REG - RS Group PLC - Final Results
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RNS Number : 9851E RS Group PLC 20 May 2026
20 May 2026
RS GROUP PLC
RESULTS FOR THE FULL YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2026
RESILIENT FULL YEAR PERFORMANCE; GOOD UNDERLYING PROGRESS
SIMON PRYCE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COMMENTED:
"2025/26 was another year of strong execution of our multi-year plan to
improve the business and deliver on the significant value creation opportunity
at RS. Revenue was broadly flat in challenging markets, but we gained share
with most major suppliers and saw stronger momentum in the second half,
particularly in Asia Pacific and US & Canada, with EMEA also returning to
growth. Our growth accelerators outperformed the wider Group and good price
discipline led to improved gross margin. Better execution, cost discipline and
cash focus also supported operating profit and cash conversion ahead of
expectations.
A number of our investments in customer-facing data, systems and processes are
now moving into activation, positioning the business for accelerated growth,
supported by ongoing investment in people, customer experience, supply chain
efficiency and operational excellence. Whilst conscious of the wider macro
environment, we enter 2026/27 with building momentum and the potential to
enhance our organic growth strategy with disciplined and value creative
acquisitions, such as the £30 million acquisition of BPX completed in March.
Two years of positive underlying progress, combined with disciplined cost
control and a clear plan, increases our confidence in delivering our
medium-term financial targets and sustainable returns. Excellent cash
generation and a very strong balance sheet gives us more than sufficient
capacity to execute our organic investment programme enhanced by value
creative acquisitions. In line with our disciplined approach to capital
structure and allocation we are therefore also launching today a £100 million
share buyback programme."
Highlights 2026 2025 Change Like-for-like(1) change
Revenue £2,881m £2,904m (1)% (0)%
Adjusted operating profit(1) £265m £274m (3)% (4)%
Adjusted operating profit margin(1) 9.2% 9.4% (0.2) pts (0.4) pts
Adjusted profit before tax(1) £246m £248m (1)% (2)%
Adjusted basic earnings per share(1) 38.7p 39.1p (1)% (2)%
Operating profit £239m £233m 2%
Operating profit margin 8.3% 8.0% 0.3 pts
Profit before tax £220m £206m 7%
Basic earnings per share 34.6p 32.5p 6%
Full-year dividend 22.9p 22.4p 2%
Adjusted free cash flow(1) £202m £214m (6)%
Cash generated from operations £351m £349m 1%
Net debt(1) £(329)m £(364)m
Net debt to adjusted EBITDA(1) 1.0x 1.1x
1. See Note 12 for definitions and reconciliations of all
alternative performance measures, including like-for-like change and adjusted
measures.
2025/26 financial performance; momentum in the second half
· Group revenue down 1%; like-for-like broadly flat.
· Building momentum in all regions, good growth in Asia Pacific and US
& Canada, EMEA returning to growth in the second half, Mexico short-term
challenges.
· Gross margin improved by 0.6 percentage points to 43.4% driven by
pricing and active inventory management.
· Adjusted operating margin flat at 9.2% (H2: 9.7%); cost inflation and
targeted higher organic investment partly offset by cost savings.
· Adjusted operating cash flow conversion of 109% (2024/25: 111%),
significantly exceeding our 80% target.
· Very strong balance sheet, net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 1.0x.
· Attractive shareholder returns with dividend up 2% to 14.2 pence per
share and launch of a £100 million share buyback over 12 months.
Further strategic and operational progress in 2025/26
· Growth accelerators delivering; RS PRO like-for-like revenue up 5% and
services and solutions up 6%.
· Distrelec integration largely complete, delivering more than £40
million of synergy benefits, ahead of plan.
· £17 million cost savings delivered, total of £55 million integration
and restructuring benefits since April 2023.
· £35 million of in-year strategic organic investment; strengthening our
operating platform.
Outlook
We made good progress in 2025/26 and PMIs(1) are trending positively. With our
ongoing investment and greater agility, we see improving momentum into 2026/27
and most of our major markets are now back into low single digit growth. We
remain mindful of geopolitical and economic developments and conflicts in the
Middle East and Ukraine and the potential impact they might have on global
supply chains, industrial production and customer behaviour. However, the
investments we are making are delivering tangible benefits, strengthening our
proposition and positioning us well to capture growth and further increase
market share as end-markets recover. This, together with improved delivery and
operating leverage and disciplined cost control, supports the Group's
increasing confidence in delivering our medium-term financial targets of
growing revenue at twice the market, mid-teen adjusted operating margins, cash
conversion over 80%, and over 20% return on capital employed.
1. Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI).
Company compiled consensus for the year ending 31 March 2026 has revenue of
£2,873 million, adjusted operating profit of £265 million and adjusted
profit before tax of £244 million. Source:
https://www.rsgroup.com/investors/analyst-consensus/
(https://www.rsgroup.com/investors/analyst-consensus/) .
Enquiries:
Kate Ringrose Chief Financial Officer 020 7239 8426
Carla Bloom VP, Investor Relations 020 7239 8427
Martin Robinson Teneo 020 7353 4200
There will be an audio presentation today at 9am (UK time) which can be
accessed live and later as a recording on the RS Group website at
www.rsgroup.com (http://www.rsgroup.com) .
Webcast link: https://webcast.openbriefing.com/rsgroup-fy2526/
(https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/zpqCCmYX7s5JDEKDUGfzSRlRv5?domain=webcast.openbriefing.com/)
It is advisable to pre-register early to avoid any delays in joining the
conference call. To ask a question, participants will need to be connected by
phone.
Participant dial-in numbers
United Kingdom (Local): +44 20 3936
2999
United Kingdom (Toll-Free): +44 808 189 0158
All other locations:
Global Dial-In Numbers
(https://www.netroadshow.com/events/global-numbers?confId=97026)
Participant access code: 526283
Presentation timing
Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Time: 9am UK time
Notes to editors:
RS is a high-service global product and services and solutions provider for
industrial customers, enabling them to operate efficiently and sustainably. We
operate in 33 markets, stock over 875,000 industrial and specialist products
and list an additional five million relevant for our industrial customers,
sourced from over 2,500 suppliers. This extensive range supports our customers
across the industrial lifecycle of designing, building and maintaining
equipment and operations. We enhance their experience through a tailored
service model, leveraging our efficient physical, digital and process
infrastructure sustainably. We combine a technically led and digitally enabled
approach with an exceptional team of experts; ultimately, it's our people that
make the difference. Our purpose, making amazing happen for a better world,
reflects our focus on delivering results for people, planet and profit. RS
Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange with stock ticker RS1 and in
the year ended 31 March 2026 reported revenue of £2,881 million.
BUSINESS REVIEW
We made further strategic and operational progress over the year. Group
like-for-like revenue was broadly flat despite more challenging than
anticipated markets, particularly in first half. However, PMI data showed
improvement throughout the year and moved into expansion territory in the
fourth quarter. This was reflected in improved sales momentum, particularly in
Q4. Whilst volumes were marginally below our expectations, good price
discipline resulted in improved gross margin for the full year, with our
growth accelerators of RS PRO and services and solutions delivering growth
ahead of the rest of the Group. We also saw improved execution which, with
continued cost discipline and cash focus, led to operating profit and cash
conversion marginally ahead of expectations despite softer revenue than
planned.
Investment in our strategic initiatives will accelerate growth, improve
efficiency and drive stronger operating leverage over time. We are already
seeing improvements in key operational metrics, together with gross margin
progression in the second half and continued traction in our digital
procurement services, demonstrating that our growth accelerators are
delivering. We also achieved a further £17 million of restructuring and
integration benefits in 2025/26, taking the cumulative total since April 2023
to £55 million.
With a stronger platform, improving momentum and enhanced operating leverage,
we are well-positioned to capture growth, drive further market share gains and
deliver sustainable, long-term value as our end-markets continue to recover.
Whilst at this stage we remain cautious on the outlook and mindful of
developments in the Middle East, our progress strengthens our confidence in
both our strategy and our ability to deliver on our medium-term financial
targets.
2025/26 Resilient financial performance
We delivered a resilient financial performance for the full year 2025/26.
Group like-for-like revenue was broadly flat (down 1% on a reported basis)
compared with the same period last year. After a difficult first half, EMEA
saw an improving revenue trend through the remainder of the year and moved
back into growth in Q4. Americas was also down on a like-for-like basis, with
a resilient performance in US & Canada offset by ongoing economic and
political uncertainty leading to major project delays in Mexico. Asia Pacific
delivered good revenue growth throughout the year.
