ASX INVESTOR UPDATE Greenlight Signal at U.K. PM’s Residence, LIFX Retail Update for Holiday Quarter
SUMMARY • As part of the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the U.K. NationalGrid Greenlight Signal has been deployed at the official residence of the British Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street
• The Company achieved unaudited gross margins of 43% on Q1FY22 sales
• World’s largest video game retailer, GameStop, to assort LIFX products in time for Black Friday holiday sales period; Wayfair and B.J.’s Wholesale new retailers in U.S. market
• Deutsche Telekom launches LIFX as part of their Magenta SmartHome program in Germany; Amazon-LIFX bundles launch in top five European markets
• LIFX Clean to be assorted nationally in Australia at Bunnings
• The Company has formally launched its acceptance of certain cryptocurrencies for payment on all LIFX online stores worldwide.
5 November 2021 - Adelaide, Australia
Buddy Technologies Limited ("Company" or "Buddy") (ASX:BUD), a leader in IoT and cloudbased solutions for making spaces smarter, is pleased to make a series of announcements relating to a prominent partnership, retail sales and availability of its products in various markets around the world.
UK’s NationalGrid Greenlight Signal Deployed at UK Prime Minister’s Residence
The Company is delighted to share that in solidarity with the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) agenda, the U.K. Government has deployed the NationalGrid Greenlight Signal at the official residence of the Prime Minister, Number 10 Downing Street.
LIFX has worked closely with NationalGrid in the United Kingdom to use its smart light technology to achieve meaningful demonstrations of green energy consumption. This culminated with the evolution of the Greenlight Signal, which utilises a LIFX Colour bulb connected via an IFTTT applet to the U.K.’s national Carbon Intensity monitor.
Figure 1: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, standing in front of the Greenlight Signal installed at the Prime Minister’s official residence, No. 10 Downing Street.
In the lead up to the COP26 conference in Glasgow this week, NationalGrid has positioned several hundred LIFX lights across the U.K. to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Greenlight Signal, which indicates to consumers times when energy is being produced from environmentally friendly sources. The Company looks forward to continuing this partnership between our smart lighting technology and NationalGrid, with renewed efforts to build upon this significant national exposure in the U.K.
Gross Margins Reached 43% on Q1FY22 Sales
Following the Company’s recent cost reduction programs and manufacturing changes, as well as lowered costs of shipping, we are pleased to report that the Company achieved (unaudited) 43% gross margins on blended sales (all regions, all products) in Q1FY22. This is up from 28% both in the year-ago quarter and the prior quarter (excluding government subsidies and rebates).
While this is an impressive result, investors should note that this was in large part due to significant scale-backs in promotions and marketing with elevated sales of a SKU-mix that favoured higher-margin products. The decision was taken to conduct these scale-backs during a slow period to better understand the Company’s baseline sales capability. The scale-backs had a noticeable reduction on top-line sales but has provided the business with a solid set of data on baseline sales expectations without discounting or marketing. With this information we can now laser-target promotions on particular SKUs and gauge the effectiveness of future promotions relative to this baseline. Marketing and promotions have resumed and will peak during the key holiday period in Q2FY22.
GameStop to Stock LIFX
LIFX is pleased to share that the world’s largest video game retailer, GameStop, will begin assorting LIFX products in time for the all-important holiday period. Products to be assorted include LIFX Lightstrips, LIFX Clean and LIFX Colour lights. Initially, assortment will be online and is targeted to be complete in time for the Black Friday sales period, with in-store assorted targeted for 2022.
Additional U.S. Retail Assortment
The Company is adding two new U.S. retailers this month – Wayfair and B.J.’s Wholesale. Wayfair is an online retailer focussing on do-it-yourself home improvement products such as furniture, lighting and smart home technology. Wayfair has agreed to assort the full range of LIFX products in the U.S., including bulbs, Lightstrips and LIFX Switch. Launch is expected imminently. B.J.’s Wholesale operates over 200 warehouse stores in 17 U.S. states, primarily in the eastern states along with Michigan and Ohio. Assortment will include LIFX’s top-selling bulbs, LIFX Lightstrips and LIFX Clean. B.J.’s will be featuring LIFX products in their Black Friday online advertisements, and initial assortment is expected in early November.
Deutsche Telekom
The LIFX Europe team has launched the Magenta SmartHome program in Germany in partnership with telecommunications giant, Deutsche Telekom. Through the Magenta SmartHome program, all Deutsche Telekom Broadband customers are empowered to build complete smart home solutions with full automations and security built in. With over 20 million broadband customers, this creates a significant and interesting new channel to market for LIFX in Germany. This retail program has been in development for about a year, having commenced integration testing with Deutsche Telekom in late 2020, however LIFX has now achieved full approvals and the Company’s products are now live on the Magenta SmartHome digital platform. The initial launch of LIFX Smart Lighting within the Magenta SmartHome program is focused on direct sales via the Deutsche Telekom website. Future opportunities exist for deeper promotion and bundling within the Magenta SmartHome program and Deutsche Telekom retail locations, and updates to this effect will be provided by way of ASX announcements.
Amazon Echo Bundles in Europe
In time for the holiday sales period, LIFX has launched an evergreen Amazon devices deal across the top 5 Amazon properties in Europe, namely the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain. These devices deals bundle LIFX products alongside key Amazon devices in these markets through Black Friday and the key holiday period. Presenting LIFX products alongside Amazon devices generates a significant uplift in glance views – an important metric of traffic to the LIFX Brand Store at Amazon.
National Load-in of LIFX Clean and LIFX Candle Colour at Bunnings
The Company is pleased to announce that home improvement store Bunnings has commenced a national load-in of LIFX Clean and LIFX Candle Colour, both of which are new to Bunnings shelves. This will also position Bunnings as the first retailer in Australia to stock LIFX Clean nationally at all warehouse locations. The Company anticipates that load-in should be completed by 20 November 2021.
Cryptocurrencies Now Accepted on LIFX.com
Following a period of testing and evaluation, the Company is pleased to share that it is now accepting certain cryptocurrencies as a form of payment on its various LIFX.com online properties worldwide. Accepting cryptocurrencies further supports LIFX’s credibility amongst key demographics, while providing a payment mechanism that is becoming increasingly native to customer segments such as the gamer market.
Effectively immediately, LIFX will accept payment in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dai, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and USD Coin.
Additional benefits of supporting cryptocurrency payments include faster conversion rates, lower processing fees, no chargebacks to LIFX as a merchant, transactions are possible from any region, and the Company can process payment conversions to any fiat currency with equal cost and ease.
For and on behalf of Buddy Technologies Limited,
Travis Gerber Chief Operating Officer
Buddy Technologies Limited.
