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The surge in profitability came despite revenue remaining almost static, at just under €14.1m in the 12 months to the end of March this year. The Irish Independent recently reported that Nualight was preparing to return significant capital to shareholders. The company did not respond to requests seeking comment at the time. Nualight, whose backers include Eamonn Quinn, has previously noted that input costs were declining. Its latest accounts show that its cost of sales fell to €5.5m from €7.2m. “Price deflation continues to be a feature in the LED lighting industry,” the directors note in the latest accounts, which were signed off in June this year. “So while the company expects to significantly increase market share through increases in unit sales, overall revenues will not increase at the same rate,” they add. “It is a competitive market, but the company has the appropriate cost base to enable it to compete effectively.” Nualight recently freed up €3.6m to distribute to shareholders, following a €35.7m capital reduction. Apart from Mr Quinn, whose family sold their Superquinn business in 2005 for €450m, Nualight’s other backers include London-based Climate Change Capital, Enterprise Ireland, Adaxia Capital Partners and the ESB Novusmodus cleantech fund. Investors have injected millions of euro into Nualight since it was founded in 2004. A potential sale of the business could value Nualight in the region of €30m. Nualight, which employs about 20 people, provides LED lighting solutions, primarily to the retail trade. Its products are designed to help retailers boost sales through the use of specialised lighting in display cases, and also to help improve overall energy efficiency. It has customers all over the world, with clients included Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Starbucks and Spar. In 2016, Nualight sold some of its Netherlands-based assets to San Diego- based Fulham. That sale generated sufficient cash to enable Nualight to fully repay external borrowing facilities in its Netherlands business. The sale also left additional cash that was reinvested in the group’s core business. The chief executive of Fulham, Antony Corrie, did not respond to an email earlier this month seeking comment. Fulham provides lighting solutions for commercial use, such as emergency exits, refrigeration and horticulture. It also has a number of other specialised lighting products. Nualight’s accumulated losses hit about €40m during the last decade and in 2016 it completed a major restructuring to place it on a sounder financial footing. “We have an active medium to long-term product development programme which strengthens and expands our two core product families, Orion and Ion,” the most recent set of accounts note. “Subject to unforeseen difficulties, the directors consider the company to be in a strong position to take advantage of the many opportunities in the respective markets,” the directors added.
