a 46.7% surge in profits, as sales grew in both its commercial and marine/wind/offshore segments while supply chain constraints eased and cost controls plus price increases buoyed the bottom line.
Revenue for the quarter ending March 31 was NOK (Norwegian kroner) 1.04 billion ($93.9 million) up from NOK 892 million ($80.4 million) in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA for the Oslo-based vendor of LED lighting was NOK 170 million ($15.3 million), way up from NOK 116 million ($10.5 million).
While some of the revenue gain came from price increases, new orders factored strongly in the company’s two divisions.
“Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, both our segments, Professional Buildings Solutions (PBS) and Marine, Offshore & Wind (MOW), performed well,” said CEO Astrid Simonsen Joos.
The overall upbeat results were helped by rapidly improving logistics.
“We saw supply chain disturbances ease considerably during the quarter, despite inflationary pressures,” Simonsen Joos noted. “Going forward, we anticipate the situation will improve further as we return to near pre-pandemic levels.”
During the quarter, MOW accounted for 25% of revenue, at NOK 265 million ($23.9 million), up 34.6% from NOK 197 million ($17.8 million). Maritime has long been a specialty for the company, and is gaining in its share of the sales pie. A year ago it was at 22%. Simonsen Joos told LEDs Magazine that the sector is heading to roughly 30%, although there is no timetable.
Revenue in the PBS sector, which sells lighting to office and commercial buildings, grew 12%, to NOK 777 million ($70.1 million) from NOK 694 million ($62.6 million), with the gains coming mostly in Norway and Poland.
Adjusted EBITDA jumped up in both divisions, by a whopping 241.6% in MOW to NOK 47 million ($4.2 million) from NOK 14 million ($1.3 million) and by 21.% in PBS, to NOK 107 million ($9.7 million from NOK 88 million ($7.9 million).
MOW outpaced PBS in adjusted EBITDA margins, at 17.8% (up from 7% a year ago) for MOW, compared to 13.8% (up from 12.7% a year ago) for PBS.
Asked whether the company would continue to raise prices, Simonsen Joos told LEDs that it will depend on cost factors, such as with energy and components, but that Glamox will remain competitive in what it charges customers; it will also continue keeping a keen eye on cost controls.
She said company-wide performance prospects look good for the coming years, but cautioned about possible disruption in the nearer timeframe.
“We remain positive about the long-term outlook for the markets we serve,” Simonsen Joos said. “In the short term, a weaker macroeconomic outlook could lead to increased uncertainty, particularly in the professional buildings market.”
The Glamox boss told LEDs that the uncertainty pertains to the world’s geopolitical situation. She said it potentially could affect the new build market more than the renovations sector.
Renovations are a strong part of Glamox’s endeavors, especially now that it’s leveraging the E.U.’s fluorescent ban, in an effort to persuade end users to replace fluorescent lighting with LED luminaires.
Glamox has also embarked on a campaign to sell more “human-centric lighting” — lighting that is tuned to mimic the spectral changes of the sun during the course of the day and thus foster human circadian health. It is currently touring several European countries to promote HCL benefits, and has enlisted light and wellbeing expert Shelley James as a featured speaker. The company’s HCL push applies to both its PBS and MOW divisions, Simonsen Joos said.
Recent wins across the company’s two sectors have included ferry company Stena Line, a ScottishPower onshore wind farm, and a couple of wind farms in the North Sea’s Dogger Bank; and in the PBS sector, Norway’s Aass Brewery.
Today’s numbers were the totals for holding company GLX Holdings AS, for which Glamox AS comprises almost all the revenues. GLX is privately owned, but trades bonds on the Oslo Stock Exchange, necessitating the public reporting of financial results.
*Exchange rates via xe.com current at the time of publication.
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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Mark Halper | Contributing Editor, LEDs Magazine, and Business/Energy/Technology Journalist
Mark Halper is a freelance business, technology, and science journalist who covers everything from media moguls to subatomic particles. Halper has written from locations around the world for TIME Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Guardian, CBS, Wired, and many others. A US citizen living in Britain, he cut his journalism teeth cutting and pasting copy for an English-language daily newspaper in Mexico City. Halper has a BA in history from Cornell University.
