Beacon Lighting Group Stock price
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = A$412.82m | Revenue (TTM) = A$340.44m
Market Cap = A$412.82m | Estimated Revenue = A$364.58m
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = A$529.76m | Revenue (TTM) = A$340.44m
Enterprise Value = A$529.76m | Forward Revenue = A$364.58m
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF) | ex SBC
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF compares a company’s enterprise value with its free cash flow. The metric therefore shows the multiple of current free cash flow at which a company is valued. EV/FCF ex SBC additionally accounts for stock-based compensation (SBC). While SBC does not represent a direct cash outflow, issuing shares as compensation can dilute existing shareholders. Therefore, SBC is deducted from free cash flow in this adjusted version.
🧮 How is it calculated?
EV/FCF ex SBC = Enterprise Value ÷ (Free Cash Flow (TTM) − SBC)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV/FCF provides a valuation based on free cash flow and therefore complements earnings-based valuation metrics such as the P/E ratio. The ex SBC version additionally accounts for the economic impact of stock-based compensation and provides a more conservative view from a shareholder perspective.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF means that enterprise value is low relative to current free cash flow. The reasons should always be considered in the context of the company and its industry.
- A high EV/FCF means that enterprise value is high relative to current free cash flow. This can, for example, reflect high growth expectations or temporarily weak cash generation.
- When SBC is positive and adjusted free cash flow remains positive, EV/FCF ex SBC is generally higher than the standard EV/FCF.
- The metric is particularly useful for companies with relatively stable and predictable cash flows.
- If free cash flow is negative or very low, EV/FCF has limited usefulness and should not be interpreted like a standard valuation multiple.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF) | ex SBC
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow shows how much cash remains after a company has covered its operating and capital expenditures. FCF ex SBC additionally deducts stock-based compensation (SBC) to adjust the cash flow for the effect of non-cash SBC.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free Cash Flow ex SBC = Operating Cash Flow − SBC − Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s actual financial strength – independent of reported accounting earnings. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction. FCF ex SBC also deducts stock-based compensation and shows how much cash generation remains after SBC.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow indicates that a company has strong financial strength – independent of reported earnings.
- It is often a solid basis for sustainable dividends and share buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be a warning sign, even if reported earnings remain stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net Margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free Cash Flow Margin | ex SBC
📈 What is it?
The Free Cash Flow Margin shows how much free cash flow a company generates relative to its revenue. In simplified terms, free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. The Free Cash Flow Margin ex SBC additionally accounts for stock-based compensation (SBC). While SBC does not represent a direct cash outflow, issuing shares as compensation can dilute existing shareholders. Therefore, SBC is deducted from free cash flow in this adjusted metric.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free Cash Flow Margin ex SBC = (Free Cash Flow − SBC) ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
The Free Cash Flow Margin shows how efficiently a company converts its revenue into free cash flow. Strong free cash flow can provide financial flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, debt repayment, or further investments. The ex SBC version additionally accounts for the economic impact of stock-based compensation and therefore provides a more conservative view of cash generation from a shareholder perspective.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high Free Cash Flow Margin shows that a company converts a high proportion of its revenue into free cash flow.
- This can provide greater financial flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, debt repayment, or investments.
- The Free Cash Flow Margin ex SBC additionally accounts for potential shareholder dilution from stock-based compensation.
- The long-term trend is particularly important. Declining margins can, for example, result from higher investments, changes in working capital, or weaker operating performance.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Revenue per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
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Beacon Lighting Group Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
13 Analysts have issued a Beacon Lighting Group forecast:
Analyst Opinions
13 Analysts have issued a Beacon Lighting Group forecast:
Beacon Lighting Group Events
Past Events
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AUG
26
Q4 2026 Earnings Call
about one month ago
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FEB
18
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
8 months ago
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StocksGuide Free
Beacon Lighting Group — Q4 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Beacon Lighting FY 2026 Financial Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to hand the conference over to the Beacon Lighting Executive Chairman, Ian Robinson. Please go ahead, Ian.
Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the Beacon Lighting full year financial year 2026 results presentation. My name is Ian Robinson, Executive Chairman of Beacon Lighting, and I'm joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Glen Robinson; and our Chief Financial Officer, David Speirs.
