Earnings call transcript: Signify Q2 2025 sees stock drop amid revenue miss

Signify NV (LIGHT) reported its second-quarter 2025 earnings on July 25, revealing a decrease in sales and a significant drop in stock price. The company missed revenue forecasts, leading to a negative market reaction. According to InvestingPro data, the company maintains a strong financial health score of 2.71 (rated as GOOD), despite recent challenges. Two analysts have recently revised their earnings estimates downward for the upcoming period.

Key Takeaways

• Signify’s nominal sales decreased by 4.4% to €1,418 million.
• The company reported an adjusted EBITA margin decrease to 7.8%.
• Stock price fell by 11.3% following the earnings announcement.
• Signify completed a €200 million cost savings program.
• The outlook for the China market remains cautious.

Company Performance

Signify’s overall performance in Q2 2025 showed a decline compared to previous quarters. Nominal sales fell by 4.4%, while comparable sales decreased by 1.4%. Despite challenges, the company expanded its Philips Hue ecosystem and continued to grow its connected lighting points, indicating a strategic focus on innovation and specialty lighting.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: €1,418 million, a decline of 4.4% year-over-year.
• Adjusted EBITA: €110 million, down €8 million from the previous year.
• Net income: €57 million.
• Free cash flow: €36 million.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Signify missed revenue expectations, with actual sales falling short of the forecasted €1.41 billion. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) forecast was €0.4336, but the actual EPS was not disclosed, making it difficult to assess the EPS performance directly. The revenue miss contributed to the stock’s negative reaction.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings release, Signify’s stock price dropped by 11.3%, closing at €20.40. This decline reflects investor concerns over the company’s performance and outlook, particularly in light of the missed revenue target. Despite the recent volatility, the company has demonstrated resilience with a 10.26% return over the past six months. Analyst price targets range from €17.61 to €38.75, suggesting diverse views on the stock’s potential. The company has maintained its dividend growth streak, having raised dividends for three consecutive years.

Outlook & Guidance

Signify expects low single-digit comparable sales growth for the full year, with an EBITDA guidance range of 9.6% to 9.9%. The company anticipates stronger performance in Q4 2025 and aims for free cash flow generation at 7-8% of sales. With a robust free cash flow yield of 15% and an Altman Z-Score of 5.93 indicating strong financial health, the company appears well-positioned to meet its targets. Access detailed financial analysis and the comprehensive Pro Research Report covering Signify and 1,400+ other stocks on InvestingPro. Guidance revisions for future quarters suggest EPS growth, with forecasts of €0.85 for Q3 2025 and €1.09 for Q4 2025.

Executive Commentary

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, highlighted the company’s strategic focus, stating, "Connected and Specialty Lighting now represent over a third of our total sales." He also noted strong growth in the connected lighting segment, emphasizing, "We’ve been growing across the board in connected and in some places with a strong double-digit performance."

Risks and Challenges

• Market saturation in traditional lighting segments.
• Uncertain economic conditions in key markets like China.
• Potential supply chain disruptions affecting production and distribution.
• Competitive pressures from other lighting companies.
• Challenges in maintaining cost optimization and resource allocation.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the impact of tariffs, which the company described as broadly neutral. Discussions also focused on marketing and sales investments, cost optimization strategies, and the dynamics of the Chinese market. These areas are crucial for Signify’s future performance and strategic direction.

Full transcript - Signify NV (LIGHT) Q2 2025:

Conference Operator: Hello. Welcome to the Signify second quarter and half year twenty twenty five results conference call hosted by Telco Kosanovich, CFO and interim CEO and Telco Kirtis, Head of Investor Relations. For the first part of this call, all participants will be in listen only mode. And afterwards, there will be a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press pound five on your telephone keypad.

Please note that you are limited to one question and a follow-up per round. I would now like to give the floor to Telka Gerdes. Ms. Gerdes, please go ahead.

Telka Gerdes, Head of Investor Relations, Signify: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Signify’s earnings call for the second quarter twenty twenty five. With me today is Zelka Kosanovic, Signify’s CFO and Interim CEO. During this call, Zeko will take you through the second quarter highlights. After that, he will present the company’s financial performance. And finally, he will discuss the outlook for the remainder of the year.

