IMI plc

Hello everyone and welcome to the IMI plc interim results 2026. My name is Nadia and I'll be coordinating the call today. If you would like to ask a question please press star fully by one on your telephone keypad. I will now hand over to your host Roy Twite, CEO to begin.

Please go ahead.

Good morning everybody and welcome to IMI's 2026 interim results presentation. I am joined here today by our CFO Luke Grant. Together we're going to take you through what was a strong first half performance and I'd like to begin by thanking our people. It is a real privilege to lead such a talented and committed team and this first half performance is a direct reflection of their hard work and their dedication. We delivered 5% organic revenue growth in the first half with growth across all of IMI. Organic adjusted operating profit was 8% higher than the same period last year. Growth Hub continues to deliver with orders up 22% to £78 million despite a strong prior year comparator. and we saw a significant improvement in free cash flow generation. We are committed to deploying this capital for growth and to enhance shareholder returns. We returned over £300 million to shareholders in the first half and are declaring another 10% increase in the interim dividend. I am pleased to reconfirm our full year guidance. We are on track to deliver our sixth consecutive year of mid-single digit organic revenue growth and we continue to expect full year adjusted EPS to be between 136 pence and 142 pence. Importantly, excluding any contribution from Truflow Marine, we expect to deliver our typical 45% half one to 55% half two EPS weighting. IMI has been fundamentally transformed since we launched our growth strategy in 2019, delivering a 10% EPS CAGR as we create significant value for shareholders. At the heart of this is the one IMI operating model, our relentless focus on commercial excellence, market-led innovation and continuous improvement, all underpinned by our performance culture. Supported by the three long-term megatrends of energy, automation and healthcare, we remain confident in our ability to continue compounding earnings growth over the medium term. Okay, with that, I'm going to hand over to Luke.