Financial year 2026 was another year of solid progress for Beacon Lighting as we continue to execute against our 2030 strategy with our ambition to be even split between trade and retail and a leading provider of lighting, selling fans and electrical accessories for the Australian home with sales firmly on track. Trade delivered another strong year, reflecting the strength of our customer partnership and value proposition, while complementary business made a positive contribution to the group's earnings.
In retail, conditions were mixed across the year. We saw some softening in consumer sentiment in the first half, driven by shifts in interest rate expectations, which led to a more cautious spending and some trading down within categories. Trading conditions improved through the second half with comparative sales strengthening to 7.1% increase in the fourth quarter. These results are underpinned by the dedication of our team and the continued support of our customers and 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. Glen then will turn to the outline of our growth priorities and the outlook for financial year 2027 before we open for questions.
With that, I'll now hand over to Glen to take you through the results.
Thank you, Ian, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for your interest in the Beacon Lighting Group. We are proud of what we've been able to build throughout the FY 2026 year with our valued team members, our retail customers and our trade partners. As always, the full presentation that I'll run through is available on the ASX and our corporate website.
Turning to Page 4, which sets out our statutory result for the full year FY 2026. At a statutory level, sales increased by 3.4% to a record $340 million, with gross profit up 2.7% to $233.3 million. Gross margin was 68.6%, down slightly from 69.1% last year. Operating expenses increased by 4.7% to $149.7 million, representing 44% of sales. This resulted in EBITDA of $87 million, broadly flat on the prior year. Statutory net profit after tax for the year was $27 million, down 8.1% against the prior year. The statutory result includes a number of non-recurring items, in this case, restructuring costs related to Beacon Trade rebate, the closure of the installation department, redundancies made in Beacon Lighting America and the group support center.
To provide a clearer view of the underlying trading performance, we've adjusted for these items in the underlying result shown on Page 5, which is the basis for our discussion today. On an underlying basis, sales increased by 3.5% to $340.3 million. Gross profit rose to $233.6 million with a gross profit margin of 68.6%, reflecting the growing contribution from trade sales and increased penetration into new core trade categories, particularly in the second half. Despite this shift in sales mix, our vertically integrated supply chain and continued introduction of new product lines supported a strong margin outcome.
Other income increased by 20.5% to $3.4 million, reflecting an improved return from the large-format property fund investments and continued interest income on our group's cash balance. Operating expenses increased 3.9%, representing 43.6% of sales. As a result, underlying EBITDA increased 1.6% to $88.5 million with an EBITDA margin of 26%. Underlying net profit after tax was $28.1 million, down 4.5% on the prior year.
Moving to Page 6. I'll step through the key operational highlights for the year. We continue to invest in our store network, opening a new store in Auburn and purchasing the St. Kilda franchise store into company ownership along with the new store in Millers Junction. We also relocated and expanded the Geelong store into a flagship for the market, which now also includes a 300-square meter trade-specific showroom, and we expanded our McGraths Hill store in New South Wales whilst closing our Springvale store here in Victoria. Together, these initiatives reflect both the network expansion and store optimization aligned to our 2030 store strategy.
Company store comparative sales increased 1.8% for the full year, with the standout being a 7.1% comparative sales increase in the fourth quarter, driven by trade growth, promotional execution, traffic growth and category growth. Beacon Trade remained a key highlight for the year. Trade sales through our stores increased by 14.5% and total trade sales now represent 43.3% of relevant sales, up from 40% last year, keeping us firmly on track for our target of 50% of relevant sales by 2028.
Innovation continues to be a core differentiator for Beacon. During the year, we designed and developed 692 new products, reinforcing the strength of our vertically integrated pipeline across lighting, ceiling fans and electrical accessories. Expertise is critical in our category. And with 347 lighting designers across our store networks, we are well placed to provide expert customer advice for both retail and trade customers.
With that, I'll now hand you over to David to take you through financials in a little more detail.
Thank you, Glen. I'm now going to move to sales on Page 8. The Beacon Lighting Group had an underlying sales increase of 3.5% to $340.3 million. Company store sales increased by 1.8%. The highlight result for the year was a comparative store sales increase of 7.1% for Q4 financial year '26. The best performed states from a comparative sales perspective were Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia.
Beacon Lighting has continued to partner with our trade customers throughout financial year '26. Trade sales through stores, which include both direct trade sales and referral sales have increased by 14.5% with a stronger momentum in half 2 compared to half 1. Total trade sales as a percentage of total relevant sales, which includes sales from stores, commercial, Masson for Light and Custom Lighting has increased to 43.3%. Beacon Lighting remains on track to achieve our goal of total trade sales being 50% of total relevant sales by 2028. It's important to recognize that Beacon Lighting stores, Beacon Commercial, Connected Light Solution and Custom Lighting all had sales increases in financial year '26.