With continued investment in our front-end systems and a commercial focus to
grow potential high value customers, we saw rolling 12 months average order
value increase by 5% to £276 and a 6% like-for-like revenue growth in larger
corporate customers. Our services and solutions growth accelerators also
performed well, growing 6% with our eProcurement solution growing 9%
like-for-like. Our own brand RS PRO products outperformed with 5%
like-for-like growth. At a product category level, the more resilient product
categories of Facilities & Maintenance and Mechanical & Fluid Power
continue to outperform. Americas, excluding Latin America, delivered further
Automation & Control (A&C) and Electrification revenue growth. Semis
& Passives returned to growth in Americas and Asia Pacific.
Group gross margin increased 0.6 percentage points to 43.4%, or 0.4 percentage
points on a like-for-like basis. The improvement was driven by active pricing
optimisation and stronger growth in higher-margin product categories. Adjusted
operating costs were up 2%, with restructuring savings and focused cost
management helping to offset the impact of cost inflation and continued
strategic investment. Adjusted operating profit of £265 million was 3% lower
than the same period last year, or 4% lower on a like-for-like basis, with
margins broadly stable at 9.2%.
Continued good working capital management resulted in adjusted operating cash
flow conversion of 109%, well in excess of our minimum 80% target. Net debt
fell by £35 million over the year to £329 million, and our balance sheet
remains strong, with net debt to adjusted EBITDA reducing to 1.0x.
Strategic and operational investment delivering
We continue to progress with our multi-year strategic growth and operational
improvement plan to strengthen our differentiated proposition, accelerate
growth, improve efficiency, and drive better operating leverage over time.
These organic investments are driving improvement in our key underlying
operational metrics, improving resilience and supporting delivery in our
growth accelerators.
Acquisitions
We continue to enhance our organic growth strategy with disciplined and value
creative acquisitions. In March 2026 we acquired BPX Group, a UK and Ireland
based specialist distributor of industrial automation and control products,
for an Enterprise Value (cash-free debt-free) of £27 million and a deferred
earn-out of up to £3 million, payable subject to achievement of agreed EBITDA
performance targets. The consideration represents an acquisition multiple of
around 10x reported EBIT on a 12-month basis to 31 October 2025. BPX Group,
founded more than 50 years ago, specialises in supporting industrial customers
with technical A&C solutions in UK and Ireland. The acquisition
complements our strengths in A&C and enhances our technical capabilities
and high-service focus. It also expands our relationship with key suppliers
and under RS ownership we see the opportunity for BPX to accelerate revenue
growth through offering enhanced products and capabilities to complementary
customers.
People
Create an inclusive and engaging environment where everyone is proud and
excited to come to work and can perform at their best, develop and thrive.
Our people are central to delivering the strategic and change ambitions
outlined at our 2024 Investor Event. To support execution, we have further
strengthened our executive and leadership capability with the appointment of
Jonathan Bennett as President, Americas, and Lee Pruitt as Chief Customer
Experience Officer. Both bring deep industry expertise and proven leadership
experience, to drive growth and enhance our customer proposition.
We are also investing in developing our people and addressing the changing
skill and capability needed to deliver our strategy in a rapidly evolving
world. Our Leadership Advantage development programme, launched in 2025/26 in
partnership with a world-renowned business school, is the first of its type at
RS, aimed at enhancing the capabilities of 90 senior leaders and potential
leaders across the globe. We have also commenced our future skills planning
process, 'skills@RS' to acquire or develop enhanced capability across the
Group in areas such as data and data analytics, AI development, adoption and
use, and support accelerated individual development.
We have continued to focus on maintaining and improving engagement at all
levels by listening to our employees and then following up on actions. Our
recent employee engagement survey showed a 3 point year-on-year increase with
an engagement score of 75 points. As already communicated at the half year, we
have also recognised the contribution of our employees below senior leadership
level through the introduction of an all-employee share scheme with the aim of
driving further engagement and shared ownership.
Customers
Focus on higher value customers through harnessing data, effective strategic
engagement, and optimising cost to serve.
We continue to focus on increasing our share of wallet with customers who have
high value potential in attractive industry verticals. We are unlocking this
through data-driven insights and targeted omnichannel engagement, enabling a
more personalised customer experience with optimised cost to serve.
In 2025/26 we completed the design and build of our global customer data
master platform, providing a unified view of customers globally. This has
enabled us to build potential-based segmentation of customers and are now
deploying these capabilities across our major markets in EMEA and Americas.
