Sigfox plans to cut 12% of workforce amid 'complicated year'

Sigfox is going through an internal reorganization that will result in 47 permanent positions being made redundant, reports Les Echos. The company, which currently employs around 400 employees, said that 25 of the 47 positions will be removed on a voluntary basis. This development follows Sigfox’s recent sale of its German ‘0G’ network to asset management company Cube Infrastructure Manager, in a deal worth tens of millions of euros according to several sources.

Sigfox CEO Ludovic Le Moan admitted to Les Echos that 2020 was proving a “complicated year,” as the Covid-19 crisis was impacting the business with a drop in network equipment sales. These sales currently represent 50 percent of Sigfox’s revenues, down from 80 percent in 2018. Meanwhile, revenues from connectivity services have not grown as much as expected.

More than 16 million objects are currently connected to the Sigfox network, generating in the region of EUR 30 million annually. However, the present trend is far from approaching the company’s target of connecting 1 billion devices by 2023.

More assets sales may be on the cards, following the deal in Germany, as Sigfox tries to reposition its business towards new cloud-based services. Paul-Francois Fournier, who represents shareholder Bpifrance within the Sigfox board, told Les Echos that the repositioning should make it easier for the company to attract tech investors. For the moment, plans for an initial public offering (IPO) remain a medium-term ambition, with Le Moan hoping to reach this goal in 2022.