Gross profit on Page 9. Beacon Lighting achieved an underlying gross profit dollar result of $233.6 million or 68.6% of sales. The change in sales mix towards trade is reflected in strong sales increases in product categories like cables and switches. This change in the mix towards trade is beginning to be reflected in the gross profit margin with a small decline in financial year 2026. Despite the change in the mix, it is important to note that the vertically integrated supply chain has continued to support the gross profit margin. Beacon Lighting continues to design and develop new products in Australia, which will continue to be well received by our retail and trade customers and support our overall margin as a result.
Other income and operating expenses on Page 10. Beacon Lighting achieved a significant 20.5% increase in other income. Other income will increasingly become more important to Beacon Lighting as the group can expect to receive an improved return from the large-format property fund in the future. Inflation is being reflected in some expense items for the Beacon Lighting Group. However, with a continued focus on the management of operating expenses, underlying expenses increased by 3.9% to $148.5 million or 43.6% of sales. Of all the operating expenses, the management of the marketing expense was a highlight with an increase of 1.5% to $16.4 million. With the opening of new stores, new leases and options exercised, depreciation increased by 8.3% and finance costs increased by 6.8%.
Cash flow on Page 11. Beacon Lighting has continued to maintain a strong cash position with a net operating cash flow of $60.8 million. Using this strong cash position, Beacon Lighting has been able to reinvest in the future of the business with CapEx of $12.2 million. Major CapEx projects for the year included the opening of new stores, store relocation, refurbishments, the replatforming of the group's websites, product development and various productivity projects. With the suspension of the dividend reinvestment program, dividends to shareholders paid have increased to $16.3 million in financial year 2026.
Balance sheet on Page 12. Inclusive of the $10 million term deposit, which is presented as other financial assets, Beacon Lighting has a cash balance of $54.2 million at the end of June 2026. With an inventory investment of $101 million, Beacon Lighting has been able to maintain a good in-stock position and strong service levels to our customers throughout the year.
With the acquisition of 2 new development projects in Coffs Harbour in New South Wales and Noosa in Queensland, Beacon Lighting has increased the investment in associates, which is the large format property fund to $29.5 million. Right-of-use assets and lease liabilities have increased with the opening of new stores, exercising options and the signing of new property leases. Beacon Lighting has continued to maintain a strong net cash position and net assets have increased to $192.4 million.
Dividends on Page 13. It is important to note that the Beacon Lighting dividend reinvestment plan remains suspended. Reflecting upon the financial year 2026 result, the directors have declared a fully franked dividend of $0.034 per share for half 2 financial year '26. This means the directors declared a fully franked dividend of $0.075 per share for financial year '26. The directors will continue to target an annual dividend payout ratio of 50% to 60% of net profit after tax. The dividend payout ratio for financial year '26 has exceeded this target with a payout of 63.7% of net profit after tax.
Thank you, and I will now pass you back to Glen.
Thanks, David. Let's move on to the strategic pillars of growth, starting on Page 14. Many of you will be familiar with our 4 strategic pillars. These have remained consistent for many years as we focus on the 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 a lighting retailer to becoming Australia's leading provider of quality lighting, ceiling fans 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 loyalty and supporting the growth of their business by referring Beacon customers to use our preferred trade partners. At the intersection of these 2 customer groups sits Beacon, becoming the homeowners' first choice and the electrician's most valuable partnership, the partner that can bring both the trade and the homeowner together to complete the job.
Turning to Page 16, an update on our store growth pillar. It's been a transformative year for the store network with greater role clarity, alignment across the teams, value and promotional activity and expansion into key product categories, which showed in the strong positive comparative performance in Q4 of the year. We finished FY 2026 with 130 stores, comprising 120 company-owned stores and 1 franchise store. We opened new stores in Auburn, Millers Junction, purchased the St. Kilda franchise store, relocated Geelong and expanded the McGraths Hill store.
Our product and service offer remains central to the strategy with 692 new products designed and developed during the year to support our core range of more than 3,500 products. Our accredited lighting designers, design consultants grew to 347 associates with our 59 design studios across the stores, completing more than 4,360 lighting design consultations across the network. Finally, updated store 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 the continued progress in trade and its critical role in our long-term strategy. Again, consistency was the key message for the teams this year. Working with our large number of trade customers, finding solutions and expanding into lower penetrated categories positions us well to grow once again in the trade channel.