Thank you, Roy. And good morning, everybody. I'm pleased to be able to take you through our strong first half performance. Our One IMI operating model continues to drive consistent high quality results and the first half of 2026 was no exception. Revenue was 5% higher organically and organic adjusted operating profit was up 8%. The adjusted operating margin was 50 basis points higher at 18.7%, reflecting strong operating leverage and continued growth in the high margin aftermarket, partly offset by our previously communicated cybersecurity investments. Adjusted Basic EPS increased to 63.4 pence, reflecting the strong operational performance and the benefits of our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Cash conversion was 96% and we saw a significant improvement in the free cash flow generation during the period. Following the strong performance and reflecting our confidence in the business, we're pleased to declare another 10% increase in the interim dividend. Turning briefly to the revenue and profit bridges, organic revenue was 5% higher with a modest tailwind from foreign exchange. Adjusted operating profit increased to 217 million with organic adjusted operating profit of 8% year on year. Disciplined execution of the one IMI operating model has delivered a 580 basis point margin expansion since 2019. Taking us to 20% in 2025, we remain confident in further progression over the medium term. Our strong operating leverage means we expect to deliver a drop through of around 30% over the medium term. Turning to the income statement, as mentioned, we saw good organic revenue and profit growth in the period. The net interest charge was broadly in line with last year at 8.4 million and the tax rate increased to 26.2% broadly in line with our guidance for the full year Adjusted basic EPS increased by 13% to 63.4 pence in the period Looking now at the performance of the platforms and sectors, automation delivered good growth with revenue of 5% organically. Process automation had another strong first half. Order intake was up 12% organically, including a significant 48 million pound new construction nuclear order, which covers deliveries over more than a decade. New construction orders were up 20% organically and high margin aftermarket orders were 7% higher. The process automation order book at the end of June was 10% higher than the prior year. Industrial automation organic revenue was 5% higher, principally reflecting improved levels of industrial activity and a softer first half comparator. Turning to life technology, where organic revenue was also 5% higher. Climate control, organic revenue was 4% higher, reflecting continued demand for our energy efficient and smart connected solutions. Data center orders were £18 million in the first half, significantly higher than the £6 million in the first half of 2025. Life Science and Fluid Control organic revenue was 5% higher, supported by resilient healthcare demand and a softer first half comparator. We now expect Life Science and Fluid Control organic revenue to be modestly higher in 2026. Transport organic revenue was 8% higher as the heavy duty truck market began to recover. Reflecting improving market conditions, we now expect transport to deliver mid-single digit organic revenue growth in 2026. The strategic review remains ongoing and the team continues to execute well. Finally, I'd like to provide a quick update on the Middle East. Shipments to the region in the first half were modestly ahead of the expectations we set out in our Q1 trading update. Our full year expectations for shipments into the region remain unchanged and our guidance assumes that conditions allow for planned shipments to be delivered by the end of the financial year. Turning now to cash flow, where we delivered a significant improvement during the first half. Adjusted operating cash flow was £208 million, up 32% on the prior period, reflecting the strong profit performance and continued good working capital management. I want to say a big thank you to our commercial and operational teams across the business who continue to manage working capital exceptionally well. Working capital showed an £8 million outflow in the period, much improved on a £42 million outflow in the prior period and follows on from an inflow in the full year 2025. Free cash flow was £171 million, significantly higher than the £30 million delivered in the first half of 2025. This reflects the strong operating cash flow performance together with the non-repeat of the one-off items called out in 2025. We continue to invest in new capacity and capability across IMI with capex of £38 million in the first half representing 1.2 times depreciation. Net debt at the end of June was £673 million with the net debt to adjusted EBITDA at 1.2 times, comfortably within our one to two times target range. IMI is a highly cash generative business with a clear and disciplined approach to capital allocation, prioritising investments in our people, processes and operations that accelerate organic growth. In the first half, we opened three new world-class facilities and made significant investments in growth and data and digital across IMI, which are all key enablers of our One IMI operating model. We remain committed to a progressive dividend and are very pleased to be declaring a 10% increase in the interim dividend today. We will also pursue targeted bolt-on acquisitions that enhance our positions in attractive long-term growth markets. Since 2019, we have deployed over £400 million into bolt-on acquisitions, whilst increasing our fully burdened return on invested capital by 260 basis points to 14%. Our M&A pipeline remains strong and we will continue to see targeted bolt-on opportunities that complement our organic growth model, providing access to differentiated, scalable technology and expanding our install base and aftermarket positions whilst delivering returns in line with our strict financial criteria. Finally, we will look to return surplus capital to shareholders should net debt to adjusted EBITDA fall sustainably below our one to two times target range. Our £500 million share buyback programme announced at our four-year results is progressing as planned, with £250 million completed as at 30 June 2026. By deploying our growing cash flows into organic growth, targeted bolt-on acquisitions and value enhancing share buybacks, we are confident we can continue our track record of compounding EPS and free cash flow per share growth. Turning now to the outlook, following our strong first half performance, we are reconfirming our four-year guidance. We remain on track to deliver our sixth consecutive year of mid-single-digit organic revenue growth in 2026, and we continue to expect full-year adjusted basic EPS to be between 136 pence and 142 pence. We continue to expect that the adjusted operating margin will be flat to slightly up in 2026 with strong operating leverage offset by our previously communicated cybersecurity investments. Our guidance assumes that the disposal of Truvo Marine completes in the third quarter of 2026, that shipments to the Middle East for the full year are unchanged from the expectation set out during our Q1 trading update, and that foreign exchange rates do not have a material impact on full year sales and profits. We are assuming a net interest charge of approximately £20 million, a tax rate of around 26.3% and a weighted average number of shares of £239 million following completion of the £500 million share buyback programme. As Roy previously mentioned, excluding TrueFlow Marine, we expect our typical H1-H2 EPS profile of around 45-55%. If completion takes place as assumed, our reported EPS profile is likely to be more H1-weighted, reflecting TrueFlow Marine's contribution ahead of the disposal. With that, I'll hand back to Roy, who will take you through the strategy update.