And after that, we will be happy to take your questions. Our press release and presentation were published at 07:00 this morning. Both documents are available for download from our Investor Relations website. The transcript of this earnings call will be made available as soon as possible. And with that, I will now hand over to Selko.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Thank you, Telke. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Let’s start with some of the highlights for the 2025 on Slide four. We increased the installed base of connected lighting points to 156,000,000 at the 2025 from 136,000,000 last year. Nominal sales decreased by 4.4% to €1,418,000,000, largely driven by a negative FX impact of 3%.

The comparable sales decline of 1.4% reflects a top line growth of 0.8% excluding the conventional business. The momentum in our business continued through the second quarter with comparable sales growth in both the professional and the consumer business. Connected and Specialty Lighting now represent over a third of our total sales. Connected and Specialty Lighting grew in all the regions in all businesses, showing the importance and the impact of our strategy. Adjusted EBITA decreased by euro by €8,000,000 to €110,000,000 The adjusted EBITA margin decreased by 10 basis points to 7.8% as the gross margin expansion was offset by a higher proportion of indirect costs.

The net income decreased to €57,000,000 primarily due to lower operating income and higher adjusted items. Finally, the free cash flow generation was €36,000,000 this quarter. I will now move to our four businesses. Starting with the professional business on slide five. The business returned to growth in the second quarter led by a strong performance of our US business.

The weakness we had seen in Europe over the past quarters is starting to weigh a lot less on our overall performance. While the trade channel remains weak, the reposse the repositioning of our business to capture opportunities in faster growing areas has allowed us to grow in connected and specialty lighting in all geographies and all segments across Europe. The nominal sales decreased by 2.9% to €931,000,000 including a negative currency effect of 3.1%. Adjusted EBITA decreased by €9,000,000 to €69,000,000 The gross margin remained robust as a result of effect of price and cost management. The adjusted EBITA margin decreased by 70 basis points to 7.4% as the fixed cost reductions were partly reinvested into mainly marketing and selling expenses to fuel our growth momentum.

Moving on to the consumer business on Slide six. Nominal sales decreased by 0.5% to €296,000,000 including a negative currency effect of 3.1%. Comparable sales grew by 2.6%, reflecting the continued momentum in the consumer business in most markets. Signify continued to see strong performance of its connected home products. The adjusted EBITA margin improved by 30 basis points to 7.4%, largely driven by volume growth.

Continuing now with the OEM business on Slide seven. Nominal sales decreased by 14.5% to €90,000,000, including a negative currency effect of 2.9%. Comparable sales declined by 11.6% as we expected as we continue to face intense price pressure for the non connected components. In addition, the effect of lower orders from two major customers as highlighted in in the previous quarter continued to weigh on the business top line. Connected Components, on the other hand, continued to grow in line with our strategy.

The adjusted EBITA margin decreased by two forty basis points to 8.5% as the gross margin was impacted by negative pricing, however, sequentially improving versus the last quarter. Given the pressure on the top line, the margin remained resilient, supported by action we had put in place to protect the bottom line. For the second half of the year, we expect the OEM business to be to perform similarly to the first half with ongoing price pressure and the continued impact from the two key customers as already observed in q one and in q two. Due to a shift in the timing of order fulfillment compared to last year, with deliveries moving from September to October, we anticipate a softer q three followed by a stronger comparable sales growth in q four. This shift will alter the typical seasonality pattern and influence the profitability split between the two quarters.

For the full year, we are continuing to expect an adjusted EBITA margin of mid to high single digits. And finally, the conventional business on Slide eight. Nominal sales decreased by 28.9% to €81,000,000 including a negative currency effect of 2.1%. Comparable sales were down 26.8%, in line with our expectations, reflecting the structural decline of the business. The adjusted EBITA margin improved by two ninety basis points to 18.6%, mainly driven by gross margin expansion on the back of discipline and price and cost management.

On the next slide, slide nine, I would like to discuss a couple of business highlights from q two. Starting off with the latest corporate nights ranking, we ranked sixth overall and first in The Netherlands in corporate nights Europe’s 50 most sustainable corporations ranking. Our high placement reflects our strong performance across a number of sustainability indicators such as sustainable revenue and investments, resource management, and responsible innovation. Our professional business has helped the city of Gothenburg in Sweden to become safer, smarter, and more sustainable. In total, installed 27,000 connected light points since 2018 that provide smart functionalities such as dynamic control, full detection, and enhanced safety through sensor based lighting.

