Bemsiq AB, with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, consists of a group of 10 companies and 475 employees providing building automation field devices and energy metering products.  The business was established by Latour, the Swedish investment group in 2016.

In this Research Note, we examine the Bemsiq business, based on the investor presentations, annual report of their parent company and the development of their buy and build strategy in 2021.

The business unit reported 2021 revenues of SEK 927 million (around $102 million), a 27.9% growth versus prior year, the majority of which is attributed to acquisitions. 

The 2021 business mix included net sales data for the five main companies in the group:

• Produal, a Finnish specialist in sensors, transmitters and room controllers for building automation acquired in 2015 through a majority stake. 2021 net sales of SEK 335 million.
• S+S Regeltechnik, a German company acquired in October 2019, providing field devices and room controllers for building automation. 2021 net sales of SEK 217 million.
• Elvaco - a Swedish supplier of products and services for remote meter reading, sub-metering, and indoor climate control. 2021 net sales of SEK 166 million.
• Bastec - a Swedish provider of building automation systems acquired in 2014. 2021 net sales of SEK 61 million.
• Sensortec, a Swiss company offering field devices for building automation, acquired in 2018. 2021 net sales of SEK 48 million.

Bemsiq completed three acquisitions and a minority stake in 2021:

• An agreement to acquire a 70% stake in Elsys was concluded in January 2021. Elsys, based in Umea, Sweden is a manufacturer of LoRaWAN sensors for applications in smart buildings. The company has 7 employees and generated sales of approx. SEK 50 million in 2020.
• In May, Produal acquired the Finnish company, HK Instruments Oy, a supplier of advanced measuring devices for HVAC and building automation, which generates sales of EUR 8 million and has 50 employees. 
• In September, the Moncton, Canadian company Greystone Energy Systems Inc was acquired. As a supplier of HVAC sensors and transmitters for the building automation industry with 2020 revenues of CAD 22 million, Greystone will further strengthen Bemsiq’s geographical reach with a strong base in North America.
• Bemsiq acquired a minority stake in Meliox AB, a Swedish startup founded in 2019 which has developed an IoT-based solution for collecting, aggregating, analysing and presenting data from buildings. This digital tool is intended to complement Bastec’s core product BAS2 and will also be interesting for customers in other parts of the Bemsiq group. 

Their acquisitive strategy continues with an announcement in February 2022 of the purchase of Consens by S+S Regeltechnik GmbH. Consens is a developer of devices, sensors, components, testing technology and systems for humidity, temperature, and air quality. Founded in 1998, the company has 13 employees based in Thüringen, Germany. Net sales are estimated at EUR 2.9 million in 2021.

The group’s ambition is to support the digitization of smart and climate neutral commercial buildings by becoming a leading global supplier of sensor, control and connectivity technologies. 

The Bemsiq business model revolving around smaller independent companies with high flexibility and customer-oriented solutions is seen as a competitive advantage in the European polarized building automation market.

This article was written by Daphne Tomlinson, Senior Research Associate at Memoori.