Beacon Lighting Group Limited (BLX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Beacon Lighting First Half FY 2026 Financial Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to hand the conference over to Beacon Lighting Group Executive Chairman, Mr. Ian Robinson. Ian, please go ahead.

Thank you, Andrew. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Beacon Lighting's Half Year Financial Year 2026 Results Presentation. My name is Ian Robinson, Executive Chairman, Beacon Lighting, and I'm joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Glen Robinson; and our Chief Financial Officer, David Speirs. The first half of financial year 2026 represents another period of solid progress for Beacon Lighting. We continue to execute against our 2030 strategy with our ambition to be an even split between trade and retail sales firmly on track. Trade once again delivered strong outcomes, reflecting the strength of our customer partnerships and value proposition. In retail, we did experience some softening in consumer sentiment following the shifts in interest rate expectations, which led to a more cautious spending and trading down within the categories despite the backdrop of our business has remained resilient during this period. The results underpin the dedication of our team and the continued support of our customers and our trade partners. Turning to today's agenda. Glen will begin with an overview of our operating performance, followed by David, who will take us through the financial results in detail. Then we will return to our outline of growth priorities and outlook before we open calls for questions. With that, I'll now hand over to Glen to take us through the results.

Thank you, Ian, and good morning, everyone. As always, the full presentation that I'll run through is available on the ASX and our corporate website. Turning to Page 4 sets out our statutory results for the first half of financial year 2026. At a statutory level, sales increased by 3.2% to $176 million, with a gross profit up 2.8% to $121.6 million. Gross margin remained strong at 69.1%, broadly consistent with the prior year. Operating expenses increased by 5.3%, reflecting continued investment in the store network and trade capability, which resulted in EBITDA of $46.9 million, down 0.9% on the prior period. Statutory net profit after tax for the half was $16.5 million, a decline of 6% on the prior year. This half year, the statutory result includes a number of nonrecurring items. To provide a clearer view of our underlying trading performance, we have adjusted for these items in the underlying results are shown on Page 7, which is the basis for our discussion today. First half 2026 underlying result on Page 5. On an underlying basis, sales increased 3.4% to $176.3 million. Gross profit rose to $121.9 million with a gross profit margin of 69.1%, which is mostly consistent with last year and highlighting the ongoing strength of the product and sourcing model. Other income increased 7.4%, largely due to interest earned on the group's cash balance and income from property assets. Operating expenses increased 4.3%, representing 42.8% of sales. As a result, underlying EBITDA increased 1.2% to $47.9 million and an EBITDA margin of 27.2%. Underlying net profit after tax was $17.2 million, down 2.1% on the prior period. Moving to Page 6. I'll step through the key operational highlights for the half. We continue to invest in our store network, opening 4 new stores in Auburn, St. Kilda, Millers Junction and Geelong. St. Kilda was acquired from a franchise into a company ownership, while Geelong was relocated to a significantly larger and more prominent site. Together, these initiatives reflect both network expansion and store optimization aligned to our 2030 store strategy. Company store comparable sales improved in Q2 following some softness in August and September, which coincided with the RBA's guidance on potential interest rate increases. From an efficiency perspective, we undertook several prudent restructures across Beacon Lighting USA, the installations team and the group support center, while also changing the Beacon Trade rebate structure to better support our trade customers. These actions focused on simplifying the business, improving customer experience and reducing costs. Beacon Trade remained a key highlight. In-store trade sales increased by 12.6%, supported by continued engagement with our trade customers and improved in-store execution. This was complemented by online trade sales growth of 14.5%, reflecting increased digital adoption supported by an omnichannel experience. Innovation continues to be a core differentiator for Beacon. During the half, we designed and developed 448 new products, reinforcing the strength of our vertically integrated pipeline across lighting, ceiling fans and electrical accessories. With that, I'll now hand you over to David to take you through the financial results in a little more detail.