The replacement of all lighting infrastructure has also led to energy saving of 80%, reduced light pollution, and lower operating cost, which supports further rollout of connected lighting across the city. The professional business also equipped the Samsung Nath Airport in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam with smart lighting. The equipment of the new t three domestic terminal of Ho Chi Minh City Airport is part of a number of projects we are delivering for the city. The smart lighting system enhances safety, comfort, and architectural aesthetics for up to 20,000,000 passengers annually. The lighting system features motion sensors and glare free illumination.

This is in alignment with Vietnam’s net zero ambition and signifies sustainability commitments. Moving on to the consumer business, we expanded the Philips Hue ecosystem with the Hue Play wall washer, which uses our exclusive color cast technology to deliver vibrant, wide angle gradients and lighting effects. When being synced to games, movies, or music, the PlayWallWasher reacts in real time with rich full color gradients and immersive effects. When not syncing, it also provides premium ambient light. Next, I would like to discuss our sustainability performance on Slide 10.

During the second quarter, we continued to track ahead of schedule to achieve our 2025 targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our entire our entire value chain by 40% against the 2019 baseline to double the pace required by the Paris Agreement. Circular revenues increased to 37%, up another percentage point since q one and surpassing the 2025 target of 32%. The main contribution was from serviceable luminaires in the professional business in all regions. Bratalized revenues remained at 33% and beyond the 2025 target of 32%. This includes strong contribution from tunable professional products and special lighting that support health and well-being.

The percentage of women in leadership position remained at 27% this quarter, which is clearly not aligned with our 2025 ambitions. We continue our actions to increase representation through focused hiring practices for diversity across all levels and through retention and engagement action to reduce attrition. Let me now dive into the financial highlights on slide 12 where we are showing the adjusted EBITDA bridge for total SIGNIFY. The adjusted EBITDA margin decreased by 10 basis points to 7.8% due to the following developments. The negative volume effect was 30 basis points, largely attributable to the decline of our con conventional business as we saw positive volume growth in the professional and consumer businesses.

The combined effect of price and mix was a negative 180 basis points. The effect of price erosion continued to stabilize or improve in most of our businesses. This effect is partially compensated by the decrease in our bill of material and other COGS savings, which had a positive effect of 140 basis points. I would like to highlight that the gross margin this quarter stood at a solid 4.4%, up 10 basis points from the high base of last year, reflecting our team’s disciplined price and cost management. Indirect costs improved by 50 basis points on adjusted EBITA margin level, reflecting the capture of savings from our cost reduction program.

As much as mentioned earlier, we have chosen to step up our investments, particularly into selling and marketing expenses to support the growth momentum. Finally, currency had a negative effect of only 10 basis point as we limited the effects of FX movements on our bottom line. On Slide 13, I’d like to zoom in our working capital performance during the quarter. Compared to the June, working capital reduced by €47,000,000 or by 40 basis points from 7.9% to 7.5% of sales. Inventories decreased by €77,000,000.

Receivable reduced by €67,000,000. Payables were a €108,000,000 lower. And finally, other working capital items reduced by €12,000,000. Let’s now continue with the outlook on slide 15. Based on our performance in the first half of the year and the growing momentum in our business, we are on track to achieve our guidance of low single digit comparable sales growth excluding the conventional business for the full year.

We are adding a range of 9.6% to 9.9 to our EBITDA guidance, underpinned by continued top line momentum and the disciplined execution of our cost plans. This reflects a somewhat different seasonality pattern this year compared to last year as this year will be more back end loaded with a heavier q four. And finally, we are continuing to expect the free cash flow generation in the range of 7% to to 8% of sales driven by strong cash conversion, particularly in the fourth quarter. Our share buyback program began in February and we already completed the share repurchase of 65,000,000 Euro of shares until the June. And with that, I will now hand back to the operator for the Q and A.

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, we are now ready to take your question. Our first question comes from Daniela Costa from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Daniela Costa, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Hi, good morning. Hope you can hear me well. I have one question and then I’ll use the follow-up opportunity if possible. But first, I guess to follow-up on your commentary that this year is going to be more towards Q4 and more back end loaded. I know you normally have a seasonality towards that.