During the year, we also completed the global rollout of the Customer
Relationship Manager (CRM) which is now being integrated with our Customer
Data Platform (CDP), which will ultimately enable always-on, intelligent and
behaviour-led engagement across the customer lifecycle.
Early results are encouraging with improving conversion rates when utilising
the personalised web journeys through our CDP. Through the CRM system, our
sales teams have been able to capture better quality leads by leveraging
richer customer insights which will drive higher conversion rates and larger
deal opportunities. This has helped us better target our high potential value
customers contributing to a 6% like-for-like revenue growth from our Corporate
customer segment during the year. The data flow between these platforms will
be increasingly automated and tuned through 2026/27.
Product and suppliers
Deliver a seamless, mutually value creative supplier experience with
appropriate and data driven breadth, depth and range curation.
Our upgraded Product Management Solution, launched last year, removed system
constraints and enabled faster and more targeted management of our curated
product range. Enhanced localisation and product information capabilities,
supported by 20 million product attributes, are improving customer experience
and searchability. Monthly new product introductions (NPI) capacity increased
by 5 times to more than 50,000 in 2025/26. The platform also supports more
efficient inventory management with over 185,000 new products launched as
non-stocked items to assess demand and inform stocking decisions.
RS PRO, the professional-quality own brand of RS, continues to outperform with
5% growth through 2025/26 exceeding 14% share of Group revenue at year end and
further enhancing its attractive margin position. It has been a record year
for new products introduced to our RS PRO range - enabled by the investment in
our product management solution - with 10,000 products added, a 45% increase
on 2024/25.
We continue to invest in our enhanced pricing capability, which has benefited
the Group while navigating persistent global trade uncertainty, including the
impact of tariffs. Most notably in North America, where through improved
execution-led pricing discipline and leveraging of our AI-enabled pricing
tools, we managed 3 times more targeted price actions during 2025/26. This
supported more consistent alignment to cost and market dynamics to give us
greater flexibility in support of both suppliers and customers.
Services and solutions
Deliver valued, scalable solutions to build greater strategic engagement and
drive product pull-through.
We continue to scale our solutions offer which had like-for-like revenue
growth of 6% during the year and now contributes 27% of Group revenue.
Enhancing and scaling our digital procurement solutions remains a focus, with
eProcurement like-for-like revenue growth of 9% during the year, reflecting
our deepening relationships with our higher value customers.
During 2025/26, we continued to refocus RS Integrated Supply (RSIS) which
offers supply chain and procurement services to large, multi-site industrial
businesses, and increased investment in our proprietary Maintenance, Repair
& Operations (MRO) management platform and on-site capabilities. RSIS
materially accelerated its digital innovation including enhancement to RS
SYNC™ Mobile which integrates product identification, classification and
real-time inventory visibility across a curated marketplace of 24 million
products, improving procurement efficiency and automation for customers. In
2025/26 RS Integrated Supply like-for-like revenue was flat, but like-for-like
operating profit increased by 29% alongside improved working capital
management. Continued collaboration with the rest of the Group, including RS
PRO, provides increased access to RS products for RSIS customers' MRO spend,
while ensuring the independence that is important for other RSIS suppliers.
Experience
Strengthen and tailor our customer experience to provide a digitally enabled,
seamless omnichannel service relevant for our customers' needs.
The design of our enhanced and digitally enabled omnichannel customer
experience is largely complete, and the major foundational investments that
enable it are well advanced. We completed the rollout of our AI-enabled web
search capabilities, and began integrating it with an upgraded digital
commerce platform which we launched in US & Canada. This provides improved
functionality, personalisation and data capture to enhance the customer
journey. We continue to tune this Adobe-based commerce engine to enhance it
further and are now testing it in EMEA in advance of launching it on
country-by-country basis commencing in Q4 2026/27.
Our deliver-to-promise capability - which provides accurate, reliable,
real-time availability and delivery information to our customers across EMEA
& Asia Pacific - was completed in the second half of the year. Introducing
improved delivery information earlier in the customer's online journey has
resulted in an improved browsing experience and 4% average order uplift from
early online stock visibility. The implementation of AI-enabled web search
capabilities in 2024/25 continues to deliver improved 'findability' across our
ranges, which resulted in a 28% increase in the 'Add to Cart' rate. The new
Basket & Checkout experience, completed in the first half, has improved
basket to order conversion rate up from 39% to 42%.
Operational excellence
Deliver efficient physical, digital and process infrastructure, improved
operating leverage and marginal
drop-through.