Thanks Luke. Since launching our growth strategy in 2019, we have deliberately aligned our business to three long-term megatrends, energy, automation and healthcare. These structural drivers provide significant opportunities to create long-term value and will underpin our delivery of profitable growth in the years to come. IMI is a global leader in fluid and motion control with a compelling value proposition. Our solutions typically account for a small share of the total system cost but have an outsized positive impact on end customer outcomes. This drives growth, customer loyalty and strong pricing power. It also positions as well to serve the attractive aftermarket, which today represents around 45% of IMI's sales. Our business is built on the strength of our one IMI operating model. By applying a consistent approach rooted in commercial excellence, market led innovation and continuous improvement, we are creating significant value for shareholders. Over half of IMI sales are directly supported by rising energy demand and energy efficiency and I wanted to provide an update on how this long-term megatrend is driving sustainable profitable growth. Firstly, in conventional power where IMI is a key supplier to the large gas turbine OEMs. We continue to see strong demand in the first half with organic order intake up 24% and new construction actually doubling. This is being driven by widespread electrification and the need for stable, reliable energy to power data centres. our customers now have multi-year order books that give us confidence in the growth opportunities ahead Nuclear also continues to be an exciting area for IMI. We won 51 million pounds of new construction orders in the first half, including the 48 million pound new construction order that Luke mentioned earlier. This is one of our largest ever contracts with revenue to be recognised over more than a decade. We also continued to see strong momentum in the higher margin aftermarket with orders up 33% organically year on year. Thirdly, LNG, IMI's control solutions play a significant role right across the LNG value chain. And as previously highlighted, we are particularly excited about the significant opportunity to support new liquefaction capacity additions. Organic order intake in LNG was up 56% in the first half, with new construction up 67% and aftermarket up 36%. With strong customer relationships and leading technology, we see a clear pathway to sustained growth. and finally data centers. The rapid expansion of data center capacity is not only driving energy demand, it's also creating an exciting opportunity for climate control. Our additive solutions play a key role in supporting energy efficiency and thermal management. And we won 18 million pounds of orders in the first half, up from 6 million pounds in the first half of 2025. The global pipeline of opportunities continues to grow. Growing the aftermarket is a key strategic priority for IMI. Our aftermarket exposure has expanded from around 35% in 2014 to approximately 45% in 2025 and it is central to how we create significant value for our customers and drive long-term returns for shareholders. Our aftermarket revenues are mission critical to customers' operations, largely funded through OPEX rather than CAPEX and supported by long-term customer relationships. This gives us recurring revenue at high margins and stronger returns. In process automation aftermarket, the aftermarket now accounts for around 60% of orders and as you can see on this slide, we've grown order intake at an 11% CAGR since 2020. This growth is underpinned by our installed base of more than 200,000 severe service valves, where our parts, upgrades and services help our customers run their most critical operations safely, efficiently and profitably. As many of you will be aware, our innovative retrofit 3D technology uses 3D printing to fit our complex designs into installed valves. We are continuously finding ways to improve this process, and I am really proud of the innovation coming from our teams. A great example of this is our team in Korea who have combined our engineering expertise with AI-enabled tools to accelerate the design of our bespoke 3D disk stacks, reducing engineering time by more than 90%. This means we can respond much more rapidly to customers and continue to grow the recurring high margin aftermarket. Thank you very much. The adjusted operating margin has expanded to 20% and we continue to see opportunities for further progression over the medium term. Cash conversion remains very strong and our fully burdened return on invested capital is meaningfully higher than our 12% underpin and well above our weighted average cost of capital. none of this would be possible without the more than 10 000 people right across IMI and I want to take this opportunity once again to thank each and every one of them Our people and performance culture are the foundation of our One IMI operating model and we've worked hard to build a culture rooted in ownership, customer focus and innovation and we are continuing to make significant investments in our people to help them grow, develop and create value for our customers. The image on the left-hand side of this slide is from the recent IMI Way Day, which this year focused on solving our customers' challenges. It really was an inspiring day and a great reminder of the pride and dedication of our teams right across IMI as our people work together to create great solutions. As you can see on the right hand side of this slide, this focus on our people and performance culture is delivering real results. Added value per employee has grown by 30% since 2019, while employee engagement remains at very high levels. Just to close, three key messages to take away today. Firstly, we delivered a strong first half performance with organic growth across IMI, a significant improvement in cash generation and over £300 million returned to shareholders. Secondly, we remain on track to deliver our sixth consecutive year of mid-single digit organic revenue growth. and thirdly, we are reconfirming our full year guidance. We continue to expect adjusted EPS to be between 136 pence and 142 pence. Thank you. I will now hand over to the moderator for the questions and answers.

Great, thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad If you would like to remove your question, please press star followed by two. Our first question goes to Christian Hinderaker of Goldman Sachs. Christian, please go ahead.

Good morning, Roy. Morning, Luke. And thanks for the presentation. I want to start on process automation, please. Very strong growth you saw in OE within the power market. I guess interested in your outlook there over the next few years, given some capacity expansion comments we've heard from the turbine makers. You know, how do you expect that to affect your business? And then also, you know, the aftermarket capture piece. I saw I think you had 1% growth. In the half, I guess there's a comps effect here. But, you know, as we think about that expansion in your installed base on OE, when might we see that pick up on the aftermarket side?

