Half-year Financial Report

21 November 2025

Carclo plc

Interim Report and Accounts

Half-year results for the six months ended 30 September 2025

Carclo plc ("Carclo" or the "Group"), a global precision engineering group with comprehensive, end-to-end manufacturing capabilities is pleased to announce results for the six months ended 30 September 2025 ('HY26').

1. See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

2. Underlying operating profit and underlying diluted earnings per share are the equivalent statutory measures adjusted to eliminate the significant one-off items not linked to the underlying performance of the business. Underlying Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) is reported on the same basis.

Financial highlights:

· The Group achieved the important milestone of Return on Sales ('ROS') of 10.1% (HY25: 6.1%) and Return on Capital Employed ('ROCE') of 28.8% (HY25: 17.5%) on a trailing twelve-month basis. Both are ahead of the targets set in 2023, of 10% and 25% respectively. This provides the Group with a strong platform to support further profitable growth

· Increase in like for like total Manufacturing Solutions revenue has been more than offset by a reduction in Design & Engineering revenue to focus on margin enhancing portfolio optimisation, and foreign exchange headwinds, resulting in total revenue declining 6.1% to £57.2m (HY25: £61.0m)

· Manufacturing process optimisation, increased asset utilisation and efficiency aligned to the strategic portfolio reset has significantly increased underlying operating profit 61.2% to £5.5m (HY25: £3.4m)

· Operating cash generation of £3.9m (HY25: £7.3m), with strong EBITDA generation partially offset by anticipated normalisation of working capital

· Net debt reduced to £24.5m (HY25: £25.2m). Positive cash generation was partially offset by one-off £5.1m pension scheme contribution paid in April 2025 as part of the re-financing arrangements

Strategic highlights:

· Structural improvements in safety culture and performance were delivered with an Incident Frequency Ratio ('IFR') of 0.6 (HY25: 1.3). Incident Frequency Rate is a measure of the number of safety incidents per 100,000 hours worked

· Significant contract renewal announced in July 2025 with a major customer reflecting customer trust and providing enhanced revenue visibility over the five-year period of the agreement

· In April 2025, the Group successfully secured an expanded three year £36.0m financing arrangement with BZ Commercial Finance DAC and agreed the UK defined benefit pension scheme deficit recovery plan, providing certainty of funding and pension scheme cash contributions

· Continued embedding standardised manufacturing platforms across the Group's global operations provides significant strategic resilience against ongoing geopolitical uncertainties having completed the portfolio reset

· Consolidated Speciality division continues strong growth trajectory with the focussed product portfolio on higher-value precision solutions delivering excellent results

Outlook

The Board's expectations for the full year performance remain unchanged as the Group maintains the positive momentum established in HY26 throughout the remainder of FY26, with D&E revenues expected to slightly increase in the second half, continued margin expansion and positive cash generation.

Medium-term growth initiatives are concentrated on advancing our presence within the Life Sciences sector, where demand for high-precision solutions remains robust, as well as sustaining growth in our Speciality division, particularly within the aerospace segment. Recent developments, such as the announcement of a significant contract renewal in July 2025, underscore our long-standing strategic partnerships and the expanding markets for our products.

We are confident in delivering sustainable profitable growth and enduring value for all our stakeholders.

Commenting on the results, Frank Doorenbosch, Chief Executive Officer said:

"I'm delighted with the progress we continue to make across the business. Importantly our IFR is now operating consistently at 0.6 demonstrating the enhanced safety and culture we have embedded across our operations. The business portfolio delivers a solid platform from which it can continue to grow in a sustainable and profitable manner.

Significant opportunities exist in all our key market sectors. The strategic focus is to continue the journey from being a volume provider to a focussed engineering business providing value solutions, which will contribute to our ongoing margin expansion and positive cash generation. I am excited about the potential to build upon the foundations we have laid, made possible by the hard work and commitment from all our colleagues across the business."

Enquiries:

Carclo plc +44 (0) 20 8685 0500

Frank Doorenbosch, Chief Executive Officer

Ian Tichias, Chief Financial Officer

Panmure Liberum (Corporate Broker) +44 (0) 20 3100 2000

Amrit Mahbubani

Mark Murphy

About Carclo plc:

Carclo is a global precision engineering group that designs, industrialises and manufactures highly reliable solutions for Life Sciences, Aerospace and Safety & Security markets, manufactured in-region, for-region. 

