By Mathias de Rozario
(Reuters) -French electrical equipment maker Legrand on Thursday reported sales growth of 11.9% in the first nine months of the year, slightly below expectations, citing demand for infrastructure related to data centres.
Its sales came in at 6.97 billion euros ($8.13 billion) over the period, compared with the average analyst forecast of 7.03 billion euros in a company-provided consensus.
The growth was linked to its data centre business, which represented around 25% of the total sales, supported across all their geographical areas “with a much more consistent and significant base in the United States,” according to Legrand CEO Benoit Coquart during a call with reporters.
Tech companies, led by those in the United States, are investing heavily in data centres to meet surging demand for data-hungry artificial intelligence models.
The French electrical equipment maker has been impacted by U.S. tariffs and expects between $110 million and $130 million in additional costs in 2025. The U.S. accounts for 39.6% of Legrand’s total sales.
To counter the impact of the tariffs, Legrand is increasing prices in the U.S. and is relocating some of its production to countries with lower tariffs like Mexico or from China to Vietnam, Coquart told Reuters.
Its sales have also been dragged by a sharp downturn in new construction and renovation activity, which has affected key European markets like France and Germany where higher financing costs have put a brake on building projects, reducing demand for Legrand’s core electrical installation products.
Coquart said he sees no market improvement in 2025 but added the company will continue with acquisitions across all their businesses.
He said the decline in the company’s debt to 3.12 billion euros didn’t include the acquisition of Avtron Power Solutions in the U.S., which cost over a billion dollars, and the acquisition of Cogelec in France.
“So debt will increase between the end of September and the end of December,” he added.
The group on Thursday confirmed its full-year sales and profit outlook, which was raised in July due to better than expected sales in data centres.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