That's a great question. Thanks, Christian. Yeah, obviously really pleased. Thank you very much. that are actually, you know, building the power stations have got multi-year order books now. So, you know, we're very pleased with, you know, the medium to long-term outlook for that segment. What I would say is obviously it won't continue to double, right? I mean, you know, as I said on the last call, this is going to be constrained by the ability to speed up the construction of those power stations. But nonetheless, it's going to be, you know, good for quite a few years, I would think, within that sector. on the aftermarket side you are right Christian that just within that segment within the conventional power segment aftermarket orders up one percent and what we see is that typically a A couple of years after the valve is installed, we start to see aftermarket at about 10% of the new construction value on average, Christian. that number can go up a bit if the power station's cycling a lot and it can come down a bit if it's sort of acting as base load but on average that's what we see so and that's what we love because we've now got something like 206,000 Thank you very much. were actually up 7% in the first half, which is great, right, because that underpins this year and starts to even move into some delivery for next year as well. So, yeah, that's where we see the power sector. I think the good news as well is that's conventional power that you focused on, Christian, but obviously nuclear power, We won that nice nuclear order, which, as I said, will be delivered over more than a decade. It's several reactors over more than a decade. But nuclear aftermarket as well, we saw good strength in the first half, as I said, and that was up 33%. So we're starting to see nuclear aftermarket improve. And in the longer term... I think we'll see nuclear new construction as we've been consistently saying we'll see some good opportunities there. Does that answer your question Christian?

It does Roy, thank you.

I appreciate the comp was a bit easier I guess Q3 we then got a tougher comp but can we just sort of think about the underlying and many more.

Yeah, and life sciences. Yeah, so life sciences. So we've moved up our guidance slightly on that life science fluid control sector from sort of stable to modest growth. So yeah, we are seeing some improved demand, I would say, in that sector. It's modest, Christian, I don't want anybody to get carried away. We're not returning to the glory years yet on analytical devices by any means. But yeah, there is, I would say, more consistent growth, modest growth in that sector.

Understood.

And maybe thirdly, a little bit more strategic in terms of questioning when we think about your growth initiatives you've really scaled the growth up initiatives over the years innovated with the retrofit 3d and you've obviously got some emerging but higher growth opportunities for climate control now in data centers when we think about your capital allocation priorities i.e buyback versus m a you know how do we think about those given you know you've shown i would say um Good ability to grow in higher growth segments. How are you thinking about M&A and the capacity to move into some of those more attractive growing markets?

I'll talk a little bit about Growth Hub because I can't resist now that you've asked the question. But then if you just want to carry on with capital allocation, Luke, after that. Yeah, I mean, Growth Hub, fantastic, right? For orders to be up 22% in the first half. We did a brilliant event in... California where we had every single sector pitching and then our IMI way day where we involve all 10,000 people we did mini what I would call mini sprints to just again really focus our whole culture of the company on customers on finding customer problems validating customer problems that customers are really prepared to pay to solve and that has created another wave of ideas Christian so yeah you know investment in organic growth has been and will be our absolute clear priority right we all know that if we can consistently grow organically the returns on that the reduced risk on that you know let's face it the sort of virtuous spiral of opportunities for our people to develop our people grow our people and that the culture that that brings and again we just did our employee survey and 79% of people said IMI is a great place to work and that's what we want is to keep building on that momentum because that yeah that virtuous spiral we know creates huge value for everybody so Luke do you just want to talk a little bit about Capital allocation.

Yeah, I'll really just build on what Roy says. And I always say our capital allocation is very purposeful in the way it's laid out. So if you think, as Roy said, organic growth is the absolute number one thing we think about when we think about capital allocation. You look at how much we're investing in a business. We're putting record levels of salespeople into the aftermarket and process automation, investing in data centers and climate control. And that's what we're really driving and focusing on. I think, as you said, with... With the share price improvement, we definitely look at M&A second from a capital allocation perspective. And we're still looking at exactly what we talked about on the last call. It's things like severe service valve companies with underserviced aftermarket or technology companies that are in nice adjacencies that feed into each sector. So I think putting more time and effort in M&A has definitely been a focus in recent months, and we're continuing to do that. And then as we then look at any leftover capital to allocate, we think share buybacks deliver good returns, and then also we've continued to progress the dividend at a good clip with very healthy cover.