Thank you, Glen. Sales on Page 8. The Beacon Lighting Group achieved a sales increase of 3.4% to $176.3 million. Company store comparative sales increased by 0.4% with a stronger sales performance in Q2 compared to Q1. The best performed states from a comparative sales perspective were Queensland and Western Australia. The Beacon International Group increased sales by 13.5%. What was particularly pleasing about this result was that the sales increased across all regions being Hong Kong, Europe and the United States. The trade results were a little mixed across stores, but there was an overall increase of 12.6% in total trade sales, which continued to underpin the store sales results. It is pleasing to note that Stores, Commercial, Connected Light Solutions and Custom Lighting all had positive sales increases in half 1 financial year '26. Gross profit on Page 9. The Beacon Lighting Group has increased the gross profit dollars to $121.9 million or an increase of 3.6% The gross profit margins were 69.1% of sales, which remained consistent with prior year results. The change in the product mix towards trade is impacting upon the gross margin. However, being a vertically integrated business and continue refreshing the product range in stores has helped to maintain the gross profit margins. Beacon Lighting aims to refresh that 20% of the core products each year. This continual innovation helps to inspire our retail and trade customers and support the gross profit margins. Operating expenses on Page 10. With the Beacon Lighting investment in the large format property fund, the growth in other income is beginning to be supported by the returns from this investment. Beacon Lighting continues to experience inflationary pressure with some of our operating expenses and management of expenses continues to be a focus of the Beacon Lighting team. Beacon Lighting has modestly increased the investment in marketing by 3.7% and general and administration expenses have increased by 2.3%. With the opening of new stores, relocating of existing stores, refurbishing others, selling and distribution expenses have increased by 4.8%. As a result of the lease accounting, investment in stores and other business projects, depreciation has increased by 2.9% and finance costs have increased by 2.6%. The cash flow on Page 11. Beacon Lighting has generated net operating cash flow of $27.8 million in half 1 financial year '26. The group has continued to invest in the future of the group with CapEx of $6.4 million. $3.3 million has been invested into the large-format property fund to fund recent acquisitions and provide some capital for the current development projects. In half 1 financial year '26, Beacon Lighting made a $6.9 million dividend payment to shareholders. Balance sheet on Page 12. Beacon Lighting has continued to strengthen the cash position of the group, finishing December 2025 with a balance of $54.5 million, consisting of $44.5 million in cash and a term deposit of $10 million. Leading into the Chinese New Year, the inventory balance has increased to $101.2 million. Investment in the large-format property fund has increased to $29.1 million. Beacon Lighting borrowings have increased, but the group has maintained a strong net cash position. Dividends on Page 13. The Board of Directors have made a change. The Beacon Lighting Group dividend reinvestment plan has been suspended. The directors have declared a fully franked dividend of $0.041 per share for half 1 '26, which is consistent with the dividends from last year. Current dividend has a record date of the 6th of March and a payment date of the 27th of March. Going forward, the annual dividend payout ratio is expected to be between 50% to 60% of the net profit after tax. Thank you, and I will now pass you back to Glen.