To ensure we are well positioned for growth, we continue to invest in our
distribution network. Through 2025/26 we made significant progress on the
build of upgraded facilities in Italy and Ireland and started installation of
a state-of-the-art robotic process automation in Italy which will become the
standard for all our regional distribution centres. The upgrade of our UK
automated Warehouse Management System (WMS) continues, with the final phase
planned for 2026/27 before a phased rollout of a market-leading WMS solution
across all of our distribution sites in the coming years.
The integration of Distrelec is largely complete with the migration of their
Netherlands distribution centre to our Bad Hersfeld facility in Germany at the
end of June ahead of schedule. This will save us more than €10 million from
reduced annual costs and deliver increased operational gearing through the use
of existing infrastructure as part of the wider integration that has delivered
synergies well ahead of the acquisition case despite challenging markets
impacting revenue performance.
Simplification of our technology estate continues. To date we have removed
more than 100 applications and continue to see further opportunities for
consolidation, enabling further savings that will allow the business to absorb
increased licence-costs as a result of the market shift to a 'software as a
service' technology model.
We have optimised the flow through our distribution network removing
non-value-add activities and reducing the number of times a product is
handled. This has resulted in a 50% increase in our supply chain efficiency
ratio and an improvement in our cost to serve.
Preparation for the upgrade of our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system
continues and is on track for first rollout across our EMEA markets.
Driving sustainable growth and stronger value creation
While we continue to deliver our 2030 ESG action plan, For a Better World, ESG
is increasingly shaping customer and product sourcing decisions, strengthening
supplier relationships and supporting the long-term resilience and performance
of the Group. We have maintained Platinum EcoVadis status for the fourth
consecutive year and achieved a CDP A List rating for the second year,
reinforcing trust in our commitment, transparency and action and helping to
differentiate the RS brand with high value customers and strategic suppliers.
Our Better World product range comprises more than 33,000 products from over
165 suppliers across 30 countries. Underpinned by an industry standard,
claims-based framework, it enables customers to make more sustainable choices
while improving efficiency and reducing costs.
Alongside this, we continue to drive efficiencies across our operations and
logistics to reduce cost and carbon, while improving customer experience.
Since 2019/20, Scope 1 and 2 emissions have reduced by 67%, keeping us on
track to deliver our science based target of a 75% reduction by 2030. Our
product transport emissions intensity has reduced by 34% since 2019/20, and we
have now extended our 2030 target to 40% (previously 35%). During the year we
set a new, more ambitious and holistic Scope 3 target to reduce Scope 3 GHG
emissions by 51.6% per £ million value added by 2029/30 from a 2019/20 base
year, which has been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
Confidence in long-term value creation
Our performance in the year and the strong underlying progress in the second
half gives us confidence that RS Group is:
· Well positioned in fragmented markets which have attractive through
cycle growth characteristics;
· Driving market share gains through a differentiated technical and
digital product and services and solutions offer;
· Investing to improve efficiency and operating leverage of global
infrastructure to drive significant margin expansion;
· Pursuing disciplined acquisition opportunities to accelerate growth,
subject to our key criteria of strategic fit, value accretion and successful
integration; and
· Targeting the creation of significant and sustainable value for
stakeholders.
We remain active at looking at acquisition opportunities across our markets,
with a solid pipeline of opportunities that can accelerate our strategy in a
value disciplined way, supported by our strong balance sheet. Selective
acquisitions can enhance our presence in key markets, accelerate our operating
leverage, strengthen product specialisation and expand our services and
solutions portfolio. We will remain value disciplined in the way we assess
opportunities.
The Group's focus on cash generation has also resulted in a strong balance
sheet with leverage at the bottom end of our target range 1.0-2.0x net debt to
adjusted EBITDA. We therefore, as part of our disciplined approach to capital
structure and allocation, are today commencing a £100 million share buyback
programme. We also recommend a 2% increase in the 2025/26 dividend, consistent
with a progressive dividend policy, and we'll continue to review acquisition
opportunities.
This progress underpins our confidence in delivering on our medium-term
financial targets of revenue growth of twice our market, mid-teen adjusted
operating margin, cash conversion of over 80% and a sustainable return on
capital of more than 20%.
