Business | Signify | Annual Report | Feb 09, 2022

Signify's Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results 2021

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, announced the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2021 results.

Fourth quarter 2021

Sales of EUR 2,008 million; comparable sales growth of 4.5%
Order book increase of 67% in Q4 21 vs. Q4 20
Adj. EBITA margin of 13.2% (Q4 20: 13.4%)
Net income of EUR 170 million (Q4 20: EUR 137 million)
Free cash flow of EUR 257 million (Q4 20: EUR 332 million)
Repayment of EUR 350 million of debt, as committed

Full year 2021

Signify's installed base of connected light points increased from 77 million at YE 20 to 96 million at YE 21
Sales of EUR 6,860 million; comparable sales growth of 3.8%
LED-based sales represented 83% of total sales (FY 20: 80%)
Adj. EBITA margin of 11.6% (FY 20: 10.7%)
Net income of EUR 407 million (FY 20: EUR 335 million)
Free cash flow of EUR 614 million, 8.9% of sales (FY 20: EUR 817 million)
Net debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.4x (YE 20: 1.7x)

Dividend

Proposal to pay a cash dividend of EUR 1.45 per share over 2021

“The strong demand for connected lighting and our growth platforms, paired with the delivery of delayed orders, enabled us to achieve a comparable sales growth of 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Our teams’ relentless focus on the execution of our strategy enabled us to deliver against our objectives for the year. This, in an external environment that was possibly even more challenging than in 2020. Despite the significant cost increases of raw materials, components, and logistics, we expanded our operational profit margin for the eighth consecutive year, with an improvement of 90 basis points. This was driven by the strong performance of our two digital divisions, which combined now account for more than 80% of our sales, profit and cash flow. Finally, during the year we continuously made significant progress on our journey to double our positive impact on the environment and society,” said CEO Eric Rondolat.

“While we expect uncertainty to remain high in the first half of this year, we’re confident that we will manage this volatility with the same agility as we demonstrated in the past two years. Our 2021 results provide us with a solid base on which to deliver another year of growth in 2022. This will be driven by continued investments in our growth platforms, such as the intended acquisition of Fluence. The world's demand for energy-efficient and digital lighting technologies continues to accelerate and Signify is well positioned to capture the potential this creates.”

Brighter Lives, Better World 2025
In the fourth quarter, Signify completed the first year of its Brighter Lives, Better World 2025 program, making substantial progress towards doubling its positive impact on the environment and society:

Double the pace of the Paris agreement:

Cumulative carbon reduction over the value chain was 60 million tonnes, and is ahead of track. All of Signify's divisions had CO₂ emission reductions. The main driver remains the accelerated shift to energy efficient and connected LED lighting in 2021, which decreases the carbon emissions in the use phase.

Double our Circular revenues to 32%:

Circular revenues increased to 25%, compared with the 2019 baseline of 16%. Signify is on track to achieve the 2025 target of 32%. This positive trend is driven by the further expansion of serviceable professional luminaires, and the continuous, stable contribution of consumer luminaires and circular components.

Double our Brighter lives revenues to 32%:

Brighter lives revenues were 27%, with a strong contribution from the consumer well-being portfolio. With this performance, Signify is making good progress towards the 2025 target of 32%.

Double the percentage of women in leadership to 34%:

The percentage of women in leadership positions was 25%, stable when compared with last quarter. This performance is slightly behind the 2021 intermediary step aimed at reaching the 2025 target of 34%. In Q4, Signify launched the Powering Inclusion Series, which increases the awareness of its leaders and people managers on how to foster inclusion.

Signify is in the top 1% of its industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment and is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the fifth consecutive year, illustrating its drive for leadership in sustainability.

Outlook
As Signify continues to proactively navigate through the gradually improving component and logistics environment, it provides the following outlook for 2022:

Comparable sales growth in the range of 3-6%
Continued Adjusted EBITA margin improvement of up to 50 bps
Free cash flow in excess of 8% of sales

Capital allocation
Signify proposes a cash dividend of EUR 1.45 per share for 2021, in line with its plan to pay an increasing annual cash dividend per share year on year. The dividend proposal will be subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) to be held on May 17, 2022. Further details will be provided in the agenda for the AGM.

The company expects to progress towards a leverage ratio of reported net debt/EBITDA of 1x by the end of 2022. This now includes the cash outflow from the intended Fluence acquisition, and the 2022 cash inflow from its operations and the continued rationalization of the company’s real estate portfolio.

Finally, Signify will continue to invest in organic and inorganic growth opportunities in line with its strategic priorities.

For the full and original version of the press release click here

For the presentation click here

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