Good. Zao, is your question? Yeah. Yes. Thanks, Christian.

Thank you. The next question goes to Chit Sinha of JP Morgan. Chit, please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Good morning, Roy and Luke. Thank you for taking my questions. I've got three, and I'll take them one by one. So just firstly, regarding the unchanged guide, I mean, clearly a very strong performance in the first half, and you're seeing very good order momentum in PA as well. I just wanted to get some of the moving parts in H2, which has led to you leaving the guidance unchanged for the year.

Great. Thank you, Chit. Appreciate that. Yeah. Thank you very much. What I always check is obviously both comparators, but then sequentially. And when we look sequentially, if we strip out Truflo Marine, we're at our standard 45% to 55%, half one to half two on EPS. and that would get us to about where consensus is which is about 140, 140 and a half pence something like that and Chip that makes a lot of sense for us given what's happening in the world or clearly that you know externally in the external markets there's a lot going on obviously we've got the Middle East but we've also got difficult German industrial production we've got tariffs you know there's various moving parts so what we feel consensus given all of these effects is in about the right place.

Very clear. And then my second question is just on Middle East as well. I mean, in the last update, I believe you said that there's about a maximum of 30 million orders that might be a risk of being pushed out. But it seems like from your comments that there's been positive development in the half. Could you please provide a bit more colour on the latest there, please?

Thank you. So obviously, you know, on the last call, literally things were just evolving, weren't they? You know, just literally a few days. So I'd say you're absolutely right. We've given it the numbers, everybody knows what our numbers are for the Middle East. I do feel a bit more confident now about delivering the year. And just recently, Luke and I have just checked July shipments, and they are bang in line with our plan, Chit. So despite, you know, the sort of... raised events that were happening in July. It does seem to us that customers really want our spare parts in particular, particularly the aftermarket parts. And we're seeing good shipments. So I would say, yes, there is still a 30 million risk, but it's a much reduced risk than when I last talked to you.

Great news, thank you. And then finally, just on industrial automation, maybe a bit more colour here. What is the 60-day moving average looking like?

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, well, so industrial automation obviously did well in the first half, but that was against a softer comparator because of cyber. Still nice to see it growing at 5%. Teams doing well, working really hard. You know, that is a very high-mix business where you're supplying a whole series of components to make a system, and therefore the supply chain complexity is high, and we've been investing to reduce the supply chain complexity and effectively improve response to customers. In the second half of last year though, Chit, obviously what we're going to see is a much harder comparator because there was catch-up, you know, as we went through the cyber event. In terms of our 60-day moving average, we've done our best to sort of normalise that. Luke's worked hard on the numbers and I think, you know, the way I would characterise it is that it's slightly up, sort of 2% up as we go into the second half. that number will vary a bit now though honestly as we go into the sort of European holiday season but just to give you a rough idea that that's about where it is at the moment on orders that's orders obviously sorry just to follow up do you mind providing a bit more color just uh geographically in terms of what you're seeing yeah absolutely so geographically Europe's pretty flat you know and that's dragged down by Germany other parts of Europe not so bad America's slightly up you know around sort of three three percent up and then Asia Pacific is up closer to double digits only 15 percent of industrial automation but Asia Pacific is actually quite strong at the moment thank you so much thanks Jeff thank you

The next question goes to Tor Fangman of Bank of America. Tor, please go ahead.

Perfect. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Only two left from my side. First would be on your data center growth. If I remember correctly, you indicated recently another around like 50-ish percent of growth this year. Now you've delivered already 200% growth in the first half. so could you speak a bit more about the opportunity here what you're seeing and maybe with this it really seems like you're very quickly increasing your market share so any further details would be super helpful thank you

Well, thanks, Tor. So on data centres, we said on the last call, we thought we'd probably do about 30 million of sales this year. We've done 18 million in the first half. So we think it'll probably be slightly better than 30 million now. It is a little bit lumpy, as you can imagine. I think I talked on the last call about, you know, you can get orders of 6 million and whether they fall in this year or next year, you know, is a bit of an issue. I'm not sure whether we're taking share. I think we're doing well and we're holding our own in what is a rapidly growing market. And we have got a series of new product launches as we get towards the end of the second half as well, as Christian was talking about earlier with the growth hub. So, yeah, we remain pretty happy with where we are on data centers, but we do realize there's more to go for in the future as well.