GROUP FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
2026 2025 Change Like-for-like(1) change
Revenue £2,881m £2,904m (1)% (0)%
Gross profit £1,250m £1,243m 1% 0%
Gross margin 43.4% 42.8% 0.6 pts 0.4 pts
Operating costs £(1,012)m £(1,010)m 0%
Operating profit £239m £233m 2%
Operating profit margin 8.3% 8.0% 0.3 pts
Profit before tax £220m £206m 7%
Basic earnings per share 34.6p 32.5p 6%
Adjusted operating costs(1) £(985)m £(969)m 2%
Adjusted operating profit(1) £265m £274m (3)% (4)%
Adjusted operating profit margin(1) 9.2% 9.4% (0.2) pts (0.4) pts
Adjusted operating profit conversion(1) 21.2% 22.1% (0.9) pts
Adjusted profit before tax(1) £246m £248m (1)% (2)%
Adjusted basic earnings per share(1) 38.7p 39.1p (1)% (2)%
Digital revenue(2) £1,733m £1,754m (1)% (1)%
Services and solutions revenue(2) £787m £742m 6% 6%
RS PRO revenue(2) £415m £392m 6% 5%
1. See Note 12 for definitions and reconciliations of all
alternative performance measures, including like-for-like change and adjusted
measures.
2. See Note 2 for disaggregation of revenue analysis and
reconciliations.
Revenue
Group revenue of £2,881 million was down 1% compared to 2024/25. After
adjusting for adverse exchange rate movements, largely related to a weakening
of the US dollar compared to last year, fewer trading days in 2025/26, and the
revenue related to the acquisition of BPX, like-for-like revenue was flat.
Group revenue was flat in the second half, an improvement on the first half
decline of 1%, supported by the acceleration in growth across EMEA, Asia
Pacific and Americas (with the exception of Mexico).
Regional revenue, gross margin and operating profit is provided in the
Regional Performance section below.
Digital revenue, accounting for 60% of Group revenue (of which 65% is web
revenue and 27% is procurement solutions such as eProcurement), reduced 1% on
a like-for-like basis. Web revenue, which tends to reflect smaller, more
transactional purchases decreased 6% like-for-like. This was mainly a result
of the impact on web revenue in Americas due to the digital platform upgrade
and the integration of Distrelec in the DACH region, with the decommissioning
of certain products impacting our customer attrition as anticipated.
Services and solutions revenue, accounting for 27% of Group revenue, increased
by 6% like-for-like, reflecting the increased use of eProcurement and a
continuation of strong performance in maintenance, rental, technical and
design solutions. RS Integrated Supply revenue was broadly flat on a
like-for-like basis.
RS PRO, which is our main own brand product range and accounts for 14% of
Group revenue (21% share of EMEA revenue, 1% of Americas, 16% of Asia
Pacific), grew by 5% like-for-like. These results are supported by the
extension our product breadth and an end-to-end sales and marketing focus in
all our regions. Our competitively priced range continues to resonate as a
quality, non‑competing alternative to third‑party branded products,
reinforced by our proven quality assurance qualifications and design and
testing facilities.
Consistent with trends seen over the past couple of years, revenue performance
by product category demonstrates the difference between categories that are
more industrial and tend to be less volatile (Facilities & Maintenance,
Mechanical & Fluid Power, PPE & Site Safety) and those correlated to
the electronics market (such as A&C and Electrification) and the more
electronics specific categories, Semi & Passives and Cables &
Connectors.
Share of Like-for-like revenue growth
Group revenue
A&C and Electrification, Test & Measurement 47% (2)%
Facilities & Maintenance, Mechanical & Fluid Power, PPE & Site 36% 3%
Safety, Other
Semis & Passives (inc. Single Board Computing), Cables & Connectors 17% (2)%
Total 100% (0)%
Gross margin
Group gross margin increased by 0.6 percentage points to 43.4%, or by 0.4
percentage points on a like‑for‑like basis. The improvement was driven by
active pricing optimisation and stronger growth in higher margin product
categories, particularly Facilities and Maintenance and Mechanical and Fluid
Power. In the second half, gross margin increased further to 43.7%, reflecting
favourable pricing, alongside supply chain and commercial initiatives that
improved inventory management, and changes to provisioning rates.
Operating costs
Reported operating costs were flat year-on-year and remained stable at 35% of
revenue. On an adjusted basis, operating costs increased by £16 million or 2%
year-on-year to £985 million.
Our ongoing operating cost base, which excludes one-offs and restructuring and
integration costs, increased by £16 million year-on-year to £981 million.
