23rd Apr 2026 07:00
23 April 2026
Carclo plc
Trading Update
Carclo plc ("Carclo", the "Group" or the "Company"), a global precision engineering group with comprehensive, end-to-end manufacturing capabilities is pleased to announce a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2026 ("FY26").
Highlights:
Overall trading performance in line with management expectationsSustained strong performance in key health and safety metricsMedium-term targets for the key metrics of Return on Sales and Return on Capital Employed achievedStrong year-on-year growth in EBIT with anticipated ongoing effective tax rate of approximately 35-45% in line with previous yearsNet debt in line with expectations at £24m (31 March 2025: £19.3m)No supply disruption or material financial impact arising from the Middle East conflict to date; we continue to closely monitor the situationBusiness delivering positive results following completion of turnaround plan providing a solid platform to deliver high margin growth At its full year results presentation, the Group will announce ‘Precision 2030’, the next phase of its transformation plan, which will lay out the medium-term growth targets
Commenting on the business, Frank Doorenbosch, Chief Executive Officer said:
"FY26 shows excellent delivery created by the turnaround we began in 2022. The business we have today is fundamentally different from the one inherited - we have materially better margins with stronger returns and more focused product lines with fewer sites.
Revenue is expected to be approximately £114m (£121m in FY25), reflecting the continuing rebalancing and careful management of our portfolio, along with completion of customer projects in Design and Engineering. We have exited low-margin, short-run work and concentrated the portfolio on regulated markets - life sciences and aerospace - where what we do genuinely matters. The financial results tell that story clearly: with growth in underlying EBIT and hitting our medium-term targets on both Return on Sales and Return on Capital Employed a year ahead of plan.In CTP, the consolidation of our US operations into Pennsylvania is delivering. Margins are up meaningfully and the business is performing at a level that was simply not possible under the old footprint. EMEA continues to be strong, with our UK operations now focused on high-volume automated production and Central Europe handling the more flexible medium-volume work. China has outperformed our expectations on both revenue and margin. The significant contract renewal announced in July 2025 is a testament to the depth of our customer relationships and the critical nature of what we manufacture.Our Speciality division delivered double-digit revenue growth, driven by sustained demand in aerospace and market share gains in specialist machining. We are well positioned for continued growth with the additional capacity we invested in during the year now operational.The current geopolitical environment, including the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, continues to put upward pressure on materials and energy costs. As is the norm in our industry, we have an established mechanism to enable us to share these cost increases with our customers and we have not experienced any supply disruption or material financial impact to date.Safety remains our priority. The work across all sites to embed a genuine safety culture is delivering measurable improvement over the past three years, and that matters as much to me as any financial metric.Having completed our restructuring plan, the business enters FY27 (12 months ending 31 March 2027) in good shape. At our full year results, I will introduce Precision 2030 - our growth plan for the next phase, with clear financial targets out to 2030. We have built a strong platform, from which we intend to grow the business."
Health & Safety Excellence
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 has seen the continued embedding process of reporting incidents across the business.
CTP Division
CTP Design and Engineering ("D&E") revenue improved in the second half of the financial year, as anticipated, but was below both management expectations and prior year run-rate due to lower customer activity in the US. EMEA 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.
In CTP Manufacturing Solutions, revenue for FY26 is expected to be broadly in line with FY25, excluding the impact of foreign exchange translation and revenue related to the final exits of the non-core short-run product lines in H1 FY25. The US business is demonstrating improved margins and delivering significantly improved financial performance compared to the prior year. EMEA operations continue to perform well, with 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 Central Europe facility. In Asia Pacific, our China operations have performed ahead of management's expectations in both sales and margin delivery.
Speciality Division
The Speciality division continues to grow strongly, with robust demand from the aerospace sector coupled with market share gains in specialist machining helping to deliver double digit revenue growth. The focus on operational performance, coupled with specialist niche offerings, has enabled the division to maintain strong margins.
Outlook
The Group has entered the current financial year with momentum across both divisions. In Life Sciences, demand for high-precision solutions remains robust and we continue to deepen our presence with customers in diagnostics, drug delivery and medical devices. In aerospace, we are well-positioned to capitalise on sustained sector growth, supported by the additional capacity now in place.
With our medium-term financial targets achieved we look forward to presenting our growth plan in detail at the full year results.
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
Freddie Wooding
KK Advisory (Investor relations)
Kam Bansil
Steve Keeling
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
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