Back to Basics
Signify’s strategy needs recalibration. The lighting market remains challenging—particularly for commoditized fixtures, trade-channel products and public-sector projects. Cree Lighting is a very public example of the challenging market we face. Chinese competition, tariff ripples and global macro softness all combine to make Signify’s job harder.
In previous earnings calls, your humble editor has been struck by how much weight former CEO Eric Rondolat placed on softer metrics. Initially, I attributed this to a touch of European progressivism—a wider focus on sustainability and social impact. To their credit, Signify has delivered. The company now counts 160 million connected light points, reports circular revenues of 37 percent (beating its 2025 target of 32 percent), and “brighter lives” revenues—tied to health, well-being, and food access—at 34 percent, also above goal.
Reducing greenhouse gases, expanding connected lighting, and advancing circular business models are all sound long-term strategies. Yet for now, Signify needs to focus on the basics, where price pressure is fierce and growth remains hard to find. Until those core segments stabilize, the promising stories of the future may not offset the weaker performance of today.
Getting Back to the Basics
I did a quick search through Signify’s 3Q earnings press release and investor call transcript and couldn’t find words like architect, lighting designer, distributor, contractor, or rep. That absence says a lot. Signify needs to get back to the basics.
When I interview lighting designers for our magazine, designing lighting (dl), it’s rare to hear Signify mentioned. Their products seldom appear in fixture schedules. I’ll concede that our publication focuses on architectural lighting rather than commodity products—but even so, Signify’s footprint in that space is nearly invisible.
Remembering When Product Innovation Mattered
About twenty years ago, when Larry Powers was CEO of Genlyte (before the sale to Philips), he told me that a major portion of the incentive plan was tied to sales of new products. That focus on innovation kept the company hungry, relevant, and close to the design community.
Speaking of decades past, the power in the lighting industry once rested with the lamp and ballast manufacturers. Today, that power has shifted. It lies with the engineers, architects, and lighting designers who specify products—the very audience Signify seems to have lost touch with.
A Chance to Reconnect
Tempelman announced plans for a Capital Markets Day in mid-2026 to outline Signify’s long-term direction. He intends to review the company’s portfolio, revisit capital allocation, and sharpen its strategic focus.
Signify is scheduled to exhibit at Light + Building in 2026 (although we still don’t see them on the L+B website). Perhaps this can be a fresh start—a chance to reconnect with the design community and refocus on the more profitable, specification-driven side of the business.
Go Deeper: Read about the 3Q Earnings