Rotork plc (ROR) Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our first half results presentation. Alongside me is Ben Peacock, our CFO. We're pleased to have the opportunity today to talk through our performance in the period, which will follow our normal format with Q&A at the end of the presentation. We delivered a robust performance in the first half of 2026. Despite the disruptions seen in oil and gas, the group has continued to deliver growth and margin expansion, supported by the successful execution of our Growth+ strategy. These initiatives are strengthening the quality, resilience and returns of the business whilst positioning us for sustainable long-term growth. I would like to thank all of our colleagues around the world for their dedication, hard work and commitment to our continued improvements. Their efforts have been instrumental in delivering this performance and driving progress across the group. In the first half, order trends broadly reflected the revenue performance across our divisions with a very strong contribution from CPI, growth in Water and Power and the impact of the Middle East-related disruption affecting oil and gas. Revenues grew and encouragingly, target segments and service continued to perform well with strong growth in both areas, which I'll discuss in more detail on the next slide. Adjusted operating margins continued to expand, increasing 60 basis points on an OCC basis. We also maintained a peer-leading return on capital employed of 37% despite the mixed operating environment. This performance reflects our stronger exposure to faster-growing target segments, the mission-critical nature of our products, our asset-light business model and our continued focus on cost discipline. We continue to deploy capital in line with our disciplined allocation framework. We invested organically to support future growth, returned a further GBP 40 million to shareholders through share buybacks and have declared an interim dividend of 3p per share. Safety remains the top priority for everyone at Rotork. We've made good progress on our safety initiatives, and we're pleased with the year-on-year improvement in the first half. The next slide highlights growth in 2 of our focus areas, target segments and Rotork Service. In the first half, we continued to see good sales growth in our target segment, up 10% OCC. While core markets were weak, especially in energy, we saw good growth in LNG and decarbonization initiatives in oil and gas, including an onshore carbon capture project in the U.K. In CPI, we saw very strong growth in specialty chemicals, marine and critical HVAC with particularly good growth in data centers in the U.S. and Asia due to end market strength and our own strategic initiatives. In Water & Power, we saw good growth in water infrastructure and treatment markets, including multiple municipal water treatment and irrigation projects in the U.S. We also saw good growth within combined heat and power and combined cycle gas turbine business within the period. Service is another strategic initiative for the business, which saw continued good growth in H1, reaching 24% of group sales. Here, we continue to drive penetration of field and reliability service offerings, helping customers improve asset performance while increasing recurring revenue opportunities. Before moving on, I'd like to provide a summary of the proposed cash acquisition of Rotork by ABB. This represents an important development for the business, and I'd like to briefly recap the key terms. On the 16th of July, the Board announced that we had reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition by ABB for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Rotork. The offer value of 506p per share comprises of 503p per share in cash and the declared interim dividend of 3p per share. This offer value equates to a multiple of approximately 19.5x Rotork's enterprise value to adjusted EBITDA and represents a 73% premium to the undisturbed share price on the 15th of July. In terms of time lines, the scheme document will be published within 28 days of the original announcement with the acquisition expected to be completed in the first half of 2027 once regulatory approvals have been granted. Until completion of the transaction, it remains business as usual for Rotork with our focus firmly on executing our strategy. With that, I'll hand over to Ben to take you through the financial results in more detail.

