Luxembourg, 24 July 2026 – Sterling Active Fund (“SAF”) is pleased to announce the successful exit of its investment in Dialight plc (“Dialight”). SAF sold its remaining shares in the open market, following yet another strong trading update and a sustained recovery in its share price. This investment was one of SAF’s most demanding and long-running engagements.
Dialight, headquartered in the UK, manufactures LED lighting fixtures for harsh and hazardous industrial environments, selling predominantly in the US and Australia.
SAF’s investment case rested on a fundamentally sound business whose quality was not reflected in its financial performance. SAF saw substantial underdeveloped margin and cash flow potential, masked by the group’s lack of scale and a period of strategic and operational challenges that had weighed on both performance and the share price.
SAF maintained an active dialogue with other key shareholders and supported a renewal of the Board and management team in 2023. Under a new Chairman and Chief Executive, the company set out and delivered a comprehensive transformation plan, centred on streamlining the portfolio, restructuring the cost base, and revising the commercial strategy.
The benefits of the transformation came through faster than expected. Portfolio streamlining, tighter pricing discipline and stronger cost control drove significant gross margin expansion, while robust cash generation steadily reduced net debt and ultimately moved the group into a net cash position. Successive trading updates confirmed the scale of the turnaround, with growth re-accelerating and profitability improving markedly, restoring the business to a materially stronger financial footing.
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Dialight plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange, is a manufacturer of LED lighting solutions for industrial environments, and Opto-Electronics components.
Sterling Active Fund is the second fund launched by Sterling Strategic Value in October 2020. SAF is open for subscriptions.
Sterling Strategic Value is one of Europe’s oldest Activist investors, founded in 1999 with a track record of over 50 successful activist investments.