But given your comments also regarding Q3, can you elaborate on like what gives you the confidence on that more stronger Q4? Is it sort of what volume assumptions do you have? What do you still have on carryover from December 2023 savings? Perhaps just by business, why you’re confident on that Q4 uptick?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. Good morning, Daniela. So again, to to to clarify on the first of all, on the full year, if we talk about the top line, so we confirm the guidance. So we confirm the plan. On the on the EBITA, we also confirm our guidance of stable EBITDA for the full year.

Now the the one element that is changed compared to the usual seasonality, we first of all, we always have a stronger h two than h one. That’s always the case. And we always have a stronger q four in general. Now this year, we expect a stronger pattern of seasonality in q four. This is driven by different factors.

First of all, on the top line, the momentum that we see building up will be stronger for consumers. So this means that we expect a strong q four and a stronger weight of the consumer business overall for Signify in q four. We see the building of the momentum to continue in the professional business. And then the reason for introducing or adding a range to our guidance in EBITDA is fundamentally because of the positioning of sales and the conversion, let’s say, of projects execution that is stronger in fourth quarter, but this is all underpinned in plan today to be delivered, albeit with a stronger seasonality in the last quarter.

Daniela Costa, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Sorry, and just the follow-up on that. How much do you still left of savings from the €200,000,000 and what are the tariff impacts that you factor into the guidance?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: So first on the cost savings specifically, so we have to keep it simple, we have now realized the full savings, the gross savings of €200,000,000 that were intended as a result of our restructuring program that was implemented. So we see that full gross savings has come through. So it’s fully realized to your question, and it’s fully in for the full year. At the same time, we have, of course, the effect part of those cost savings are offset by the effect of inflation, mainly salary inflation. And we have kept and consciously reinvest reinvested and re redeployed resources, especially on selling and marketing expenses or or r and d expenses, general and administration expenses have reduced.

So we see they have the the, let’s say, more impact of the savings. But on the selling and marketing, we are redeploying resources to ensure and to feed the momentum of growth in particular in the execution of our strategy and specifically to support our growth momentum in the connected and specialty business where we’ve seen a very strong improvement in in the last quarter. So the full savings are in and we have some reinvestments that are being done and of course, we will continue to adjust our costs where we have more headwinds in some parts of our business.

Daniela Costa, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: And and the tariffs part?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Tariffs, look, we had a very clear plan as we indicated in the previous quarter to deliver q two and to be prepared for h two. So the the plan, we are very pleased with the execution of the plan. The impact overall on our q two financial performance has been broadly neutral on top line and bottom line. So in line with what we expected, and we have the plan laid out to to be able to continue to adapt for the second half of the year as we were expecting. So there we are very much on track for the parts we can control in the scenario of tariffs that are known today.

So well in line with what we had planned and expected, which is well embedded and confirmed within our guidance.

Conference Operator: All right. Thank you. Our next question comes from Martin Wilkie from Citi.

Martin Wilkie, Analyst, Citi: Hey, good morning. Thank you. It’s Martin from Citi. The question was, again, just coming back to tariffs. And obviously, the tariff rates have been bought out so far in the quarter.

We probably don’t quite know what they’re going to be for the full year. But when you look at your pricing developments, and obviously, it’s still negative in the quarter, the ability or I mean, even the assumption that you have for the second half on pricing, how should we think about that? And obviously, your gross margin was quite strong in the quarter and you’ve been able to offset some negative price for productivity. But as you move into the second half, is that gross margin still protectable? How are you seeing the ability to pass on any required price increase?

And what’s the reaction to that from your customers? Thank you.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. Good morning, Martin. So indeed, I mean, we look at first of all, we have as we have indicated different levers that we are activating to adapt to the tariffs and, of course, looking overall how we manage the equation of price of cost and price and cost and gross margin. And we’ve been able to do so in general globally in Q2, but also specifically in The US. So we have implemented price that we intended that we needed to implement as part of those levels of mitigation.

And the price realization that we’ve achieved in Q2 was totally in line with our expectation. And as we see for the remainder of the year. We also expect to be able to drive the price realization. But again, more in general, the gross margin management and to be in control for the second half of the year as as we expected. So look, as you said, we cannot speculate on any evolution of the tariffs.