Thank you, Kiet, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report our Growth+ strategy continued to underpin strong financial performance in the first half of the year, delivering margin expansion, a high return on capital and additional returns to shareholders. In the following slides, I'll walk you through the highlights of our performance, but please note that the appendix contains additional detail on the 2026 interim results. Furthermore, unless otherwise stated, all figures discussed in this section are on an organic constant currency basis. If we now turn to the numbers. Orders received were GBP 372 million, a decrease of 4% compared to the prior period. Strong demand in CPI and Water and Power partially offset the impact of Middle East-related disruption in oil and gas. Revenue was GBP 367 million, representing growth of 1.3%. On a reported basis, revenue was flat, reflecting the effect of previously announced disposals and a modest foreign exchange headwind. From a divisional perspective, CPI delivered a very strong performance, achieving mid-teens revenue growth. This was supported by continued growth in Water & Power, which grew low single digits. These gains were partially offset by lower revenues in Oil and Gas, which I'll come back to shortly. Rotork Service continues to perform well with revenue growth outpacing the wide group. As a result, its contribution to group revenue increased to 24%, up from 23% in the prior year. Adjusted operating profit of GBP 82 million was up 4.1% compared to the prior year. This resulted in an adjusted operating margin of 22.4%, a headline improvement of 40 basis points. Excluding the effects of foreign currency and M&A activity, the operating margin increased by 60 basis points, thanks to operating leverage, disciplined cost management and favorable mix. The increased profitability resulted in adjusted earnings per share of 7.4p, an increase of 4.2% on a reported basis. Cash conversion was 79% in the period, while return on capital remained at a peer-leading 37%. Finally, the declared interim dividend of 3p per share is 1.7% higher than the prior period. If we now turn to the divisions, starting with Oil and Gas. Divisional sales decreased by 8.4%, largely reflecting the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. From a sector perspective, activity was softer across both upstream and midstream markets during the period, although our target segment initiatives delivered a more resilient performance. Customers continue to exercise capital discipline, while spending patterns and supply chains were disrupted by the ongoing conflict. Encouragingly, downstream markets remain relatively stable year-on-year, supported by our higher service exposure, which helped provide greater resilience in demand. From a regional perspective, the division grew in the Americas, driven by performance in downstream markets, offset by subdued performance in EMEA and APAC. Adjusted operating profit was GBP 37 million, down 13.8%, reflecting the impact of lower volumes. However, disciplined cost management helped mitigate the reduction in profitability. Turning now to CPI. CPI delivered a very strong performance in the first half with revenues increasing by 16% year-on-year. Growth was driven by continued momentum across our target segments, particularly in the data center market, where we've seen very high demand. By destination, Americas sales were particularly strong, led by critical HVAC and core process markets. EMEA achieved good growth, supported by performance in HVAC, marine and specialty chemicals, whilst APAC revenues were lower overall. Adjusted operating profit at GBP 28 million was up 24.4%, and adjusted operating margin was up 170 basis points to 24.7%, mainly due to higher volumes. Moving on to Water & Power. Sales were up 3.4% with good momentum in our target segments of water infrastructure and treatment markets. Order intake remained robust, providing good visibility and supporting expectations for stronger activity in the second half of the year. Despite good growth across gas and alternative energy sectors, power revenues were lower in the period, reflecting a higher prior year comparative and the expected phasing of projects in 2026. Across the regions, APAC delivered the strongest growth. EMEA and the Americas also grew supported by continued investment in water treatment. Adjusted operating profit for the division was GBP 28 million, representing growth of 15.1%. The adjusted operating margin increased to 28.1%, supported by operating leverage, a favorable product mix and tariff effects. If we now move to the adjusted operating profit bridge. The bridge shows profit growth of 4.1% and a 60 basis points increase in margin versus the prior year, driven by positive operating leverage, disciplined cost management and a favorable product mix. Price increases more than offset salary inflation with limited operating cost growth. The currency headwind to adjusted operating profit was GBP 1.4 million, which reduced the reported margin progression by 20 basis points, whilst the net impact of acquisitions and disposals reduced adjusted operating profit by GBP 0.4 million. If we now turn to the items below operating profit. Consistent with prior periods, the majority of the adjusting items related to our business transformation program. We incurred a further GBP 15 million in connection with the implementation of the new ERP system and the associated rollout of systems and processes throughout the group. The other significant adjustment items were a GBP 6.9 million gain on disposal of 2 noncore subsidiaries and GBP 1.3 million of public offer-related costs associated with the proposed cash offer by ABB. From a tax perspective, the adjusted effective tax rate was 25.2%, consistent with the prior period. The reported effective tax rate decreased to 23%, primarily reflecting the nontaxable nature of the one-off gains for disposals. Turning to cash flow. We continue to be cash generative, providing the funding to support organic growth, strategic investment and returns to shareholders. Operating cash conversion was 79% for the period. Capital expenditure and the cash costs associated with our business transformation program were in line with expectations. However, the volatility experienced in oil and gas markets had a temporary impact on working capital, which in turn affected cash conversion during the period. Despite this, we generated positive free cash flow of GBP 22 million. This was achieved while continuing to invest in the future of our business, including total R&D spend of GBP 7.3 million to support new product development and innovation across the group. If we now move to capital allocation. During the period, we returned significant capital to shareholders, comprising GBP 44 million of dividends and a further GBP 40 million through our previously announced share buyback program. Additionally, the group benefited from a net inflow of GBP 20 million relating to the disposals in the first quarter. As a result, we finished the period with net cash of GBP 25 million. This comprised cash and cash equivalents of GBP 70 million, offset by lease liabilities of GBP 23 million and GBP 22 million of borrowings under the group's revolving credit facility. Overall, our balance sheet remains strong, providing us with strategic and financial flexibility. With that, I will now hand you back to Kiet.