Thanks, David. Let's turn to Page 14, where we will highlight our strategic pillars of growth. Many of you will be familiar with the 4 strategic pillars. These have remained consistent for many years as we focus on our long-term growth across stores, trade, e-commerce and complementary businesses. Page 15 outlines our vision for the Beacon store network through to 2030. Our ambition is to evolve from being seen as a lighting retailer to becoming Australia's leading provider of quality lighting and electrical accessories for both homeowners and trade professionals. The strategy brings retail and trade together in a way that is natural and mutually reinforcing. For homeowners, Beacon is the destination for inspiration, expertise and design guidance. For trade professionals, Beacon is a trusted partner, recognizing their influence, rewarding their loyalty and supporting the growth of their business. At the intersection of these 2 customer groups sits Beacon, becoming the homeowners' first choice and the electrician's most valuable partnership and the partner that can bring both the trade and the homeowner together to complete the job. Turning to Page 16 provides an update to our store strategy growth pillar. We finished the first half of FY '26 with 130 stores, including 129 company-owned locations, reinforcing the scale and reach of our national network. We opened a net 2 new company stores. But just as importantly, we invested in the customer experience by expanding McGrath Hill and relocating Geelong, along with several other minor refurbishments. Our product and service offer remains central to the strategy by releasing an exciting and innovative range across decorative, ceiling fans and electrical products. Within our 48 design studios across Australia, we completed more than 1,900 consultations, reinforcing Beacon stores as the destination for inspiration and expertise in lighting design, supported by our team who are bond university qualified lighting designers. Finally, updated network research confirms the opportunity to grow to around 217 stores nationally, providing a clear and disciplined runway to support our long-term growth ambitions. Page 17 highlights our continued progress in trade and its critical role in our long-term strategy. Total trade now represents 41.7% of relevant sales, well on our way to achieving 50% by FY 2028. We continue to strengthen our trade proposition, partnering closely with electricians, builders, architects and designers across lighting, fans and electrical accessories. During the half, we simplified the Beacon Cash rebate and improved engagement with direct trade customers. We continue to gain market share in behind-the-wall electrical products, including cable, switches and sockets. Our success in trade has changed the sales patterns throughout the week, but also throughout the year from what was typically a retail cycle, we now operate on both a retail and trade sales pattern. Beacon Commercial also continues to grow in sales and market share, further broadening our exposure to the volume residential market. Moving to Page 18. E-commerce continues to grow as an important channel for both retail and trade. Online sales now represent 13.1% of store sales, supported by improved traffic and conversion across beaconlightning.com.au and beacontrade.com.au. But it also reflects the importance and strength of an omnichannel business with the majority of our customers researching online but purchasing in-store. Trade remains a key driver online with online trade sales up 14.5% and now accounting for 15.1% of direct trade sales. This growth is supported by strong engagement from our trade customer base, trust in the brand and great partnering with our team in store to support the online purchase process. Our digital platforms remain closely integrated with the store network, offering same-day delivery in major metropolitan areas at 1-hour click and collect. In parallel, we continue to progress a major replatforming and upgrade to support future scale and capability of our websites. These new websites will be launched in financial year 2027. Talking to Page 19. Our complementary businesses delivered a mixed but overall positive contribution during the first half. Beacon International sales increased well with 13.5% with growth across all regions. Connected Light Solutions and Custom Lighting delivered sales growth, while Masson for Light and Light Source Solutions in New Zealand were softer over the period. Pleasingly, Connected Light Solutions secured a significant contract to replace existing street lights with new energy-efficient LED infrastructure. We also continue to benefit from our 50% interest in the large-format property fund, which owns 9 retail properties, including recent acquisitions in Coffs Harbour and Noosa. The portfolio comprises of 4 fully tenanted properties, 2 partially tenanted properties and 3 development projects, providing a mix of income and future growth opportunities. Together, these businesses continue to diversify earnings and broaden the group's growth platform. Moving to Page 21 with the group outlook. Retail sales have moderated slightly from the sales in half 1 2026. Trade sales growth has further strengthened into the start of half 2 FY 2026. During half 2, we'll continue to implement the 2030 store network strategy, including progressing our store refurbishment program in selected locations and using updated network research to identify new store opportunities. Beacon Trade will continue to deepen partnerships with both new and existing trade customers, including electricians, builders, architects and interior designers, supporting growth across lighting, fans and electrical. We will continue to invest in Australian design lighting and fan ranges, including opportunities to expand into international markets while maintaining a strong focus on quality and innovation in energy-efficient products to support both retail and trade customers. With these priorities in place, we remain focused on disciplined execution of our strategy through the second half. Thank you for your time. I'll hand you back to Ian Robinson to take any questions.

Thank you, Glen and David, for your presentations. Ladies and gentlemen, we're now happy to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Sonia [Chatayava] from Jarden.

Can you guys give us any color on what drove moderation in year-to-date trends for retail and whether you are seeing any signs of retail customer coming back?

