Record profits, good organic growth and strong cash generation
Further £200m share buyback announced
Expect another year of strong financial and strategic progress in 2025
Preliminary results, year ended 31 December 2024
|
|
Adjusted1 |
Statutory |
||||||
|
|
2024 |
2023 |
Change |
Organic4 |
2024 |
2023 |
Change |
|
|
Revenue |
£2,210m |
£2,196m |
+1% |
+4% |
£2,210m |
£2,196m |
+1% |
|
|
Operating profit |
£436m |
£411m |
+6% |
+10% |
£356m |
£319m |
+12% |
|
|
Operating margin |
19.7% |
18.7% |
+100bps |
|
16.1% |
14.5% |
+160bps |
|
|
Profit before tax |
£419m |
£387m |
+8% |
|
£330m |
£302m |
+9% |
|
|
Basic EPS |
122.5p |
116.8p |
+5% |
|
96.0p |
91.5p |
+5% |
|
|
Free cash flow2 |
£263m |
£234m |
+12% |
|
£263m |
£234m |
+12% |
|
|
Dividend per share |
31.1p |
28.3p |
+10% |
|
31.1p |
28.3p |
+10% |
|
|
Return on invested capital3 |
13.4% |
13.1% |
+30bps |
|
|
|
|
|
1 Excluding the effect of adjusting items as reported in the income statement. See Note 1 for definitions of alternative performance measures.
2 Free cash flow before corporate activity.
3 Post-tax return on invested capital, as described in Note 1 to the financial statements.
4 After adjusting for acquisitions, disposals and exchange rates (see Note 1).
Highlights
- 4% organic sales growth and 10% organic adjusted operating profit growth
- Outstanding performance in Process Automation, with record order book into 2025
- Good demand for energy-saving solutions in Climate Control
- Resilient performance in Industrial Automation
- Softer market conditions in Life Science & Fluid Control and Transport
- Market-led innovation accelerating, with £149m of Growth Hub orders in 2025
- Adjusted operating margin up 100bps to 19.7%, target raised to 20%+
- Five-year complexity reduction programme concluded, with £15m of benefits in 2024
- Margins improved in both platforms, reflecting strategic execution and strong pricing power
- Higher margin aftermarket content represents around 45% of Group sales
- Return on invested capital increased to 13.4%
- Continued strong cash generation, with free cash flow of £263m and > £1bn expected over next three years
- Strong balance sheet with net debt / EBITDA of 1.0x supports compounding EPS growth
- Creating value through disciplined approach to capital allocation
- Proposed 10% increase in final dividend to 21.1p
- Acquired TWTG, a leading sensor technology business to accelerate aftermarket growth
- £100m share buyback completed in 2024; further £200m share buyback announced today
Roy Twite, Chief Executive, said:
“2024 has been another strong year for IMI, with record profits, good organic growth and strong cash generation. We delivered 4% organic sales growth and 10% adjusted operating profit growth, supported by an outstanding performance in Process Automation and continued demand for our energy-saving technology in Climate Control.
I would like to thank all our people for delivering this result. It demonstrates the strength and quality of our business and success of the growth strategy we launched in 2019. IMI is now a higher quality, more resilient and more innovative business, with a well-balanced geographic mix of revenues more closely aligned to attractive, long-term growth markets in fluid and motion control. Over the past five years we have built a track record of sustainable, profitable growth, delivering 11% compound annual adjusted EPS growth.
Given the strength of our cash flow, disciplined approach to capital allocation, strong balance sheet and confidence in our future performance, we today announce a further £200m share buyback and a 10% increase to the final dividend. Over the next three years, we expect to generate in excess of £1 billion in free cash flow.
Based on current market conditions, we anticipate another year of strong financial and strategic progress in 2025. We expect full year adjusted basic EPS to be between 129p and 136p, representing mid-single digit organic revenue growth.”
Enquiries to:
|
Edward Hann |
IMI |
Tel: +44 (0)7977 354 810 |
|
Matt Denham |
Headland |
Tel: +44 (0)7551 825 496 |
A live webcast of the analyst meeting taking place today at 9:00am (GMT) will be available on the investor page of the Group’s website: www.imiplc.com. The Group plans to release its next Interim Management Statement on 8 May 2025.
To read the full press release in Acrobat PDF format please click here