LACROIX finalizes the sale of the City-Mobility segment with SWARCO
LACROIX announces the sale of its City-Mobility segment to the SWARCO group, in the wake of the exclusive negotiations between the two companies announced on December 12. This operation should be effective in the first quarter of 2025.
The scope of the sale includes the Traffic and V2X business units, which represented a revenue of €27.3 million in 2023, or 3.6% of LACROIX’ revenue. At the end of 2024, it employed 122 people across the French sites of Carros (Alpes Maritimes), Ploufragan (Côtes d'Armor) and Cesson (Ille-et-Vilaine), as well as the Spanish site in Madrid.
The quality of the industrial and commercial project, essential to the company's development and the long-term preservation of jobs, was a key criterion in the choice of the buyer for the City-Mobility segment. The project was favorably received by staff representatives and internal teams alike. Transitional service agreements have been implemented to ensure full continuity of activity and services during the transition.
SWARCO enjoys an international reputation in road safety and intelligent traffic management products and technology. The strong complementarity of SWARCO's activities with the City-Mobility segment, in terms of geography, technology and sales, presents major opportunities for development and synergies.
A world leader in mobility solutions (traffic management, road markings, etc.), the SWARCO group is present in 25 countries, but with little presence in France and Spain.
This acquisition will enable the company to enter the French and Spanish markets, where the City-Mobility segment of LACROIX has strong positions in traffic management equipment, both in France (significant installed base) and in Spain (with local integrators). Moreover, SWARCO's products are technologically highly complementary to the City-Mobility range, enabling to develop commercial synergies by making the right portfolio additions available to new sales channels on both sides.
For LACROIX, this divestment was driven by the desire to refocus on its businesses with strong technological synergies, in order to achieve its ambition of becoming a global leader in industrial IoT solutions and electronic equipment for critical applications. LACROIX operates in markets that are undergoing rapid technological transformation and new business models that are moving towards more solutions and services. This reinforces the importance for critical company size when it comes to solutions with strong technological synergies within the Group. The industrial metal processing activities of the City-Mobility segment had become too far removed from LACROIX core value creation, centered on electronics and industrial IoT as well as positive impact activities.
As in the interim financial statements, the impact of the disposal will be accounted for in income from discontinued operations at 12/31.
« We have been successfully selling into the French market through esteemed partnerships for many years without having an own base in the country. The acquisition of LACROIX City-Mobility is a promising opportunity for us to amplify our presence in the French-speaking traffic technology markets, as well as in Spain. By uniting LACROIX City-Mobility’s expertise, geographic reach, and reputation with our market-leading ITS products, systems, and solutions, we are excited about the potential for substantial advancements. We are thrilled to welcome the LACROIX City-Mobility team to the SWARCO Family and look forward to evolving our business together.» says Michael SCHUCH, CEO of SWARCO.
“I am delighted that we have been able to conclude our sale transaction project with SWARCO. The City - Mobility teams will be joining a family-owned group, with a strong entrepreneurial culture, boasting the right size to meet its many challenges and a shared passion for the traffic control business. For LACROIX, this move will enable us to simplify our organization and focus on the electronic equipment activities where we are best positioned”, adds Vincent BEDOUIN, CEO of LACROIX
Upcoming events 2024 revenue: February 10, 2025 after the market closes
Convinced that technology must contribute to simple, sustainable, and safer environments, LACROIX supports its customers in developing more sustainable living ecosystems, thanks to useful, robust, and secure electronic equipment and connected technologies. As a listed, family-owned midcap with a €761 million revenue in 2023, LACROIX combines agile innovation, industrialization capacity, cutting-edge technological know-how and a long-term vision to meet environmental and societal challenges through its activities: Electronics and Environment. Through its Electronics business, LACROIX designs and manufactures industrial IoT solutions (hardware, software, and cloud) and electronic equipment for the automotive, industrial, connected homes and buildings (HBAS), avionics and defense, and healthcare sectors. As the Group's industrial backbone, the Electronics activity of LACROIX, is ranked among the TOP 50 worldwide and TOP 10 European EMS, Through its Environment activity, LACROIX also supplies secure and connected electronic equipment and IoT solutions to optimize the management of water networks, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning installations, as well as smart grids and smart lighting networks.
About SWARCO
SWARCO's leading idea is to improve quality of life by making the travel experience safer, quicker, more convenient, and environmentally sound. The Austrian company, headquartered in Wattens near Innsbruck, specialises in traffic technology and produces and supplies a wide range of products, systems, services and turnkey solutions for road marking, urban and interurban traffic management, parking, and public transport. Its cooperative systems, infrastructure-to-vehicle communication, e-mobility and modular holistic software solutions support tomorrow's mobility and make our communities more liveable. The Group is the world leader in high-performance road marking systems and the largest producer of LED-based traffic lights and variable message signs. More than 5,500 colleagues in 25 countries serve customers in 80 countries and generate revenues of over 1.2 billion euros.
