Lights maker Signify cuts its 2022 outlook again on lower consumer demand, China

(Reuters) - Signify, the world's biggest maker of lights, on Thursday again cut its full-year profit margin and sales guidance, citing a steeper slowdown in China than expected and a lower demand from businesses.

The Dutch group, formed from the spin-off of Philips' lighting unit, which had already warned on its results in July and in October, now expects an adjusted EBITA margin of approximately 10% for both the fourth quarter and the full year 2022.

This compares with the previous full-year guidance of the lower end of the 11.0-11.4% range.

"Signify experienced a stronger than anticipated deterioration of its business in China due to ongoing COVID-related disruptions, a much lower growth in the OEM channel and a weaker indoor professional business than expected," the company said in a statement.

Comparable sales growth is now seen at 1.2% for 2022, versus a previous guidance of a 2-3% increase.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)