Carclo plc is a public company whose shares are quoted on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

LEI: 21380078MEM399JPI956

Introduction from Chief Executive Officer

I would like to thank all my colleagues for their hard work in delivering a strong performance in the first half of the year which saw an increased Return on Sales (RoS) and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) - two key metrics for the Group. This was achieved alongside an improved safety performance. Once again, this demonstrates the company's ability to improve its performance on a sustainable basis and consistently, across our key financial metrics.

Total revenue was slightly lower than anticipated largely due to lower CTP Design and Engineering revenue and foreign exchange headwinds arising from a strengthening sterling since the beginning of the year. The Group's trading performance in the period is in line with management's expectations, with strong margin performance and positive underlying growth in both CTP Manufacturing Solutions and our Speciality businesses at constant currency.

Health & Safety

Safety is our number one priority across the Group. The focus across all sites to embed a safety culture reflects Carclo's commitment to operational excellence and risk management. This culture directly supports sustainable operational success and is demonstrated with a reduction in Incident Frequency Ratio falling by more than 53% to 0.6 (HY25: 1.3).

Operational progress

In HY26, CTP continued to drive innovation in diagnostics and drug delivery, while the Speciality division delivered progress in precision aerospace components and advanced automotive and LED lighting solutions. Together, these divisions are aligned to Carclo's long-term objectives, supporting sustained growth and value creation.

CTP Manufacturing Solutions (MS)

The strategic realignment of the CTP Manufacturing Solutions portfolio was completed in the first half of the prior financial year with the final exits of the non-core short-run product lines in September 2024. The business is now focused on delivering consistent operational performance following this portfolio restructuring.

The consolidation of the US operations into Pennsylvania is bearing fruit, with the new management focus and specialised production cells delivering improved operational performance and resource utilisation. As a result, the US business is demonstrating both underlying sales growth, before the effect of currency translation, and improved margins delivering significantly improved financial performance compared to prior year.

EMEA operations continue to perform strongly, with both steady top line growth compared to prior year and solid margin performance as the strategy to focus the UK operations on high volume, highly automated solutions with more flexible, medium volume runs in our Czechia facility. In Asia Pacific, our China operations have performed ahead of management's expectations in both sales and margin delivery, whilst India has experienced below-forecast sales performance due to lower demand from a key customer. We have secured significant new business in India which should enable the shortfall to be recovered in the second half.

CTP Design and Engineering (D&E)

Overall CTP D&E revenue in the first half was below both management expectations and prior year run-rate due to lower customer activity in the US. EMEA D&E customer project activity was ahead of both management expectations and prior year performance. The D&E team continues to maintain its focus on asset revitalisation and driving efficiency improvements in our global manufacturing platform which remains critical to delivering our medium-term financial goals.

Speciality

The Speciality division continues to grow strongly, with robust demand from the aerospace sector coupled with market share gains in specialist machining delivering double digit revenue growth. The focus on operational performance and delivery, coupled with specialist, niche offerings enabled the business to maintain strong margins. We have invested in additional capacity to support this growth trajectory, with our first new CNC machine now operational at our French facility.

Strategy and Markets

Carclo is a global precision engineering group that designs, industrialises and manufactures regulated, high-reliability solutions at scale. We operate in structurally growing, non-commoditised, and highly regulated markets.

The business has a global platform with end-to-end capability providing customer solutions from design & tooling through automated manufacturing and validated assembly. The global delivery means we can manufacture and supply in-region across EMEA, APAC, USA.

Carclo is the chosen partner for its customers due to validated precision production at scale. The Group's ability to be agile in productivity, provides the advantage of lowering total cost through on time and in region delivery.

In the last year we have made excellent progress, particularly in improving the efficiency of our US operations, where uEBIT increased to 11.3% in the period (HY 25: 5.0%), and sustaining operational improvements in Europe. Additionally, our disciplined approach to cash management has resulted in strong cash generation, enabling restructuring of the Group's debt. The business continues to move from being a volume player to one providing precision engineered solutions.

The Life Sciences market where we supply components into the in vitro diagnostics ('IVD') and drug delivery market segments is expected to remain stable in the near term, with growth anticipated to outpace GDP over the medium term. The aerospace market is also expected to remain robust. The accelerated and cost-effective closure of the Tucson site during HY25, the full benefit of which is seen in the HY26 performance, combined with steady progress in our US restructuring efforts, further bolsters our operational foundation in our CTP Division.

In the Speciality division, we have strengthened our position in aerospace, particularly in precision machined components, providing opportunities for future market share growth.