Yes. Thanks, Sonia. Look, what we saw throughout the half with the retail spend was, we got a way pretty well for July, but about mid-August to late August when the RBA started to talk about rate increases, we did start to see comp sales being impacted there with just consumer confidence pulling back quite dramatically. And that affected really the months of August and September and a little bit of October. So that first quarter ended up being a tougher period than what we probably first expected when we first saw the results, particularly from where we left off in June into July, we started to see a fair bit of confidence in the market and the comp sales were quite strong compared to what we have seen previously. And then it really got unfortunately, kicked in the pants in the middle of August, which did challenge us for 6 to 8 weeks, and then we come into the October -- late October and then, of course, the November Black Friday campaigns, which ended up being quite a strong period for us. So as we said in the presentation deck, Q2 was stronger than Q1. And -- but it does swing a little bit on where that consumer confidence is. What we're seeing at the moment in our half 2 outlook statement is, obviously, we've had our first rate increase, and that needs to be digested by our consumers out there. But we have seen further strengthening in our trade customers. So trade continues to be stronger at a stronger rate than what we went through the first half at. And I think that's really just us concentrating on what we can control in the stores, and that is making sure we're contacting our trade customers, learning about what projects they're working on and growing in our market share in that channel.

And it seems like no store openings planned for the next 12 months. Can you please share when your store pipeline will come back to 4 stores per year? When should we expect that? And any color there?

Yes. I mean that is -- it's a core process for us or core strategy of ours in the 2030 strategy is to try to open 4 stores per annum. And if there were 4 sites available, we will be absolutely jumping into those. We may get one in the second half. That's still yet to be determined. But we do have a good pipeline of stores that we've earmarked and we've got commitments on. But it's just how quickly they can come out of the ground or how quickly we can grab them. So we still really want to focus on 4 stores per annum. I think we'll get closer to that next year, if not potentially achieve the 4, but it is still relatively difficult to get sites out there. We would love them. We've got plenty of opportunity from a store network expansion point of view. And we've also got the property sites that we've been investing in. So we've got development sites at Coffs Harbour, Noosa and Bathurst in our own property portfolio, so we can build those sites, but they do take time to build. So just working through that at the moment.

And just last one for me. What do you see in terms of trading conditions in housing markets? Like can you share us how do you see forward order book? And how is your commercial segment performance is looking?

Yes. Look, it's varied. I think from a housing market, I think we're starting to see some recovery and the commercial business has been performing well again this year. And if there is further development across both first home buyers and also into the second and third areas and along with renovation, that will definitely bode well for us. I think what we've -- why I say it's varied is that there are some states that are doing exceptionally well and the confidence is high and people are willing to invest in their house. And I talk about states like Queensland and WA, where we've seen fantastic performance for the past 5 years. But that has been supported by really strong house price growth since -- I had to look at some numbers since 2019. Queensland has doubled in price since 2019. But unfortunately, states like Victoria and New South Wales, New South Wales has been okay, but Victoria hasn't seen that growth. And therefore, homeowners are less likely to invest into a renovation when they're not seeing the house price growth. So that's why it is quite varied at the moment. We would like to see some improved confidence in the Victoria and New South Wales market and see a bit more stronger house price growth to pull on the renovation market. But I think the new build will continue to be quite supportive for us.

And your next question comes from Leo Armati from Bell Potter Securities.

Just a couple from me. Firstly, just on market share. You mentioned in the deck that in both trade and commercial, you increased market share there. This -- I guess, for the broader trade segment, it was around 6%, I think, as last reported. Is there any color on how much you increased that market share by?

Well, look, we can look at market share for our typical products that would also be purchased through the likes of electrical wholesaler. We can see that we're picking up some share there because we really didn't have much market in those products in the past across those categories. So when you talk about switches and sockets and cable, we really didn't have any sales in those categories a couple of years ago, and now they're becoming to be quite an important part of our business. So we can see we're growing market share there. We're growing in our trade sales, which those trade customers have the choice to be able to buy from Beacon or buy from electrical wholesale channels or Bunnings trade. And that market is growing at 12%, 13% and further strengthening into the second half. So that's where we can see that we are picking up some market share there.

Yes. Great. And just on gross margins, I guess, fairly flat is pretty good, especially given trade contribution, which you think would pull it down a bit more. Can you just talk to sort of that margin profile between trade and retail?

