Philips Lighting is rebranding itself as Signify, which is a pending change, shareholders willing. News came out of Eindhoven this last week late. So far, what we do know is that lighting products will be branded with the Philips name, but the company as a whole is going to be called Signify.
There are a lot of things I don’t quite understand, more than likely because I don’t have an MBA in Business. That particular degree seems to be a magic ladder to success in today’s environment, in case you are looking for a degree program to study, by the way. But, from some of the press releases out there, a lot of changes must be going on at Philips Lighting right now, with a lot of focus in the IoT field of play (Internet of Things — device interconnectivity). From Electrical Business:
March 18, 2018 – Philips Lighting announced it is changing its name from Philips Lighting to Signify, saying the new name “originates from the fact that light becomes an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning”.
That, plus the fact the new company name satisfies the company’s contractual requirements under the Company Name License Agreement with Royal Philips, reports the company, which requires a name-change less than 18 months after Royal Philips no longer has a controlling interest.
“We’re excited to announce our new company name as another step in our transformation journey,” said Eric Rondolat, CEO of Philips Lighting. “Our new company name is a clear expression of our strategic vision and a fabulous opportunity to introduce a new corporate look and feel that is uniquely our own and will serve to further unite our 32,000 employees.”
The company, however, will continue to use the Philips brand, under the existing licensing agreement with Royal Philips.
32,000 employees is one hell of a lot of employees. There must be some interesting changes coming. What is known is that Philips had a kickass fourth quarter of 2017, and that alone makes companies do things to grow exponentially. Philips is talking about light being referred to as a language, which many of us embracing this field could agree with, but from many different perspectives. From LEDs Magazine:
After reporting a fourth quarter and year in which it returned to growth on the strength of services and Internet connectivity, and in which the professional sector took over as the leading profit maker, Philips Lighting today revealed it is soon changing its name, a switch expected to reflect the importance of IT-based lighting and services.
The world’s largest lighting company said that sales for the quarter ending Dec. 31 and for the year were €1.89 billion and €6.97 billion, respectively. A 3% increase in comparable sales for the quarter helped nudge yearly comparable sales growth to 0.5%, reversing a decline that Philips had suffered in 2016, when the quarter fell by 3.2% and the year dropped by 2.4%.
The biggest percentage growth came in the home sector — a young market where Philips sells smart systems based on its Hue line of LED bulbs that change brightness, color, and CCT prompted by many different Internet inputs — followed by the professional sector, in which Philips typically sells Internet-connected lighting to cities and commercial entities. Both considerably outgrew LED electronics — circuitry that Philips sells to lamp and luminaire makers, which was flat for the quarter — as well as conventional lamps, which shrunk.
Notably, the professional sector, by far Philips’ largest with sales in the quarter of €781 million and for the year of €2.76 billion, was the top contributor to profits for the first time ever. The professional sector is one where Philips is striving to move to service business models as opposed to hardware sales. That transition has not been easy for many lighting vendors, who are trying to find the right formula to ensure profits in a service world that is new to them following more than a century of a more straightforward product-based revenue stream.
What else can we do but watch and wait? Here’s the press release from Philips, which will remain “LIGHT” on the stock tickers:
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced its intention to change its name from Philips Lighting to Signify. The choice of our new company name originates from the fact that light becomes an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning.
The company will continue to use the Philips brand, the most trusted lighting brand in the world, under the existing licensing agreement with Royal Philips.
“We’re excited to announce our new company name as another step in our transformation journey,” said Eric Rondolat, CEO of Philips Lighting. “Our new company name is a clear expression of our strategic vision and a fabulous opportunity to introduce a new corporate look and feel that is uniquely our own and will serve to further unite our 32,000 employees. At the same time, we remain proud to continue to use the Philips brand on our products.”
Philips Lighting’s roots date back more than 125 years to the business founded by Frederik and Gerard Philips in 1891 in the Dutch town of Eindhoven. Throughout its history, the company has been at the forefront of many of the lighting industry’s major advancements. Today, it leads the industry worldwide in conventional, LED and connected lighting, with the largest connected lights network in the world.
The new company name satisfies the company’s contractual requirements under the Company Name License Agreement with Royal Philips, which requires that it changes less than 18 months after Royal Philips no longer has a controlling interest.
In view of the renaming of the company, a proposal to amend the articles of association of Philips Lighting N.V. will be submitted to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 15. The Philips Lighting stock exchange ticker will remain LIGHT.
Hat tips:
https://www.ebmag.com/business/what-does-philips-lightings-name-change-signify-20222
http://www.newsroom.lighting.philips.com/news/2018/20180316-philips-lighting-will-become-signify
