Legrand announces a double-digit increase for its sales and its profit in the 1st quarter

This growth "reflects both commercial success and good management of supply tensions," said Benoît Coquard, CEO of Legrand, during a conference call.

“All of our three zones, Europe, North and Central America, and the rest of the world, are growing strongly over the period,” he said.

These results are above the expectations of analysts polled by the agency Factset, whose consensus was 1,849 billion euros in turnover and 229 million euros in net profit. The consensus, on the side of analysts polled by Bloomberg, amounted to 1,837 billion euros for turnover and 248,7 million euros for net profit.

"Despite a very uncertain environment", markets such as data centers, connected offers, energy efficiency, "continue to be promising for the group", commented Mr. Coquard.

The managing director also underlined a "significant price effect, of 7,8% in the first quarter", to at least partially offset inflation. For raw materials and components, it amounted to "around +18% in this quarter compared to the 1st quarter of 2021", he indicated.

Despite these very good results, the group has only maintained its sales growth objectives, excluding the exchange rate effect, of between 5 and 11% in 2022, due to "a certain number of uncertainties". whether it's global growth, the zero-Covid policy in China that could disrupt the supply chain, or the impact on household morale of Russia's war in Ukraine. This conflict did not have a significant impact on sales in the first quarter of Legrand, which had only generated around 2% of its turnover in these two countries in 2021.

At its annual general meeting, scheduled for May 25, the group will propose to shareholders the candidacy of Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux as independent director.