Financial Review

The key financial performance measures for the period are as follows:

1. Underlying operating profit and underlying diluted earnings per share are the equivalent statutory measures adjusted to eliminate the significant one-off items not linked to the underlying performance of the business. Underlying Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) is reported on the same basis.

Revenue & Margin

Group Revenue saw solid underlying like for like growth in manufacturing solutions being offset by foreign exchange headwinds and the effect of portfolio optimisation in HY25.

Total CTP revenues decreased by 8.7% to £49.3m (HY25: £54.0m), negatively impacted by currency translation of £1.5m. CTP Manufacturing solutions (MS) increased 4.5%, on a like for like basis allowing for £2.2m revenue in HY25 from site closures in the US related to non-core activities.

CTP Design & Engineering (D&E) revenue reduced by 43.6% to £4.0m (HY25 £7.2m). Lower customer activity, primarily in the US has been the key driver to this under performance. EMEA projects are strong with revenue up 21.9% up compared to the previous period; this is expected to result in a small increase in the second half.

Speciality revenue grew 14.1% to £8.0m (HY25: £7.0m), reflecting robust demand in aerospace and a return to growth for light & motion.

Total Manufacturing Solutions revenue across both CTP and Speciality was 5.8% ahead of last year on a like-for like constant currency basis, allowing for £2.2m related to sales in US from closed sites in early FY25. This strong performance was driven by aerospace in the Speciality division, along with CTP growth in China and Czechia.

Carclo's operational performance continued to improve in HY26, driven by enhanced machine utilisation and rigorous cost control measures. These initiatives have steadily improved margins, a trend which has continued throughout HY26. Underlying operating profit return on sales has increased to 9.6%, up from 5.6% in HY25. On a trailing twelve-month basis return on sales is now 10.1%, achieving the medium-term business goal of 10%.

CTP RoS improved strongly to 13.8% (HY25: 8.2%) having further increased since 31 March 2025 (11.5%) reflecting operational improvements and overhead expense reductions. The continued focus on efficiency improvements and cost discipline is driving the continued margin improvement across the business.

The Speciality division also increased operating profit margin, to 21.6% (HY25: 19.8%), which is testament to the operational focus and discipline in the business.

The business also achieved a significant milestone, delivering a ROCE of 28.8% on a trailing twelve-month ('TTM') basis (TTM HY25: 17.5%), demonstrating the increased returns and more efficient capital usage in the business.

Central costs

Underlying central costs increased in HY26 to £3.0m (HY25: £2.4m) largely driven by non-repeatable costs related to the delayed announcement of the FY25 annual results in August 2025. The Group has invested in a small number of key roles, to support strategic priorities and the delivery of operational and financial improvements, while continuing to focus on cost discipline and efficiency in the underlying spend.

Operating Profit

Underlying operating profit rose 61.2% to £5.5m (HY25: £3.4m), reflecting an increase of £2.2m on a constant currency basis.

Non-underlying costs in the period reduced to £0.3m (HY25: £1.0m) for HY26. This is largely non-underlying pension administration costs and the release of the remaining capitalised HSBC costs when the previous bank loans were repaid. Previous period costs relate to refinancing of the Group's bank debt facilities, completed in April FY26, together with restructuring costs related to the closure of the manufacturing plant in Tucson, US.

Net finance costs increased half-on-half to £3.7m (HY25: £2.6m). This included £1.4m (HY25: £0.9m) of imputed net interest on the defined benefit pension liability.

The Group reported a pre-tax profit of £1.5m (HY25: £0.1m loss). The income tax expense was £1.1m (HY25: £0.5m), the increased tax charge is driven by increased taxable profits in the US and India.

Underlying earnings per share recorded a profit of 0.9p (HY25: 0.6p profit), while statutory earnings per share also improved to 0.5p (HY25: 0.9p loss). Diluted earnings per share increased to a profit of 0.5p (HY25: 0.9p loss).

Financial Position

Cash

Net cash inflow from operating activities during the first half was £0.4m (HY25: £3.4m). This is driven by strong EBITDA generation of £8.6m (HY25: £7.1m), with offset coming from expected net working capital outflows of £4.5m (HY25: inflow £2.0m), committed net pension contributions of £1.3m (HY25: £1.2m), interest costs of £1.7m (HY25: £2.1m), and taxes of £0.5m (HY25: £0.6m).

As anticipated, working capital increased in the 6 months to 30 September 2025, from the unusually low level at the prior year end due to a reduction in provisions and accruals, primarily related to the incentive bonus provision held at 31 March 2025 along with an increase in receivables in the US. As a result of the new financing agreement, previous payment arrangements for a significant US customer have been changed resulting in later cash receipts.