Perfect, thank you.

And then just the second one would be on transport. Appreciate it is, you're still having a review of this segment as the total. Does this change given that we see very strong organic growth, especially in the North American truck market and also like a decent outlook into the second half? Are you still committed to separate this potentially from the rest of the group?

It's still under strategic review, I would say. My congratulations to the team there because they are really improving that sector. You saw the cash performance in the half and transport is overweight producing cash. It's phenomenal, Tim. As I said, it's almost two years ago now. um where we brought the you know the new team started coming in and um yeah they're ex-passenger car people and they're not only helping transport actually tour they're helping other parts of the business as well which I I really appreciate and just to give you one number they've got their global quality to nine parts per million. I mean, that is properly world class. So it's not just, you know, improving stock turns. It's right across the operational performance of the business. And as you know, the target for them is very clear. It's to get above average return on invested capital for IMI. And, you know, and they are going full speed to do that. So the strategic view is still on, you know, and all things will be considered. But no, it's good progress in the first half from transport.

Very much appreciate the colour. Thank you. Thank you.

The next question goes to Stefan Klepp of BNP Paribas. Stefan, please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Good morning, everyone. I have three questions. The first one is the clarification on nuclear. So that big deal, 48 million, this is conventional nuclear, as I understand. How is your pipeline looking into small modular reactors? And it's particularly if you think about the success that Roy has been winning now, three countries with projects and How set are you in that setup? Is it more or less that you will help Rolls-Royce to more or less build out the franchise? The second question is on your order funnel in process automation. I think we all understand that power is carrying the business quite a lot at the moment. Nuclear is really good. But what does it take for the other areas to come back? And what do you see in the funnel, in your pipeline? How is that building up? and the last one is probably a very boring one yeah but looking ahead your medium term framework was put in place in the second half 2023 i mean what do you want us to expect going forward more of the same of the good execution because you're executing really really well or is there any change factors that we should expect going forward without with regard to your medium-term outlook

Good set of questions. Thank you, Stefan. Appreciate that. The nuclear is conventional. It's not SMR, that order, so that you know. On SMR, yeah, we remain very upbeat about that. Of course, I'm not going to talk about a particular customer. That's very commercially sensitive on this call, Stefan. But just to say that SMR's Yeah, we are well placed. Our technology is very well placed for SMRs, not just in the UK, but more globally than that as well. So, you know, if SMR becomes a viable technology, you know, we would be very pleased with that. on process automation obviously the big thing is the aftermarket right and that's 60 percent of that business and aftermarket orders were up seven percent so you know that's that's really pleased on the new construction side power you know you've got power we've got nuclear we've got LNG remember as well going great guns so so you know gas gas generally is good for us we think gas over oil you know is good for the medium term Stefan so and we're well placed with gas in in process automation the parts that haven't been doing so well I don't think will surprise anybody on the new construction side is downstream and petrochem that that's the bit that's been softer downstream oil I think you know is going to be Thank you very much for joining us. We were looking at some stats from one of the big investment banks, and the percentage of companies that do compound EPS, more than just 5% actually, and as you know, Stefan, we've done it 10% over that period, but the percentage of companies that do 5% plus over six years, which hopefully we'll do this year, is around 2%, Stefan. So for us, it's about, you know, there's no fancy tricks here. This is about running a first-class strategy engineering company investing in the future creating innovation staying super close to customers making sure that we don't waste a penny that we solve their problems that they're prepared to pay for we create value and then we capture that value you know we are you know we want to be you know the world's best engineering company in terms of that value creation value capture and that's what we're going to do so yeah there's not going to be any you know big breakouts of course there will be hopefully some really nice bolt-on acquisitions to accelerate that journey but really the core of our business is organic growth high quality organic growth and that investment growth cycle you know continuing that that's that's what we're about one follow-up just on the cash conversion i mean you're you're you're doing really well particularly uh this first part was strong i mean 90 plus is that is that just a bit conservative going forward actually

I think 90% plus is still our base really because we still want to invest capex to depreciation sort of north of one times you know at least sort of 1.2 times through a cycle and typically as we grow we will need to build an inventory working capital as we go so I think sort of thinking in that 90% plus range is about right for us.

Okay super thank you both.

Thank you Stefan. Thank you.