Beacon Trade members continue to benefit from a 2% Beacon Cash rebate, trade essential pricing plus special pricing across the entire range, monthly trade perks and branded workwear in collaboration with Nena and Pasadena, the fashion brand. Total trade sales have now reached $139.5 million for the year with trade sales through our stores increasing by 14.5%. Total trade sales now represent 43.3% of relevant sales, and we remain firmly on track to achieve our goal of 50% of relevant sales by 2028.
E-commerce continues to grow as an important channel with customers increasingly researching our products online before visiting our stores to seek expert advice and confidently finalizing their choice. E-commerce sales represent 13.1% of total store sales. Trade remains a key driver online with online trade sales up 16.5% and online visitation up 20.2%. Online trade sales now account for 14.9% of direct trade sales, reflecting the increased digital adoption of our trade customer base.
During the year, the team have worked tirelessly to build all new websites for the group on a new platform. This investment will strengthen our position as the leading lighting, ceiling fan and electrical accessories online seller for homeowners and trade professionals in the years ahead.
Turning to Page 19. Our complementary businesses delivered a mixed, but overall positive contribution during the year. Beacon International had a year of restructuring and consolidation, while sales declined modestly, improved margin and disciplined cost management delivered a significant improvement in profit. Hong Kong remained the financial cornerstone of the business. Europe delivered improved sales, margin and profitability. And in the United States, restructuring established a leaner cost base and a stronger platform for future growth.
Connected Light Solutions was a particular highlight with sales up over 50% for the year, and the business secured a significant state-based contract to replace existing street lights with new energy-efficient LED infrastructure spanning several years. Commercial and Custom Lighting also recorded sales growth for the year, while Masson for Light and Light Source Solutions in New Zealand were softer.
We also continue to benefit from the 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 5 fully tendered properties, 1 partially tendered property and 3 development projects. The highlight for the year was the completion of the Auburn development, which now includes a new Beacon Lighting store, our New South Wales commercial office and also a state office. Together, these businesses continue to diversify the earnings and broaden the group's growth platform.
Briefly on Page 20, we remain committed to our sustainability goals across people, product and planet. For our team, safety, respect and well-being is at the center of everything we do at Beacon, creating a safe and supportive work environment, one with career advancement opportunities.
On product, our LED globe range has now replaced fluorescent, incandescent and halogen globes as standard, cutting energy use by up to 80% with a lifespan up to 6x longer with ceiling fans, including the super energy-efficient direct current ceiling fans being a great alternative to energy-intensive air conditioning systems. On planet, we now have 72 solar systems operating across the group sites, continuing to reduce our reliance on grid-sourced electricity, along with huge advancements in our product packaging, eliminating polystyrene and most plastics from our products.
Moving to Page 22, our outlook for the FY 2027 year. Our focus across the business remains on delivering the projects, capability and range to successfully meet our 2030 vision for the stores. Positive momentum in company store sales from Q4 FY 2026 has continued into the first 8 weeks of FY 2027. Beacon Trade offering continues to be increasingly supported by our trade customers underpinning store sales. We have a strong store opening pipeline during the year. We'll plan to open new stores in Caloundra, which we've actually just opened, Angle Vale, Rockingham, Everton Park and Mornington, along with refurbishments at Gepps Cross and Osborne Park and expansion at Castle Hill and a relocation of the Hervey Bay store.
We'll continue category expansion and market share growth for key trade product ranges. Connected Light Solutions will continue rolling out new energy-efficient LED street lights under the state-based contract they secured last year. In the first half of FY 2027, we will launch our new retail and trade websites on the new platform, further improving the customer experience.
With the foundational work completed during FY 2026, including identifying new Beacon Lighting store locations, securing a major street lighting tender, advancing our 2030 initiatives and developing new websites, together with our continued focus on customer obsession and category expansion, we're well positioned to realize the benefits of these investments in FY 2027 and beyond.
Thank you for your time. I'll now hand you back to Ian Robinson to take any questions.
Thank you, Glen and David, for your presentation. We're now open for questions.
[Operator Instructions] The first question today comes from Forres Salekian with Barrenjoey.
