REG - Spirax-Sarco Engng - Trading Update

Spirax-Sarco EngineeringAnnouncement

16/11/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 5945T  Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC  16 November 2023

 

Thursday 16(th) November

Trading Update

Subdued trading environment; return to growth expected in 2024

 

Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc issues the following trading update in respect of
the four months ended 31(st) October 2023.

Economic environment

Global industrial production growth (IP) in Q3 slowed to 0.9% from 1.4% in Q2
and was significantly lower than Oxford Economics' July forecast for Q3 of
1.5%.  This reflects a weaker macro-economic environment with IP in the key
markets of Europe and Asia (excluding China) now forecast to contract in 2023,
while North American IP is forecast to be broadly flat on the prior year.
Oxford Economics' latest forecast for 2023 global IP has softened to 1.2% and
there remains significant uncertainty driven by China IP, which Oxford
Economics forecasts at 4.7%, while the equivalent CHR Economics forecast is
1.0%.

Weak demand from customers in the Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication Equipment
(Semicon WFE) and Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology (Biopharm) sectors that
impacted the Group's first half results, has persisted in the past four
months.  We do not anticipate any recovery in demand from these sectors
(which represented approximately 4% and 16% respectively of 2022 pro-forma(1)
sales) in the remainder of 2023, with demand now likely to improve during
2024.

Trading

In the four months ended 31(st) October, Steam Specialties continued to grow
despite the weakening macro-economic environment, although as expected,
organic sales growth was well below the very strong 15% delivered in the first
half.

Demand growth in the industrial process focused Divisions of Electric Thermal
Solutions (ETS) remained strong, driven by decarbonisation products and
solutions, leading to a further increase in the order book.  Growth in sales
was below demand as operational improvements to increase manufacturing output
are ongoing.  Demand from industrial equipment customers in the Semicon WFE
sector has remained weak.

In Watson-Marlow, monthly demand from Biopharm customers has remained broadly
in-line with H1 with destocking activity continuing.  Demand from customers
in the Process Industries sectors has also been impacted by weakening
macro-economic conditions.

As a result, sales growth for the four months ended 31(st) October across all
three Businesses was below our expectations, with Group revenues for the ten
months ended 31(st) October marginally below the corresponding prior year
period, excluding the impact of acquisitions, disposals and currency effects.

Currency effects had an adverse impact on both sales and adjusted operating
profit in the ten months ended 31(st) October, compared to the same period of
2022.  If current exchange rates were to prevail for the remainder of the
year, we anticipate an approximately 1.5% adverse impact on full year 2023
sales and profit, compared with the full year 2022.

 

Financial position

Net borrowings (excluding leases) at 31(st) October were £702 million (30(th)
June: £748 million), with the Group net debt to EBITDA ratio at 1.8x (30(th)
June: 1.8x).

Outlook

Excluding the currency effects set out above, compared to 2022 pro-forma sales
of £1,734 million we anticipate Group full year 2023 sales to be lower by
between 1% and 2%, with an adjusted operating profit margin slightly improved
on the 20.2% delivered in the first half of the year, which is consistent with
the lower end of current market estimates(2).

During the year, we have taken actions in all three Businesses to
appropriately right-size capacity and overhead support costs, while also
protecting our ability to respond to future growth in demand.

Latest IP forecasts for 2024 by both Oxford Economics and CHR Economics point
to 2.5% growth.  We continue to anticipate a recovery in demand in our
Biopharm and Semicon WFE sectors during 2024.  While it is always challenging
to predict the precise timing and scale of demand changes, we remain confident
in our continued ability to drive growth above IP.  Therefore, while it is
too early to provide guidance for 2024, we do anticipate a return to revenue
growth and improvement in adjusted operating margin in the coming year.

 

For further information, please contact:

Nimesh Patel, Chief Financial Officer

Mal Patel, Head of Investor Relations

mal.patel@uk.spiraxsarco.com (+44 (0) 7392 263166)

 

 

 

 

(1) Pro-forma for the full twelve-month contribution of Vulcanic and Durex
Industries

(2) Consensus estimates as at 18(th) October: Sales £1,717m; Adjusted
Operating Profit £360m (range £345m - £389m)
[https://www.spiraxsarcoengineering.com/investors/consensus-forecasts
(https://www.spiraxsarcoengineering.com/investors/consensus-forecasts) ]

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