Net cash inflow from financing was £5.0m from which a one-off pension contribution was made in April 2025 of £5.1m in agreement with the Pension Scheme Trustees and in line with the completion of the new financing arrangements.

Additionally, a foreign exchange loss on cash of £0.1m (HY25: £0.4m loss), resulted in an overall £2.2m decrease in cash during the first half (HY25: increase of £1.8m).

Debt

Net Debt at 30 September 2025 was £24.5m, an increase since 31 March 2025 of £5.3m. This was largely driven by the one-off contribution to the pension scheme of £5.1m.

Net debt comprised gross debt, from borrowings and leases, of £32.2m (HY25: £40.0m) less cash and cash equivalents of £7.8m (HY25: £14.7m).

Refinancing

On 24 April 2025, the Group completed refinancing of its primary external borrowing facility with the announcement of a three-year multi-currency borrowing facility agreement with BZ Commercial Finance DAC ("BZ") comprising a term loan of £27.0m and a revolving credit facility of up to £9.0m.

The BZ facility includes an asset-based lending arrangement with drawings permitted against the value of various classes of assets held by the UK and US businesses. Of the £27.0m term loan element £8.0m is designated against the value of owned land and buildings, £5.0m is designated against the value of owned plant and machinery and the balance of £14.0m is designated a cash flow loan that is non-asset specific. Of the £9.0m revolving credit facility, up to £7.0m is designated against the value of trade receivables and up to £2.0m against the value of inventory.

The facility permits borrowings in GBP, EUR and USD. There are three named Group companies that are currently permitted to borrow under the facility, namely Carclo plc, Carclo Technical Plastics Limited and Bruntons Aero Products Limited. Group companies that are subject to cross guarantees under the BZ facility are the named borrowing companies and material subsidiaries as defined in the agreement that underpins the BZ facilities.

Securing the BZ facility is an important step for the Group enabling it to continue to invest in the business and allow the Group to deliver on its strategy.

Defined benefit pension scheme

The triennial actuarial valuation of the Group's UK defined benefit pension scheme at 31 March 2024 was completed during April 2025. The valuation, prepared by the Scheme Trustees on a technical provisions' basis, reported a deficit of £64.5m, a significant reduction from the £82.8m liability reported as part of the previous triennial valuation of 31 March 2021.

A deficit recovery plan was agreed with the Trustees in parallel with the refinancing arrangements finalised in April 2025. This includes a lump sum one off payment into the Scheme of £5.1m made at the time of finalisation of refinancing in April 2025 and annual contributions of £3.5m for five years to 31 March 2029 and indexed annual contributions of £5.8m until 31 March 2037, being 2 years shorter than the deficit recovery plan from the 31 March 2021 valuation.

Since the completion of the 2024 triennial valuation, the estimated technical provisions deficit has fallen further to £61.2m at 31 March 2025 and is estimated to be £52.7m at 30 September 2025, following the £5.1m lump sum contribution.

The IAS 19 valuation of the Scheme liabilities at 30 September 2025 resulted in a net liability of £44.7m, a £7.0m decrease from the net liability at 31 March 2025 (FY24: £51.7m). The principal driver of the decrease in the IAS19 net liability was a gain on plan assets and financial assumption gains of £2.0m, together with the one-off contribution of £5.1m.

The Company and the Scheme Trustees are committed to working collaboratively towards reducing the Scheme deficit.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements made in these reports & accounts are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause outcomes to differ materially from those expected.

Alternative performance measures

Alternative performance measures are defined in the financial review of the Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) for the year ended 31 March 2025. The Directors believe that alternative performance measures provide a more useful comparison of business trends and performance. The term 'underlying' is not defined under IFRS and may not be comparable with similarly titled measures used by other companies. The nature of the items classified as non-underlying in the period is consistent with reporting in prior periods.

Dividend

The Board regularly reviews capital allocation and believes that prioritising investment to enable profitable growth for the business is currently the most appropriate use of capital, therefore, no interim dividend has been declared for the period ending 30 September 2025.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

In the Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025 Carclo provided a detailed review of the principal risks faced by the Group and how these risks were being managed. The Group continues to face and proactively manage the risks and uncertainties in our business and, whilst the Board considers that these principal risks and uncertainties have not materially changed since the publication of the 2025 Annual Report. In line with best practice, it is worth noting that the following risks remain particularly relevant for the remainder of the financial year:

Mitigating actions being taken include:

The Audit and Risk Committee continues to monitor risks and uncertainties, including emerging risks. The process is supported by the management's risk register and mitigation mapping process, ensuring comprehensive oversight and tracking of risk exposures.