At least what we are very much in control and and driving with the right agility and anticipation is the deployment of all the plans and actions that we have originally defined, which includes price realization. So again, on price, on track with what we have planned for and expected, and we expect to be able to do so for the second half of the year.

Martin Wilkie, Analyst, Citi: Thank you. And just to follow-up on that. In terms of any volume reaction, obviously, one of fears is that higher pricing could lead to lower demand. And I guess that’s probably more likely or feared about in consumer products than it might be in your professional business. But has there been any negative volume reaction to putting up pricing to offset tariffs?

Or is it just too early to tell how the reaction might be from customers to these higher prices?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: What what I can say for our US business in general, overall minimal. What we have seen is that our momentum on demand, especially on projects, has remained very strong, especially in the project and the professional business. Anything, we’ve seen on the stock and flow part, a bit more of destocking than restocking. So that was probably not so much of pre buy patterns, more on the contrary, but not very material. So overall, let’s say the demand for us in in The US across all segments has has been very strong, intrinsic.

So not really impact. Of course, we had on top of that a bit of contribution from price. But on the on the demand side, I think there’s been very, very strong and and not not really impacted when you look at q two. Of course, the level of uncertainty remains high, but but from what we can see and, of course, supported by the pipeline of our project, I think we have we have yes. We are confident on the momentum for the business to continue for the second half.

Martin Wilkie, Analyst, Citi: Great. Thank you very much.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Akash Gupta from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Akash Gupta, Analyst, JPMorgan: Hi, good morning and thanks for your time. I have two as well. The first one is a follow-up on your comment earlier on Daniela’s question. So you were kind of indicating that Q4 you will have a bit stronger top line because of recovery in consumer and also the momentum that is building up in professional. I suppose that you may have some visibility on professional given the nature of the business, but can you comment on visibility you have in consumer because we have seen over time that you have been a bit optimistic in your assessment.

So I just want to gauge what could be the risk that we may not see a strong Q4 that you are anticipating? And on the same topic, will there be any difference in cost allocation in Q4 compared to, let’s say, Q4 of last year and also first three quarterly run rate? So the high margin in Q4, is this all function of top line? Or will there be any change in cost, maybe some of these marketing costs that you mentioned might go away in Q4? So that’s the first one.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. Good morning, Akash. So a few elements to try to address your your questions. So first of all, on the on the consumer business, I think the momentum that we see in in particular on the connected part of our business is giving us, I would say, across the different geographies because this is really consistent across all our geographies, quite a good level of visibility. And, of course, when we look at the different specific initiatives that we’ve been focusing on, I think think from that point of view, we have, I think, a a rather solid visibility on the momentum on what is expected.

Of course, for that business, q four is always, and that’s always been the case, a very strong quarter. It was the case last year where we were able to deliver quite in line with our expectations. So, look, I would say that the level of visibility there is quite is quite good and quite solid for the consumer business from from the top line perspective. Now to your question on the parameters of cost, of course, this is a quarter, again, which is very similar to what we see in general, which is helping quite significant or an improvement on the cost absorption mechanically, but we have also the additional effect of a further cost adjustment that we are taking in some parts of our business. Like, we are seeing parts of the business that are facing more headwinds.

There, we are making sure that we adapt and redeploy your resources and at the same time, investing for areas where we have a quite stronger or more predictable, let’s say, return on investment equation, which is a particular particularly the case of the consumer business. So linked to all those two phenomena, I think we would expect in q four a better contribution of the cost indirect cost absorption on the overall P and L of Signify for Q4.

Akash Gupta, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you. And my follow-up question is on corporate or elimination line where I think in this quarter you had minus $4,000,000 which was half sorry, not half, but less than half of roughly $10,000,000 you had in second quarter last year. So maybe if you can explain what is driving that and what shall we expect going forward on that corporate or elimination line? Thank you.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. So I think you’re referring to the others, right, which is where where we also so in the others, so one one important element here as we have mentioned and highlighted. So this is where we see some of our ventures or, you know, early stage growth platforms and pilot projects that are that are not yet integrated in in our in one of our four businesses. So when those ventures become, you know, mature and more scalable, then they are transferred into one of our global businesses. So it was, for example, the case several years ago with the agricultural lighting.