Thanks, Ben. And now turning to the market outlook. Our overall group outlook is unchanged, and we continue to expect further progress on an OCC basis in 2026. In oil and gas, we are expecting a more gradual recovery from the disruption caused by the conflict in the Middle East in H2, consistent with the pace seen at the end of Q2. While full year revenues are now expected to be slightly lower year-on-year, we remain well positioned to benefit from future investment in energy security, infrastructure resilience and supply chain diversification. In CPI, we now expect a stronger performance for the full year. Our target segment and service strategy continues to support attractive growth opportunities, and we expect continued growth in specialty chemicals, mining, critical HVAC and marine markets with strong demand from data centers in particular. Expectations for Water and Power remain unchanged. Trends in water markets remain good and power markets continue to recover. Order momentum remains strong, providing good support for H2 performance. Since launching our Growth+ strategy in 2022, we are focused on making a strong business even stronger. By concentrating on faster-growing target segments and enhancing customer and operational performance under the customer value initiatives and extending our product leadership through innovation, we have further improved the quality, balance and growth potential of the business. These strategic actions have enabled us to capitalize on the attractive characteristics of our business model and the structural growth trends of automation and electrification across our markets. As a result, we have delivered strong growth, particularly in our target segments and service business, high margins close to our mid-20s ambition and increased our return on capital to 37% in the first half of the year. At the same time, we have continued to invest for the future and sharpened our strategic focus. We have accelerated new product launches, strengthened our commercial teams and made good progress on our ERP program to support our ability to scale in the future. We have also completed two strategically important acquisitions, expanding our capabilities and opening up new growth opportunities. Our balance sheet remains strong, giving us the flexibility to invest in the business, pursue strategic opportunities and continue returning excess capital to shareholders. One of the achievements I'm most proud of is our world-class safety performance. This reflects the culture we have built together and the commitment of our people across the group. I would like to thank all of our employees for their contribution to the group's success. I'm pleased with the performance of the business given the disruptions we have seen in energy markets. In previous cycles, these issues would have had a much bigger effect. The outstanding performance from CPI, in particular, highlights the benefits of the changes we have made under Growth+ and the greater balance we have built into the group. Looking ahead, we expect to deliver further progress on an OCC basis in 2026. Our end markets remain attractive. The actions we have taken give us confidence in our ambition to deliver mid- to high single-digit revenue growth and adjusted operating margins in the mid-20s over time. Thank you for your interest today. Bill and I would be very happy to take your questions whilst recognizing that we are still in an offer period. And when discussing the prospective acquisition of Rotork, we can only comment on what is already in the public domain. Thank you, and we'll now open the floor to questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Stephan Klepp from BNP Paribas Exane.

I just have one question, if I may. Could you describe me a little bit what's going on in oil and gas markets, what you can see there at the moment? You obviously talked about the weakness. You talked about gradual improvement. But can you give us some more color on what's happening in upstream, midstream, downstream, please?

Yes, sure. If I give you the kind of breadth of the division across the relevant regions and split into what you've asked for. In terms of the U.S. or the Americas, we saw growth in the Americas, and that growth came in downstream across the Americas, and it also came in Latam across up, mid and downstream. In EMEA, we did see a decline, and that is related to the Middle East conflict. And then in Asia Pac, we also saw a small decline in the downstream business due to what I would call the more secondary derivatives of a supply issue. So India and China were experienced feedstock shortages due to the conflict in the Middle East. LNG continues to be very strong within the division. So that's the basic ethos of oil and gas. In terms of the Middle East, what we saw in Q2 were things improving as the quarter went on. And if you take the 3-month rolling average for orders from April to June, we did see a month-on-month improvement in the rolling orders going up. So that gives us the confidence in the H2 that things are improving.

Our next question this morning comes from Tom Elgar from Deutsche Numis.