Castings Plc is a market leading iron casting and machining group based in the UK, supplying both the domestic and export markets. The company is listed on the LSE main market and has a market cap of £120m. Full year results to 31 March 2025 were released on 11 June 2025.
We were delighted to welcome CEO, Adam Vicary and FD, Steve Mant, to a webinar for private investors to talk about the excellent full year results and the prospects for the current year . A recording of the webinar is available here.
The past year to March 2025 was a challenging year for Castings which suffered volume declines of 21%. In turn profits fell to £4.8m, down 75% due to the operating gearing inherent in the business. However the company has a very strong balance sheet and used this strength to invest in a new foundry facility positioning them well for future growth. The final dividend was held which meant the dividend for the year increased by 0.4%. The forward schedules are more encouraging from Autumn 2025 and energy prices are beginning to come down.
The quarter by quarter performance showed a decline in each of the first 3 quarters before pricing up in Q4 and this has continued into the first 2 months of the current year. The German market was especially tough but the US market has been stable and also started well in the current year. There will be a 10% tariff but no business has been lost so far. Lower volumes impacted the energy hedges which cost an unexpected £1.5m in the past year. This is not expected to be repeated due to a new energy hedging strategy.
There was significant investment made in capacity over the last year with £17m spent in total including investment in a new 12,000 tonne foundry line, the first new foundry line since 2008. The additional line will provide increased flexibility, production of larger parts and enable the company to supply additional market segments such wind, electric trucks, agriculture and off-road vehicles.
Castings Ductile was established during the year following the purchase of foundry assets in Scunthorpe and the business was back producing in July. The facility will produce larger iron castings particularly to the energy segment. Siemens energy has returned as a customer as has British Steel and there are 20% more customers compared to…