2. Question Answer
Well done on the result. Just on like-for-likes, it looks like the strengthening in momentum was on the back of trade improving. Can you just give us an update on how the momentum in retail has evolved maybe over Q4 and into the new year? And I guess, like what happened in Q4 to get comps accelerating so hard?
Yes. Thanks, Forres, and good question. So you're right, trade has definitely improved throughout the second half and particularly into Q4. A lot of that was through success of some of the new products that we brought to market, things like some of the switch ranges. We're getting better penetration in categories that we had previously low market share in, things like cable. So that's continued to go particularly well for us.
But you did also mention retail. And I think that's what was pleasing to see that retail wasn't the drag that has been in the last couple of years in some of the states. So we've definitely seen some improved activity across retail, and I think we can put that down to a few different things. Obviously, the economic situation across Australia and the global political issues overseas play heavily on consumer confidence, and you'd probably expect that to be a negative for retail, and we certainly would have expected that as well.
But I think what we started to see was maybe more people staying at home, potentially investing in their primary place of residence, so investing in their home and doing renovation activity there. At the same time, we really did have a strong focus on promotional execution across stores. So making sure the marketing is aligned to value and promotion. That doesn't necessarily mean heavier discounting, but really just very clear on our promotional execution.
So I think that helped with the retail spending. It helped consumers see that there was great value across Beacon Lighting so that when they are looking at doing some renovation or updates, we were a great alternative to others that might be out there. So it was across the board, across categories, new category expansion and trade sales growth.
And operational performance has certainly improved in the stores.
Yes, that's right, Ian.
That's super helpful. And then I guess just maybe as you think about the next 12 months on like-for-likes, how are you thinking about that as housing turnover starts to slow just on the back of higher interest rates and changes to housing policies after the budget? It looks like comps get a bit easier to cycle through the first half as well. So just wondering, like against this backdrop, do you think you'll be able to hold the current run rate or should it soften from here?
Yes. Look, I think we've got some really exciting opportunities ahead of us. We've just completed conferences across all our states with all our store managers. And I think the alignment across the business is a lot stronger than it's probably ever been, and there's some real genuine excitement out there about what we can control rather than focusing too much on the externals. So things like promotional tie-up, box stacks, value pricing and category expansion are really the areas that we are mostly focused on, and that's what I believe will be -- put us in a good position to be able to continue to grow the business throughout the year.
Got it. And then if I could just squeeze in one more. It looks like the marketing as a percent of sales came down to about 4.5% of sales in the second half and the dollar amount invested went backwards year-on-year. So just wondering like how you're able to balance this while growing top line and how you're thinking about marketing investment over FY '27?
Yes. I think total investment in marketing spend still went up, but as a percentage of sales, it did come back a bit. I think that's the beauty of our brand is that we've been consistently spending over 5% of sales for near on 60 years. Next year, it will be our 60th year in the market. And we've got a very strong brand awareness across the Australian market. And therefore, we don't need to do as much heavy lifting to build awareness as what some other brands out there need to do. So we can concentrate a bit more deeper on the consideration phase of purchasing rather than the awareness phase.
And I think that's where we can get some particularly good value from our marketing to drive store traffic, which is what we're able to do in the second half despite not spending a huge amount on marketing. It's still a big investment for the business. We still absolutely believe in the benefits of marketing and driving sales, but I don't think we need to. Yes, we've got to spend cautiously because costs across the business and costs across Australia are challenging to keep under control. And where we can save some and still achieve good sales growth, we should be looking at that.
The next question comes from Leo Armati with Bell Potter Securities.
Congrats on a great result. Look, just first from me on trade sales, obviously now increasing towards that 50% target around 43%. I'm just wondering what the cadence is to sort of close that remaining 7% into 2028? Like is it a similar growth that we've seen from 40% to 43% this year?
I think that's what we've been consistently getting is a similar growth over the recent years. And we've been able to achieve that. We've got some leading stores, and we've also got some stores that are -- have really got some runway to make up. And that's where we think we'll continue to have a similar cadence in trade sales growth sort of going forward.
Yes. Great. And then just on gross margin. Obviously, that's declining just given that trade mix. Should we just expect, I suppose, going forward, more margin dilution? Or does the sort of vertical, I guess, supply chain that you guys have sort of offset that as you scale a bit more?