So we have a venture jointly invested with an industry leader in China to develop consumer connected solution, And this is more on on the connected space in in, let’s say, the Chinese IoT ecosystem. And this has been quite successful in in the first half of the year, and in particular, in q two, and this is what led to different factors. So there we have a very good momentum, which is probably a bit more on the positioning and the the successful execution of our strategy in in that specific venture, which has been helping and which is reported under these orders. So that’s the main factor and the main explanation, let’s say, to what you see translated also in the in the profit. Because beyond those ventures, you have some of our central costs that are reported early stage research, global costs.

But the main parameter to your question is fundamentally the performance and the contribution of the growth of this of this specific venture.

Chase Cotland, Analyst, Varnlanczhultzkampfer: Thank you.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Mark Hessling from ING. Please go ahead.

Mark Hessling, Analyst, ING: Yes. Thank you. Can we could you discuss the measures that you’ve taken on marketing and sales, which have accelerated the growth a bit? And what kind of things did you do? And is this a temporary effect?

This is a sort of lever that you can pull to increase the growth a bit, but at a higher cost? Just explaining a bit what happened there, please.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. Good morning, Mark. So I think maybe the way to look at it is how it’s, of course, supporting the execution of our strategy. As as I had mentioned earlier, what is very important for us, because this is really where we see strategy working, especially on connected and specialty where we’ve seen growth in in all our businesses, in all our segments, and in all our geographies, even in the context of, let’s say, an overall market demand that has not been necessarily significantly improving. But there, the way we’ve been also been able to do that so to give you an example, of course, the consumer business, there is a very key element of how we are driving the the ROI of demand activation.

So there we’ve been making sure for several quarters that we do that, and we are seeing the returns coming through. On the professional business, there are also our ability in particular in Europe. So if we talk about the professional Europe business, there we have engaged for a few quarters redeployment of our resources to be able to capture growth opportunities in segments where we saw opportunity, and this has a bear fruit. So I think there it’s really about repositioning ourselves in parts of the business that are more that have a better growth momentum and fully in line with our strategy. So this is really where we’ve been specifically and selectively redeploying our resources.

So this is something which, of course, we will continue to do. It will, in the end, contribute from, let’s say, the the cost absorption improvement as soon as the growth comes back. At the same time, we are also clearly readjusting and adapting in parts of the business which are facing more headwinds. So for example, we’ve seen in the first quarter stronger headwinds in the OEM business. We have taken steps there to adjust cost, which is also what explains the improvement of our profitability from q one to q two in that business.

And in other parts where we see more challenges, we are we are going to continue to optimize and redeploy. But fundamentally, it’s really about relooking at the sales and marketing investment that we can continue to feed to support the continuum of our growth momentum, which we have seen confirmed and strengthening in in the last quarter. And with that, we expect to see and to continue to strengthen the second half of the year.

Mark Hessling, Analyst, ING: Great. Great. That’s clear. And my second question is on China. Also in the first quarter, China was already improving a bit better than expected, but especially I think from the second quarter onwards, you have a much easier comparable base.

Can you maybe talk a bit about the dynamics that you’re seeing there?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Look, yes, indeed, in channel, we would I think it’s similar view that we that we indicated previously. I think q two was, again, growing in both the consumer and the professional business. We do not see fundamental changes or improvement, let’s say, in the in the structural market dynamics. So this is, I would say, much more the the outcome of of actions and refocused refocusing our strategy that has has again been delivering results in line with our expectation. And we will remain, I would say, you know, cautiously optimistic for the for the remainder of the year.

Mid longer term, I think there we know that there are great opportunities that will continue to be there. We have a small market share. We have a very clear model and a clear strategy to capture opportunities. But in the shorter term, I would say, is to continue to to focus on the actions that we have selected. But overall, we do not foresee a significant improvement of the market environment.

So would say the indication there would be very similar to what we we said. But on the back of q two, that is giving us a stronger confidence on our execution capability. Again, reminding that this is with a a very strong profitability and cash generation model, which gives us a lot of agility also to redeploy resources with with with the right agility to to to gain momentum where there are opportunities. So it’s it’s look. It’s it’s a better, more optimistic, let’s say, compared to a quarter ago, but on the market itself, similar and cautiously cautious still on the on the market demand side.