The next question goes to Andrew Douglas of Jefferies. Andrew, please go ahead.

Good morning, gents. Just two quick ones from me, please. In terms of the nuclear order, can you tell us what region was that in? And are there multiple nuclear opportunities? Because I suspect it's not just one country who's looking at their nuclear opportunity. And secondly, just going back to the question on M&A, It's been a real challenge for you guys from a multiple perspective and the areas in which you are focusing are not going to be seeing much multiple compression. I don't think over the next few years, it's probably getting worse. So do you guys need to think slightly differently about how you do M&A? about the multiples that you're paying, maybe more synergistic M&A, or is it just going to be more of an opportunistic opportunity to do M&A and then buybacks if you can't? Because I'm slightly struggling to see how anything fundamentally changes from an M&A perspective.

Yeah, that's a really good question. I'll let Luke talk about M&A in a moment. So the nuclear order was in Europe, Andy, just to clear that one up for you. Yeah, I think over the next few years, there'll clearly be more new construction opportunity in nuclear. I think you know, if you look at some of the nuclear power stations, these are big projects, right? I mean, they are sort of 10-year type projects. So Thank you very much. I wouldn't say that there's going to be other huge orders directly upon us, but it's very exciting for the sort of medium term. Blake, do you want to talk about M&A?

Yeah, more than happy to. So I think from an M&A perspective for us, I think I'm not too concerned with what you're saying. Because I think if you remember really the M&A process we run, we have a wide net of opportunities we look at. We then typically build relationships with those companies over a multi-year period. So it's not something that just happens overnight. And typically when we've done that, we've been able to build good relationships, even maybe work with them commercially. and so on. I think from our perspective it's just about investing more time in doing that and the more that we do that the more opportunities that will come. We haven't been sat on our hands in recent years, we've been involved in processes, we've looked at different things. I don't really like talking about multiples and stuff because there's There's always adjustments, lots of different stuff. We really just focus on sort of cash returns over a long period for our shareholders. We talk about making sure that in an excessive whack after year three and then sort of above our 12% heroic underpin after year five. And that's what we're really focused on and we won't step away from that discipline.

Yeah, I mean, some of the recent acquisition deals, Andy, obviously, you know, we've looked at, and some of them have got a cash return of less than 3% on day one. So, you know, to get above whack, you've got to treble profits, right, in a reasonable period of time to get above whack. So you are right, Andy, you know, if other people are prepared to pay that, we've really got to see where that's coming from right because we we certainly are all about increasing shareholder value you know we're certainly not about destroying it so so you are right the competitive environment slightly is a bit baffling for us the target though has to you know we've done six acquisitions the target has to continue to be those sort of preferably you know privately owned bolt-ons doesn't have to be privately owned but those sort of bolt-ons where we can see where us plus the acquisition equals a lot more than the sum of its parts and I think you know we've clearly had some of those I mean you'll remember over the last decade you know companies like Ramosa, Orton, Zenjay where as you said you know suddenly we could unlock the aftermarket and the value accretion has just been superb you know

Yeah, perfect. And one quick follow-up, just a slight follow-up to Stefan's question. Margins are, I think the guidance was flat to slightly up in the current year, given the investment in cybersecurity. Going forward, there's no reason why margins can't continue to tick up towards that 22% number that you talked about about 18 months ago. Is that still fair in your thought process?

Yeah, absolutely right, Andy. I think, you know, as we said on the call, right, The sort of baseline dropped through for us because gross margins are now getting close to 50, right, which is great as we, you know, reorganize the manufacturing footprint as we've really been relentless on that continuous improvement drive when you saw the productivity numbers. Thank you very much. acquisitions see all this stuff can alter that position right but you know from where we are today let's say the organic business we would expect to do that sort of profile 30 percent drop through of course if we need to invest like we certainly did need to invest in in cyber then you know we'd always announce that and explain that but you're right over a five-year period that's the trend we would expect perfect well done guys thank you brilliant thanks Andy thank you

Thank you. That's all the questions that we have time for today. I will hand back to Roy for any closing comments.

Oh, that's great. Well, thanks. Great questions. I've got to say, I'll repeat what I said at the beginning. I'm really proud to present these half-year results and just want to thank again the people across IMI, the 10,000 people that contributed to this first half. Thanks, everyone. Thank you.

Thank you. This now concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining and you may now disconnect your lines.