Operational Review

Board of Directors

2022 Progress

The Group had a strong year, delivering above target sales and strengthening the balance sheet.

While we operate in competitive markets, the Lucy brand is synonymous with quality, innovation and reliability; our enviable reputation, focus on growth markets and collaborative relationships have contributed to another year of solid progress.

Our values of Caring, Excellence, Working Together, Trusted and Daring to Differentiate continue to be a cornerstone of the way we conduct external and internal relationships. Our purpose of “improving people’s lives” provides a guiding principle for the products we develop and manufacture, as well as helping to attract and retain people who are motivated to make a difference.

Our operational performance continues to improve. We have made significant investments in technology to attain better data analysis and capital projects to drive manufacturing efficiency. Our continuously developing central services not only deliver economies of scale but allow our businesses to focus on their core competencies, driving customer value through product innovation and service support.

Adapting to a net zero world

Our products and services are well positioned to support the transition to renewable energy, wider electrification and decarbonisation. This extends to our internal operational performance, where we are undertaking a range of investigations and measurements to better understand our current carbon footprint and the likely timeline for achieving net zero emissions. Our commitment to carbon reduction progressed this year, with most Group companies achieving ISO 14064 certification to the Achilles scheme for the monitoring of GHG emissions. The remaining companies are expected to complete certification in 2023.

Investments across the Group will continue to make our manufacturing processes more energy efficient: we will redesign products to reduce their carbon footprint, educate colleagues on processes and procedures that reduce energy consumption, and start to generate our own energy where practical and meaningful to do so.

Group strategy

We operate in highly regulated markets and, as such, have extensive testing procedures to ensure that reliability remains a hallmark of our brand. Across the Group, we have a deep understanding of the industries and markets we operate in and continue to deploy our expertise to internationalise and grow, both organically and – where there are attractive opportunities – through acquisition.

On 10 June 2022, we acquired a majority shareholding in Flashnet S.A., a specialist in the design, development and manufacturing of smart lighting and intelligent city control systems. Lucy Zodion has a long history in street lighting controls and the acquisition of Flashnet will augment our IP in the field of lighting automation and smart city management, as well as extending our geographic reach.

Based in Brașov, Romania, Flashnet is at the forefront of technological research and development, integrating the latest hardware and software solutions to create intelligent lighting and IoT platforms which, in conjunction with our commercial, technical and operational expertise, will strengthen the Group’s position in this growth market.

Technology innovations

The programme to broaden and deepen the application of Microsoft Dynamics 365 throughout the Group has made further progress in 2022. It provides the essential ability to capture and consolidate organisational data, enabling data-led decision making and actionable insights. In bringing together financial, supply chain and sales information, we can use the data and associated analytics to create management dashboards, which will make the business more agile and help to identify commercial opportunities.