The full description of principal risks, uncertainties and detailed mitigation can be found on page 49 of the 2025 Annual Report and Accounts available at https://www.carclo.co.uk/ARA25.

Board changes

As previously announced on 13 February 2025, Ian Tichias joined as Chief Financial Officer on 1 April 2025. Ian succeeds Eric Hutchinson, who retired on 31 March 2025.

Going Concern

These interim financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as detailed in Note 1. The Board's forecasts, as well as a range of sensitised scenarios, show that the Group can operate within its available facilities and meet its covenants as they fall due.

Responsibility Statement

We confirm to the best of our knowledge:

(a) the condensed consolidated set of financial statements has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting.

(b) the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R (indication of important events during the first six months and description of principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year); and

(c) the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8R (disclosure of related party transactions and changes therein).

By order of the Board,

Frank Doorenbosch

Chief Executive Officer

Ian Tichias

Chief Financial Officer

20 November 2025

Glossary of Terms

Condensed consolidated income statement

1.See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

Condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income

1. See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

Condensed consolidated statement of financial position

1. See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

Condensed consolidated statement of changes in equity

1. See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

1. See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

Condensed consolidated statement of cash flows

1. See note 1 Basis of preparation: prior period restatement, for the nature of the restatements.

Notes to the accounts

The condensed consolidated half year report for Carclo plc ("Carclo" or "the Group") for the six months ended 30 September 2025 has been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the audited accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 and in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the requirements of UK adopted International Accounting Standard 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting'.

The financial information is unaudited.

The half year report does not constitute financial statements and does not include all the information and disclosures required for full annual statements. It should be read in conjunction with the annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025 which is available either on request from the Company's registered office, 47 Wates Way, Mitcham, Surrey, CR4 4HR, or can be downloaded from the corporate website www.carclo-plc.com.

The comparative figures for the financial year ended 31 March 2025 are not the Carclo plc Group's complete statutory accounts for that financial year. Those accounts have been reported on by the Carclo plc auditors and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditors was (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and (iii) did not contain statements under Section 498 (2) of the Companies Act 2006.

The half year report was approved by the Board of Directors on 20 November 2025. Copies are available from the corporate website.

The Group financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025 have been prepared and approved by the Directors in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards.

Prior period restatement

In this interim statement there have been two corrections made to the prior period comparatives for the period ended 30 September 2024:

a) During the year ended 31 March 2025, the FRC conducted a Corporate Reporting Review of the Carclo plc Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024. At the time, the UK Group companies were part of a multi-party, multi-currency net overdraft facility with a £nil net limit and a £12.5 million gross limit. The half year report for the period ended 30 September 2024 recognised Carclo plc's overdraft of £7.4m within cash and cash deposits when consolidated due to a right of set-off within the net overdraft facility. Having considered the points raised by the FRC, we have re-presented the prior period comparatives for the period ended 30 September 2024 for cash and overdrafts on a gross basis, as on reflection, we agree that this more appropriately meets the off-setting requirements of IAS 32. The accounts for the year ending 31 March 2025 were presented gross and therefore these have not been restated in this interim report.

The impact of the restatement on the prior period comparatives is to reclassify the £7.4m overdraft from cash and cash deposits to loans and borrowings due within 1 year. Total current assets, total assets, total current liabilities and total liabilities are therefore all £7.4m greater than previously presented. There is no change to total net assets or to the loss for the period. A reconciliation of the gross cash balance to the amount of cash and cash equivalents shown in the statement of cash flows at the end of the financial period has been presented in note 14, Cash and cash deposits. The notes to the financial statements impacted by this restatement have also been re-presented and have been referenced back to this note.

The amount of the correction at the beginning of the earliest period presented, 1 April 2023, is an adjustment of £6.5m to gross up cash and cash deposits with a corresponding adjustment to loans and borrowings due within 1 year. Total current assets, total assets, total current liabilities and total liabilities are therefore all £6.5m greater at 1 April 2023 than previously presented. There is no change to total net assets or to the loss for the period to 31 March 2023. 

b) The second correction is to recognise that a £0.9m provision for dilapidation at our CTP UK facility, Mitcham, should have been recorded on the consolidated statement of financial position on transition to IFRS 16 in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020. The impact of the restatement on the prior period comparatives is to recognise a brought forward £0.9m provision for dilapidation as a non-current liability, recognise an increase in property, plant and equipment - right-of-use assets of £0.4m which is the original cost of £0.9m less accumulated depreciation to 30 September 2024 of £0.5m and an increase in retained losses of £0.5m. The condensed consolidated income statement for the period ending 30 September 2024 has been restated for an additional £0.05m depreciation charge.