Mark Hessling, Analyst, ING: Great. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question comes from Sven Pryor from Please go ahead.

Sven Pryor, Analyst: Yes. Morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions and doing the call. I mean, my first question is also a little bit alluding to what you already said in terms of your cost agility. And I mean, of course, as we can all see, the market is not going to get any better anytime soon.

Also into next year, I think the leading indicators are not super promising. And the effects of your big cost saving program are all in the bag. So my question really is, what is the scope for you that you can do another big program like this? I mean, is there still potential to make significant further cuts? Or would the next step also be have to think about maybe also discontinuing business in some regions where margins are just not sufficient enough?

That’s the first question. Thank you.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. Good morning, Sven. So look. I mean, first of all, the the, yeah, the big or large enterprise level kind of cost resizing program we implemented was very much needed to adapt, let’s say, to the to the reality of the demand, but also was done at the time where we were redesigning our our operating model with a much more customer centric and by design, much more agile model to run the specific businesses. So I would say to your question, I think two parts.

First, making sure that we have that agility, and this is really what we’ve been focusing on. The agility on the allocation of resources to support successful execution of our strategy. And the successful execution of our strategy, whether the market demand is is, you know, more favorable or not, I think, clearly, that’s what we’ve been able to do in the last quarter. Connected and specialty now represents over a third of our business. We’ve been growing across the board in in connected and in some places, you know, with a strong double digit despite of a market environment that is not necessarily significantly improved.

And we’ve seen also our analysis indicates that we’ve, in most of the parts, gained market share. So I think the one part which is very important is making sure that we apply the the right agility and anticipation to invest and fuel the growth momentum and the execution of our strategy. On the other hand, we will continue to keep doing and probably a bit more specifically in each of the businesses to adjust and to optimize our cost base, which could include indeed in some cases where we do not have the right return or value creation line of sights to readjust and to redeploy to parts where we do have a better a better output. So I think the the big difference has been to to the way we we have kind of engaged our our cost resizing is I think we’ve done a lot on the central part of the organization. And now it’s probably much more agile and much more adapted to each and every specific businesses and, of course, then at the level each and every session specific region.

So, yes, we will continue to do optimization of costs, but probably not in a major and certainly not in a major cost resizing program like the one that we have successfully deployed in in the in the last in the last eighteen months.

Sven Pryor, Analyst: Second question I had was just and and maybe it’s a bit early to ask, but, the expectation on the new CEO, I was just wondering in terms of his mandate from the board. I mean, is it to keep the status quo in terms of the company, the structure? Or will he have kind of full flexibility to do what whatever he thinks is the right thing to do?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Look, I mean, Sven, just he’s given asked we’ll be on board effective September. So very, very shortly, I think you will have the opportunity to have a firsthand view on the on the on the outlook. Look, I think we are preparing, of and course, and making sure that it’s a very smooth transition on onboarding, but I would say it’s it’s going to be all about leading and continue on driving the success of the company with a clear strategy and and all the adjustment that will be needed that that he will be able to do. So, Luca, I think he will probably be in a better position to give you a first a firsthand answer to your to your question, but I I think it’s so stay tuned very, very soon. You will be able to hear first hand from us.

Sven Pryor, Analyst: Sounds good. Thank you, Jacob.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Thank you.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Chase Cotland from Varnlanczhultzkampfer. Please go ahead.

Chase Cotland, Analyst, Varnlanczhultzkampfer: Hi, good morning all, and thank you for taking my questions. I have two, both on the Professional business. Firstly, you’ve obviously commented that you saw some strong demand in The U. S. Across Q2.

I’m curious, did you see any sort of pull forward effect, pre tariffs or any pre buying sort of benefits? Think Appear The U. S. Also spoke to that. So I’m curious on what you’re seeing from customers there.

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Yes. Good morning. So I think I briefly mentioned that earlier, just to come back, I think, in general, what we saw in Q2, broadly speaking, no positive pre buy contribution on the demand side. If anything, we’d rather seen, I mean, a neutral, let’s say, the on the project side of the business, but on the stock and flow, we’ve seen probably a bit more of wait and see, hence a bit more destocking than stocking actually in the in the second quarter, but in overall not not really material. So I think it’s not been, let’s say, a a positive, you know, accelerator of of our growth performance in in the second quarter linked to this pre buy effect.

