Luceco (LON:LUCE), the LED lighting products maker, on Monday, said it had slipped to a first-half loss after what it described as a "challenging" first six months of the year.
Luceco reported a pretax loss of £4.4mln for the six months to the end of June 2018, compared to a profit of £6.5mln in the same period a year ago. Its revenue remained flat at £75.1mln while its net debt grew to £41.4m from £36.7mln at the year-end.
READ: Luceco shares drop as Berenberg switches off the lights
The Telford-based company said its progress had been limited by the slowing retail sales which it attributed to de-stocking and weakening consumer confidence. Luceco also said it had ceased trading in the US, which would allow it to focus on more compelling international growth opportunities.
In July, German bank Berenberg said the whole LED sector was struggling as it slashed Luceco's price target from 135p to 45p.
“The decline in revenue from UK consumer-facing retail and the adverse impact on gross margins of commodity inflation and exchange rates has generated a disappointing financial performance in the first half year,” CEO John Horby said in a statement. “However, we have already put into place a number of actions that will deliver an improvement in the Group's financial performance in the second half of the year with a return to profitability expected.”
Shares in Luceco pared early losses and were 0.8% down at 49.50p in early trade.