ASSA ABLOY holds Q2 presentation, announces acquisition of Evolis

STOCKHOLM – ASSA ABLOY preempted its second fiscal quarter 2023 presentation with the news that the company would be acquiring Evolis through its subsidiary HID Global.

The news came roughly an hour before the company’s quarterly presentation detailing their intent to purchase approximately 98.5 percent of shares from the French manufacturer of ID card printers and consumables. "This operation is a tremendous development opportunity for our two groups," Evolis CEO Emmanuel Picot said in a release.

He added, "Since our creation, we have never stopped innovating and developing solutions for decentralized personalization of credit card format cards. This transaction with HID would give us access to new development opportunities, with greater added value for our customers by combining our expertise and know-how. It's a major step forward for Evolis, and we are eager and enthusiastic to join the HID family."

"I look forward to welcoming Evolis to the HID family,” said President and CEO of HID Björn Lidefelt, “Joining forces with a strong industrial player like Evolis would enable us to better meet our customers' needs and offer us complementary growth opportunities in terms of products, geographical presence and markets."

The news made a nice segue for the company as they presented an otherwise strong quarter performance-wise. The operating margin (EBIT) for the quarter was 16.7% (excluding HHI from the numbers) with a net growth of 6% for the company and 5% growth in North America due to what ASSA ABLOY CEO Nico Delvaux called “Good Momentum” in the commercial market.

While the company closed the acquisition of Spectrum Brands’ Hardware and Home improvement division (HHI) in June, a weak residential market plagued their results there with new build, garage door sales, and residential perimeter performing poorly. In addition, ASSA ABLOY reported a “Deceleration of recurring monthly revenue (RMR).” Despite that Delvaux told participants in the presentation that they had cause to believe that the US residential market may have passed through the worst of its troubles and that things may be turning around, though he cautioned, “It is clear that we continue to operate in an uncertain financial environment.”

Completion of the transaction to acquire Evolis is expected to take place at the end of 2023’s third quarter. Readers interested in seeing the entire quarterly presentation can do so at www.assaabloy.com.