REG - LifeSafe Holdings - Trading Update

LifeSafe HoldingsAnnouncement

29/11/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 9688U  LifeSafe Holdings PLC  29 November 2023

 

 For immediate release  29 November 2023

 

 

LifeSafe Holdings plc

 

('LifeSafe', the 'Group' or the 'Company')

 

Trading Update

 

LifeSafe (AIM:LIFS), a fire safety technology business with innovative fire
extinguishing fluids and fire safety products, today provides a trading update
for the eleven months to date (the 'period'). The Group has continued to
generate considerable sales growth through its consumer channels in the
period, with revenue of approximately £5.4 million, 62 per cent ahead of the
same period last year, with one month of trading to go for the 2023 full year
('FY23').

 

This extraordinary sales growth has been achieved almost exclusively through
the Group's digital consumer channels in the UK and US, which underlines the
appeal of both the StaySafe 5-in-1 and StaySafe All-in-1. The growth
highlights the traction the LifeSafe brand has achieved in the fire safety
market since launching on Amazon UK and following the Group's IPO last year.
This bodes well for the new products and fluids launching in 2024 into
LifeSafe's wholesale and industrial markets, with strategic partners such as
Wormald and QBE, as announced on 26 September 2023, in line with the Group's
long-term strategic plan.

 

The exceptional sales growth has been however impacted by recent increases in
the Group's costs of digital advertising and logistics as the Company has
scaled at pace, particularly in the US. As a consequence, the Group has had to
spend significantly more over recent months than previously expected. With the
conclusion of the November 2023 sales period including Black Friday, the Group
will not attain monthly EBITDA profitability in Q4 2023 as previously hoped.
The Board guides that the FY23 LBITDA will be higher than current market
expectations with underlying LBITDA(1) expected to be in the range of
approximately £1.3 million to £1.5 million, with revenue expected to be in
the range of approximately £5.7 million to £5.9 million. Revenue growth for
the period has also been checked due to the unexpected underperformance of one
small digital marketing partner in the US, compared to revenue through this
relationship in 2022.

 

A programme of cost reduction has already been implemented, with a particular
focus on overheads and supply chain costs, alongside changes to the marketing
strategy. These actions, together with an improved margin mix of increased
wholesale and industrial sales, which add to revenue without the level of
marketing investment or logistics costs inherent in the direct-to-consumer
channel, give the Board confidence that operating margins will be enhanced
moving forward.

 

The Group is significantly ahead of its strategic plan in the development,
testing and pipeline of its next generation of fluids aimed at the wholesale
and industrial sectors, which the Board looks forward to announcing in due
course.  These strategic goals are key drivers of long-term value creation
for shareholders.

 

LifeSafe will provide a further trading update in January 2024 following the
busy Christmas period.

 

(1) Underlying LBITDA represents loss for the period before finance expense,
tax, depreciation and amortisation, and non-underlying items.

 

Dominic Berger, Chairman of LifeSafe, said:

 

"While we are disappointed with the impact of the unexpected increased costs
within our digital sales channel, the Company continues to show strong sales
growth this year, which is already 62 per cent ahead of 2022. This performance
has come during a time where our focus was to establish our brand in the
market and drive further top line growth in our digital channel, both of which
we have delivered. The diversification and development of new fluid variants
aimed at the higher margin industrial and wholesale sectors is ahead of plan,
notably in the fight against the threat of fire events with lithium-ion
batteries, and in our partnerships with Wormald and QBE.

 

"We continue to invest in research and development to meet the challenges of
increased fire threats driven by climate change, technology, the environment
and legislation and we look forward to being able to showcase our efforts in
the near future. Our focus in the short term is to leverage our greater
understanding of our digital channels and logistics, alongside the development
of our industrial and wholesale channels."

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ('MAR').  Upon
the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service,
this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on
behalf of the Company is Mike Stilwell, Chief Financial Officer of the
Company.

 

For further enquiries:

 

 LifeSafe Holdings plc                                 Via FTI Consulting
 Dominic Berger, Chairman                              info@lifesafet (mailto:info@lifesafetechnologies.com) echnologies
                                                       (mailto:info@lifesafetechnologies.com) .com
                                                       (mailto:info@lifesafetechnologies.com)
 Neil Smith, Chief Executive Officer
 Mike Stilwell, Chief Financial Officer

 WH Ireland Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker)       Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 1666
 Chris Fielding
 Darshan Patel
 Isaac Hooper

 FTI Consulting (Financial Communications)             Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
 Tom Hufton                                            LifeSafe@fticonsulting.com (mailto:LifeSafe@fticonsulting.com)
 Harriet Jackson
 Liam Gerrard

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

LifeSafe is a fire safety technology business that develops eco-friendly,
novel and innovative fire extinguishing fluids and life-saving fire safety
products.  LifeSafe has developed a market disrupting range of eco-friendly
fire safety protection products; a new patent-pending Thermal Runaway Fluid to
combat lithium battery fires by permanently extinguishing and preventing
re-ignition, and the StaySafe All-in-1, a handheld eco-friendly and fully
recyclable extinguisher which is verified to extinguish ten different types of
fire and the number one selling fire extinguisher on Amazon UK.  LifeSafe is
successfully creating new markets for the Group in fire safety through its
innovative technologies, products, digital marketing and multi-channel sales;
and is continuing to develop new fluid derivations for applications in various
industrial market sectors.

 

LifeSafe was admitted to trading on AIM in July 2022 with the ticker LIFS.

 

For further information please visit: https://www.lifesafeholdingsplc.com
(https://www.lifesafeholdingsplc.com/) .

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifesafe-technologies
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifesafe-technologies)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LifesafeT (https://twitter.com/LifesafeT)

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