Yes. Look, probably the part that impacted the gross profit margin was really around cable. We have significantly sold a lot more cable than what we have in the prior period. And cable is really the product -- it's an absolute commodity product that you use to get the electricians into the store so we can talk to them about other products. And that strategy is working for us, but it is going to drag down gross profit margin. So you could almost attribute the entire small decline that we saw into the cable. But that's okay because we want to sell more cable to more electricians and have the opportunity to cross-sell into other products like ceiling fans and downlights and other trade products that those customers need. So we're definitely comfortable with where the GM is at the moment. I think the FX will be supportive of our gross profit margins into the second half. But we are potentially starting to see some price increases coming through from our suppliers overseas as well and also on copper, which cable is 95% copper, and that price has obviously increased quite a bit as well. So costs are looking like we're starting to see some increases in costs, which will feed through into higher prices through our stores as well. I don't think it's going to be dramatic, but it will start to push things up a bit.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Jonathan Rabinovitz from [PAPO Reco].

How should we think about the gross margin trajectory given the sales mix shift sort of more of a medium-term question. And in the more medium term, the competitive environment, promotional intensity and other margin headwinds that you might be seeing, I'd love some comments on that, please.

Yes. I think generally speaking, GM has been stable for really the past 5 years. We've got the GM to a new level, and that's through product innovation, better buying, sourcing from different countries even. But as we continue to grow with trade, and we want it to be 50% of our business, we will probably see a bit of a pullback in gross profit margins. And that's to be expected. We continue to sell more and more cable and become a bigger supplier to our electricians in particular, you're going to see a bit of a pullback in margin. But the benefit of our vertically integrated model is that we're buying direct from the factory, bringing it through our own supply chain, using our own marketing to generate that aspiration for that product and selling it through our own stores. So where many of our competitors are buying through importers, wholesalers in the Australian market, we don't have to go through that type of channel. So there is obviously through our supply chain, there is an in-built protection across that margin. Now what we're seeing from the competitive landscape out there, I think when the consumer is feeling a little bit under pressure, which no doubt they are in some states, you do start to see more value being needed across the different markets, and we've got to respond to that. So if we've got to offer more value products then -- and we are at the moment, offering value products, we need to be able to be very competitive on those value lines, make sure we're at the right price points. If a customer wants a ceiling fan at $79.95, we've got a ceiling fan at $79.95. They want a downlight at $12.95, we've got a downlight at $12.95. So just making sure we hit those key price points to ensure that we're catering to all customers depending on where they sit on the value and the budget required for their home.

And our next question is from [Raymond Jang].

This is just a question about the U.S.A. business. I noticed that in the last 2 financial years, you've reported sales declines. Can you provide a picture of what it looks like at the moment?

Yes. So we've got sales increases in the U.S. business. It's still only moderate increases of where we were, but at least we're now growing again. We've made some restructuring over there in the U.S. business just to help with the cost side of the business. But I think what we saw for a lot of -- and we are pretty well a pure-play business over in the U.S. online only was that, you go through the COVID period and there was a big uplift in sales. But as customers then return to more normal buying behavior across both online and in the bricks-and-mortar channel, online, if you were only exposed to online, we were -- we, like other businesses that reported over there, took a sales hit. And it's a relatively immature business. We're still learning where the best sales opportunities are in the U.S. It's obviously a very big market, but we are still a very small business. And from an international perspective, our -- probably our best business model is the one from Hong Kong, where we can sell in container lots into -- I think we're selling into 40 -- over 40 different countries now from Hong Kong, and it's a much easier business model rather than trying to sell single units to a consumer in the American market. So we're still working on that business to grow because it's an important -- it can be an important market for us, and it leverages what we design and develop here in Melbourne. And it's good to see the business is back in growth despite having less resources over there, and we'll continue to try to grow that business, but it's not a big part of the overall group.

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Glen Robinson for closing remarks.

Okay. Well, thank you, everyone. Just to reiterate, we're firmly focused on what we can control in our business. So the building market within our trade business, providing our customers with both retail and trade with great value, supported by a trusted brand in great locations across Australia. We see the housing backdrop continue to improve and consumer confidence will hopefully start to build. And that, along with our strategies will put us in a really strong position to achieve our mid- and longer-term goals. So I want to thank you for your interest this morning and the interest in Beacon Lighting, and we look forward to giving you further updates in the future. Thank you.

That does conclude the conference today. Thank you for participating.