Yes. I think there's a lot of moving parts to the gross profit margin at the moment. I think as you continue to sell more and more cable and switches, that's going to put a bit more pressure on the gross profit margin. We've probably still got some U.S. dollar currency improvements or the Aussie dollar against the U.S. improvements to be realized over the next sort of 6 months or so. So that will help a little bit. But some of that will be also offset by rising costs coming out of our factories. So as I said, there's a lot of moving parts. We will be doing what we can to try to manage the gross profit margin around where we probably finished this year.
Yes. Great. And then just on that state contract, I know it's sort of at the end of the result. But I'm just wondering if you could sort of size that revenue contribution or margin profile from that contract because you noted when you were speaking that it is quite significant?
Yes. We won't go into the details for commercial reasons, obviously, about margin and size of it, but we look forward to giving you an update once we get through the half results and hopefully be able to put a bit more color on that. We've only just started supplying into that contract. So to be really clear on the margins is a little bit challenging for us at the moment until we see how they play out. So -- but we'll definitely try to give some more information at the half result.
But it is a contractual arrangement. So it's definitely not going to be anywhere near the margins that the group gets, but it will all be incremental sales and margins that the business hasn't had before. And it will be transformational for that for Connected Light Solutions. It will make that business totally different to what it is today.
The next question comes from Sam Teeger with Citi.
David, 23 years at one company is a great achievement and all the best for the future.
Thank you, Sam.
I'm just wondering, if trade reaches 50% of sales by 2028, should investors expect structurally lower margins than the business has generated historically?
I think because the vast majority of the trade sales are going through the store network, Sam. We would expect the store network to be more efficient in the way that we transfer sales into profitability across the network. When we first used to sort of size up a potential opportunity of a store, we would sort of look at it and go, we might be able to get to $1.2 million, $1.4 million in sales for a new store.
Now obviously, having the trade base in there, it helps build the volume that's going through that business, which helps the -- improve the returns out of that store a lot quicker, but also for the long term, it makes them a lot more profitable as well. So that's the way we look at it. All the additional GP dollars that flow through help cover those fixed costs associated with that store, and therefore, it should be a big benefit to the profitability of each one of the stores that we operate.
Okay. Great. And can you talk about third quarter versus fourth quarter EBIT margins, just given how strong those fourth quarter comps were?
We haven't gone into the details on that, Sam. But yes, you can imagine with comps at 7.1% driving the top line and holding up your margin and your costs are relatively fixed through the business that obviously that plays out positively for us.
All right. Sure. And then for the past several years, Beacon has been very successful growing its trade business, its online sales, Commercial Lighting, property, yet group earnings have remained pretty consistent. What's the missing piece that needs to occur here before investors see a lot of these strategic successes translate into sustainably higher EPS growth?
Yes. I think we've been in the backdrop that the retail's discretionary spend has been relatively soft, Sam. So we've been supplementing overall group sales with trade growth, but that's been dragged back by the retail sales. And for us to be able to get both going through, which is what we started to see more of in the fourth quarter, that's where I think you start to see the benefit of the strategy and play -- and that will hopefully play out throughout the FY '27 year where you get retail either being flat or slightly positive and continued trade growth driving additional GP dollars through these relatively fixed costs.
And the last few years have been quite significant from an inflation point of view. So if we can start to get some more reasonable inflation sort of indicators coming through, driving the retail sales to a positive or flat or positive position plus trade growth driving GP, then it should be a good outcome for the profitability of the group.
The next question comes from Benjamin Gilbert with Jarden.
Just the first one, just on this Connected Lighting Solutions and the opportunity there. I appreciate we're not going to go into the details around the contract. But is this sort of the -- you sort of talked as a bit of a game changer for that part of the business. One, is this going to fall into trade? And secondly, how many of these sorts of opportunities are there now you can lean into and go after? Like I'm just trying to understand the potential materiality of this part of the business.
Yes. So the CLS business doesn't fall into trade. We have that as a separate business. So it's not part of that 43.3% of sales. But it does obviously fall into all the other GP lines and sales lines and all the rest. It's a significant contract, in that it's replacing a lot of street lighting across the state. So you can imagine that's obviously quite a reasonable sized tender, and it goes for 5 or 6 years. So it's extended into a number of years.
The benefit of picking up one of these is that other states see you as a player in that area. And there are really probably 3 or 4 major street light providers across Australia. And we have typically been the third or fourth placed from those providers. And for us to be able to get a major contract like this really puts you up in those -- in that greater consideration for when others are looking to be -- other states looking to upgrade their street lights as well.