At least that’s not what we’ve seen, by the way, both in in professional and in consumer.

Chase Cotland, Analyst, Varnlanczhultzkampfer: Okay. Very clear. And my second question, I think in Q1, spoke quite clearly about a weak European professional business and how that weighed on the margin. And I assume the situation is still the same, but I didn’t see any particular commentary about it in press release. But I’m curious on, yes, is there still quite a margin drag there in Q2 from the weak European market?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: So here, maybe what I can say on the Professional Europe, actually, we’ve seen a sequential improvement in the in the second quarter. Our our analysis from our analysis indicates that we gain market share. What’s important is that we actually saw growth in connected and specialty in all the segments, indoor, outdoor, in all the geographies in the in the second quarter. So positive growth in office and industry, retail and hospitality in in also back to growth in in public. So I think it’s been a very positive momentum.

Now at the same time, we’ve seen continue to see softness on the on the trade part and particularly offline trade stock and flow part of the business in Europe across the board. But I think it’s a it’s a bit more contrasted and a better, let’s say, an improved sequential dynamic specifically linked to the execution of our strategy. And this is very important because there is the outcome also of actions we’ve taken to reposition ourselves, which has started to bear fruits and gives us confidence. So I think it’s it’s a more contrast and hence the effect on the drag on profitability. As you rightly pointed, it was still strong in q one because we had a high comparison base, has been less of an impact in the in the second quarter.

As we expected, this is going to stabilize. It has stabilized in q two and will stabilize for the remainder of the year. So this is indeed, as you pointed, not as much of a drag on the profitability equation coming from the Professional Europe business as it was in previous quarters.

Chase Cotland, Analyst, Varnlanczhultzkampfer: All right. Perfect. That’s very helpful. Thank you.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Adam Parr from Rothschild and

Daniela Costa, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Co. Redburn.

Mark Hessling, Analyst, ING: Please go.

Adam Parr, Analyst, Rothschild and Redburn: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just the one for me, thanks. Could you please talk a little bit about pricing in connected versus non connected, what you’re seeing there in the quarter and how you expect that to develop going forward, please?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: So good morning. What I can say is the pricing trend, first of all, overall has continued to be stable and even improving. Of course, the execution of our of our strategy in in connected and specialty is is supportive to that that dynamic. And there we talk about, of course, price and mix combined, if you like. So there are clearly there is a there is a link in what we see on on the the dynamic of price in general with the execution of our strategy and the growth momentum we see in the in the connected and and specialty part of the business.

Adam Parr, Analyst, Rothschild and Redburn: Perhaps just a quick follow-up if I can on particularly on Connected. Do you see sort of in line with increased marketing spend going into the bigger seasonal quarters for sales 3Q and 4Q, particularly in the consumer business really, I’m wondering here. Do you sort of envision having to perhaps cut costs in the connected business sorry, cut prices in the connected business in addition to the typical marketing spend you’d see just to sort of support volumes there? Or is that not something you might see at the moment?

Zelko Kosanovic, CFO and Interim CEO, Signify: Look, I think, again, in in general, think that’s what we’ve been able to, you know, I think to demonstrate over the the last few quarters. We manage the gross margin as a whole. So I think we really look at all those parameters in combination in a way that is, you know, consistent and cohesive. So look, I think all those parameters and and we typically and in the consumer business, I think we have a a playbook and a model to be able to do that successfully. So we expect to continue to do that.

I mean, of course, it’s it’s always a bit more of a, let’s say, a holistic equation that that the teams have to manage, but there we have the proof points, which has been the case in the high season as we saw last year. Strong delivery on sales with the the return on investment and the translation of that into the profitability expansion. So this is what we are expecting to to replicate and enhance further this year.

Chase Cotland, Analyst, Varnlanczhultzkampfer: Okay. Thank you very much.

Conference Operator: Thank you. And with that, I will now hand turn call back over to Telco Gairdes for any closing remarks.

Telka Gerdes, Head of Investor Relations, Signify: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining our earnings call today. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Again, thank you very much, and enjoy the rest of your day.

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