The amount of the correction at the beginning of the earliest period presented, 1 April 2023, is an increase to property, plant and equipment - right of use assets, total non-current assets and total assets of £0.4m, an increase to non-current provisions, total non-current liabilities and total liabilities of £0.9m which in total result in a net decrease to net assets and brought forward retained losses at 1 April 2023 of £0.5m.

Going concern

These interim financial statements have been prepared on the going concern basis.

The £36.0m borrowing facility with BZ announced on 24 April 2025 provides available borrowings for a three-year term out to April 2028. The facility includes an element of asset-based lending, and the level of borrowings are contingent upon the value of certain classes of non-current and current assets held by the Group's UK and US trading subsidiaries.

The Group continues to comply with all financial covenants under the BZ facility agreement. The covenant definitions and thresholds are unchanged from those disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 on pages 110-111.

The deficit recovery plan agreed with the Trustees of the UK defined benefit pension scheme as part of the triennial valuation to 31 March 2024 includes an annual schedule of contributions of £3.5m through to 31 March 2029 and thereafter annual contributions of £5.8m indexed at 3.5% through to 31 March 2037. Contributions are funded from cash generated by operations and have been reflected in the cash flow and covenant forecasts reviewed by the Directors.

The Group is subject to a number of key risks and uncertainties, as detailed in the principal risks and uncertainties section on pages 49 to 55 of the Annual Report. Mitigation actions to address these risks are also set out in that section. The Directors have reviewed and reassessed these risks as part of the interim going concern evaluation and confirm that they remain unchanged from those identified at the year end. These risks and uncertainties have been considered in the base case and downside sensitivities and have been modelled accordingly.

The Group has prepared a forecast of financial projections for the three-year period to 31 March 2028. The forecast underpins the going concern assessment, which has been made for the period through to December 2026, being 13 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. The Directors have reviewed cash flow and covenant forecasts over this period considering the Group's available borrowing facilities and the terms of the arrangements with the Group's lender and the UK defined benefit pension scheme. The forecast shows adequate headroom and supports the position that the Group can operate within its available borrowing facilities and covenants throughout this period.

The Group has relied on the same financial model, sensitivity and reverse stress testing as described in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025. The assumptions used in the going concern assessment have been reviewed and remain appropriate.

Current trading and performance have been compared to the base case forecasts and downside sensitivities used at the year end and are broadly in line with those assumptions. The Group remains ahead of covenant headroom levels projected in the year-end analysis and continues to comply with all financial covenants under the BZ facility.

Accordingly, the Directors have re-evaluated the Group's going concern position in light of current trading and forecast performance and are satisfied that the Group continues to have adequate liquidity and covenant headroom for the assessment period.

At 30 September 2025, the Group reports a reduction in net liabilities of £9.5m (31 March 2025: net liabilities £11.8m) and a net current asset position of £9.3m (31 March 2025: net current liability £10.0m). The movement from a net current liability to a net current asset position primarily reflects the classification at 31 March 2025 of the full £21.2m HSBC term loan as a current liability as it was repaid in April 2025.

Accordingly, these interim financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis.

The accounting policies applied in these interim financial statements are the same as those applied in the Group's consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025. Certain new standards, amendments and interpretations to existing standards have been published that are mandatory for the Group's accounting period beginning on 1 April 2025 but they are not expected to have a material effect on the Group's financial statements.

The preparation of the interim financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expenses. In preparing these half year financial statements, the significant judgements made by management in applying the Group's accounting policies and the key source of estimation uncertainty were the same as those applied to the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended, 31 March 2025.

The Group is organised into two, separately managed, business segments - CTP and Speciality. These are the segments for which summarised management information is presented to the Group's chief operating decision makers (comprising the Main Board and Executive Committee). 

The CTP segment supplies value-adding engineered solutions from mould design, automation, and production to assembly and printing, for the life science and precision component industries. This business operates internationally in a fast growing and dynamic market underpinned by rapid technological development.

The Speciality segment delivers precise and durable components for the safety and performance of aircraft manufacturing, aerospace and optical industries.

The Central costs relate to the cost of running the Group, plc and non-trading companies.