So it's a great one to get. They're not easy to get, and we've been working at these for over 5 years. But there are still a lot of street lights that need to be updated across Australia into LED technology. So we hope by having this one, it starts to build a bit more confidence across other councils and DNSPs to consider the CLS business and particularly the GE brand, which is what we represent for the street lighting area as an alternative to others that are out there.
So it's not a council -- it's not a specific council, it's a full state contract?
That's right.
Yes. And so does this open up, I don't know, I'm just going off some sanctions, things like defense or other private side of things that there are larger scale contracts or are you playing in that space, but...
Look, anywhere where there's these particular type of lights, so we call them VCAT and PCAT lights and also large area lighting. We can definitely participate in any of those tenders.
Sorry, I know there's been a few questions on the comp, but obviously a cracker number you've had for Q4 and continued into Q1 and Bunnings has sort of talked up the start to '27 today as well. I'm just trying to understand within that number, how -- trade is obviously performing very strongly and you're taking share. But how much also is price and how much is NPD? Because it seems -- I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it seems like you've got a bit of confidence around being able to maintain some decent momentum through '27, notwithstanding all the negativity we're hearing out there on housing, et cetera, post the budget.
Yes. I think the confidence that you might be hearing is that coming out of the conferences that we've just had across our stores, the alignment and the execution is better than I've seen for a long time. Our Net Promoter Score that we just had done in July was the highest I've ever seen. So the engagement is really high at Beacon. Our Google ranking is -- sorry, our Google reviews of our stores is at 4.9 stars out of 5.
There's a lot of indicators to suggest that the team are really on board and executing well. And that's really encouraging. So it makes things a lot easier to execute on when we come up with new initiatives around trade or retail promotions. The team are fully backing it. So I think that puts us in a more confident position than what we have been in the past, just that alignment. And then you back that up against some stronger trade sales.
The new product definitely always helps. And we have -- we obviously had a lot of new products come to market throughout the year, and that will continue on in the year ahead. But also, we've got a real focus around category expansion in 3 or 4 very specific categories, which the store teams are very aligned on. In those 3 or 4 categories, we've got a really low market share, and we've explained that during our conferences and where the opportunity is to grow in that market share. And if we keep a focus on category expansion and growing market share in those 3 or 4 categories, along with promotional execution across the business and offering great value to our customers, then that's our main focus, and I think that will put us in a good position.
So the replacement [ MPM ] and the new category expansion across these 3 is going to be the bigger driver and I suppose sort of the new home side of things. We've seen mortgage applications down 28% or whatever it is, it's obviously a focus and a concern, but you still see an opportunity to grow notwithstanding some pretty significant headwinds in housing near term.
Yes. You're absolutely right. There are definitely some headwinds there. I think, though, for people that -- a lot of our customers are second homeowners and beyond that, and they're looking to invest in their home, their primary place of residence, and that's not a bad investment at the moment considering other investments out there. So we're making sure that when we're introducing new products that they are exciting, but they also represent good value talking to those customers that want to invest in their home.
The next question comes from Emily Porter with Morgans.
Congratulations on the result. I think you guys pointed out, and it's probably been the same story over the last little while, just the strength in Queensland and WA, and I think you mentioned Tasmania as well. I guess just interested in how you're seeing New South Wales and Victoria. Like are there any sort of green shoots coming through?
Yes, definitely. I think what we're seeing in Victoria, while the macro may not seem all that different when you're out there and you're walking the streets, I think our execution is a lot better. And I think that's indicated through a few numbers that we've got in the business. Victoria is our strongest trade business out of all the other states. I think they've had -- our stores have had to go to trade because their retail discretionary spend has been soft for a number of years. So they're really focusing on what they can control, and that's focusing on their trade sales better. And the momentum in that continues to build. So we're not seeing Victoria and New South Wales being where they were even say, 6 or 9 months ago, 12 months ago. So we're definitely seeing some improvement or some good improvement across those states as well.
Okay. That's great. And maybe just on costs, like pretty well managed during the year, and I think, yes, you talked a bit about the marketing spend. Maybe just how you're sort of thinking about cost inflation into next year? How you kind of expect it to grow and I guess, strategy to manage it?
Yes. We've done a number of restructuring processes throughout this year, which will set us up well for the year ahead. But costs are something you need to always keep a close eye on. I think freight will continue to be a major item for the business. Consumers want their product quick. And when you're in that area, freight does cost a lot of money across the group. So we'll have a big focus across all the different expense lines, but we've got to keep things as tight as we can.
Hopefully, when we're driving stronger gross profit dollars and stronger sales, the expenses will start to get a little bit more leverage out of the expenses. We've still got some challenges with government. Government charges, rates and taxes continue to be a challenge. Workers' comp continues to be a challenge. But we have had some success in appealing some of our, for example, land tax assessments and rolling them back. So we'll continue to focus on those in detail and seeing what we can do to improve the situation.
The next question comes from James Casey with Ord Minnett.
I just had a question with regards to kind of the commercial segment or the volume builders, just what you're seeing in terms of forward orders there?
Yes. So in the commercial volume residential area, our pipeline is still very strong. In fact, we finished out the year with a very good pipeline of sales. We are hearing from some of our volume residential builders that sales have been a little bit more challenging since the budget announcement. So how long that pipeline stays up at the high levels that it is at the moment is still a little bit to be seen as we get through a few more months. But right at the moment, the pipeline is healthy.
Okay. And a good pipeline of new stores. What's the timing on those new stores? How many of those will land in the first half?
Yes. So we were fortunate enough to pick up a couple of the Barbeques Galore stores. So out of their unfortunate circumstances, we've been able to grab a couple there. So that's Rockingham and Everton Park, and they will be turned over pretty quickly for us because they're all set to go. We just opened Caloundra up in Queensland. So you'll have 3 in the first half and the other couple will fall into the next half.
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Sam Teeger with Citi.
Just a follow-up on the property. One, if the property assets were independently valued today, would their market value be different materially to their carrying value?
Sam, we have a cycle of revaluing about 1/3 of them every year or alternatively where there's a significant event, for example, such as the opening of the Auburn property. So we would expect that would generally increase. Obviously, the rents increase each year, but that would be the...
But the current valuations are relatively representative.
We certainly have 3 revalued in this cycle, of 3 of 9.
Okay. And just wondering, given the strong growth we're seeing in property earnings, can you share what are your long-term objectives around retail property ownership?
Yes. I think where we've got sites for Beacon Lighting and we can own those sites, I think it's a good position to be able to put the business. We know that we generally don't move our stores very often. So rather than paying a landlord for the next 20 or 30 years, we can be paying off that asset and enjoying that for the business and the group. So the returns out of those 9 sites will continue to improve as we get them optimized. And I think it's a good strategy to have whilst also being mindful that we won't be throwing huge amounts of money behind it.
Yes. We like the stability of being in a site for a while, and sometimes the landlord will take advantage of you if they know that you're a long-term tenant and they won't negotiate quite as strongly as you would like them to be. And then the other part, Sam, is a lot of the very successful retailers have a property side. It's not the dominant side, of course, but it's part of the war chest you need to have.
There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand the call back to Mr. Robinson for closing remarks.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your interest in Beacon Lighting, and we look forward to the next half and talking to you again. Bye.
Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
Beacon Lighting Group — Q4 2026 Earnings Call
Beacon Lighting Group — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
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.
2. Question Answer
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.
Beacon Lighting Group — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
Financial data from Beacon Lighting Group
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 340 340 |
3%
3%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 107 107 |
5%
5%
31%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 234 234 |
3%
3%
69%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 189 189 |
5%
5%
55%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | - - |
-
-
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 45 45 |
8%
8%
13%
|
|
| Net Profit | 27 27 |
8%
8%
8%
|
|
In millions AUD.
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Beacon Lighting Group Stock News
Company Profile
Beacon Lighting Group Ltd. engages in the sale of lighting, ceiling fans, and light globes. The firm is engaged in the sale of light fittings, fans and electrical accessories products. The company is a vertically integrated business that designs, develops, sources, imports, distributes, merchandises, markets, and sells a product range to meet the needs of its retail, trade and e-commerce customers. The company offers a range of products consisting of pendant lighting, chandeliers, downlights, strip and cabinet lights, lamps, bathroom lighting, outdoor lighting, and smart lighting. The company operates a national network of 129 stores, comprising over 127 company-owned Beacon Lighting stores and two franchise Beacon Lighting stores. The company also operates several complementary lighting businesses in Australia and has extended operations overseas through wholesale sales channels in various countries.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | Australia |
| CEO | Mr. Robinson |
| Employees | 1,130 |
| Website | www.beaconlighting.com.au |