The majority of the year-on-year cost increase related to £29 million of
inflationary costs and £4 million on employee incentive costs, which was
partly offset by £17 million of restructuring and integration benefits,
taking the total cost savings achieved in the last three years to £55
million. We continue to invest in the business, increasing our organic
investment by £4 million in the year to £35 million, which was at the lower
end of our guidance range.
We benefited from a £5 million one‑off gain, largely driven by a £3
million profit on the disposal of sales activities in the Nordics and Baltics.
Restructuring and integration costs were £9 million in the year.
Guidance points for 2026/27 - we expect inflation on our ongoing operating
cost base to be 3%, variable costs to be 6% of revenue, continued build of
employee incentive to be c. £5-£10 million and cost savings to be £10-15
million having absorbed further skills investment and incremental software as
a service licence costs. Organic investments to be at the top-end of our
target range £35-£45 million. Our restructuring and integration costs to
deliver the savings to be c. £10 million.
Operating profit and margin
Operating profit of £239 million was up 2% compared to the prior period.
Adjusted operating profit, saw a decrease of 3% (4% on a like-for-like
basis). This reflects the regional movements described in the Regional
Performance section, partially offset by the £3 million profit on disposal.
Operating profit margin increased by 0.3 percentage points to 8.3% and on an
adjusted basis declined by 0.2 percentage points to 9.2%, with volume pressure
from softer markets and increased organic investment to a large extent
mitigated by our cost benefits and gross margin improvement. As a result,
adjusted operating profit conversion (adjusted operating profit / gross
profit) declined by 1.1 percentage points on a like‑for‑like basis to 21%.
Reported operating profit conversion improved by 0.4 percentage points to 19%.
Items excluded from adjusted profit
To improve the comparability of information between reporting periods, we
exclude certain items from adjusted profit measures. The items excluded are
described below (see Note 12 for more detail on definitions and
reconciliations of adjusted measures).
Adjusted items include acquisition‑related net gain of £9 million (2024/25:
net cost of £4 million) which included an £11 million legal settlement
income offset by transaction costs related to the BPX acquisition and other
acquisition‑related expenses, amortisation and impairment of acquired
intangibles of £20 million (2024/25: £37 million), and a £15 million
impairment charge on certain technology assets, reflecting components whose
functionality has been superseded by recently implemented replacement systems
REGIONAL PERFORMANCE
EMEA
2026 2025 Change Like-for-like(1) change
Revenue £1,803m £1,777m 1% (1)%
Operating profit(2) £196m £201m (2)% (6)%
Operating profit margin(2) 10.9% 11.3% (0.4) pts (0.6) pts
Digital revenue(3) £1,363m £1,330m 2% 1%
Services and solutions revenue(3) £607m £557m 9% 7%
RS PRO revenue(3) £371m £352m 6% 4%
1. Like-for-like adjusted for currency; revenue also adjusted
for trading days and M&A. See Note 12.
2. See Note 2 for reconciliation to Group operating profit.
3. See Note 2 for disaggregation of revenue analysis and
reconciliations to regional revenue.
In EMEA, we have a broad product and services and solutions proposition and
significant opportunity to grow market share, with an emphasis on serving
larger Corporate and Key customers. We remain focused on delivering clear and
omni-channel propositions to our customers and suppliers whilst driving
efficiencies, reducing costs to serve and to benefit from improved operational
leverage.
Revenue increased by 1% but was down 1% on a like-for-like basis, with a
slightly stronger Euro during the period which was offset by fewer trading
days. Reported revenue for the period included one month from the BPX
acquisition. Despite weak markets, we saw revenue growth in our larger markets
of UK and Ireland, France and Italy for the year, but a decline in the DACH
region, where end-markets have been weaker. PMIs across the region were below
the 50 level for most of the year, with the UK in expansion from November 2025
and the remaining markets from February this year.
Our strategic focus continues to be growing higher potential lifetime value
customers, and as a result of some large Pan-EMEA contract wins with customers
wanting to consolidate their supplier base, our like-for-like revenue from the
corporate customer segment grew 6%. Revenue from Standard, web-focused
customers who are more transactional, grew by 4%, whilst the number of
customers declined as a result of the short-term disruption from the closure
of Distrelec's DC and discontinuation of non-profitable products. Our more
resilient product categories of Facilities & Maintenance and Mechanical
& Fluid Power delivered like-for-like growth for the year, which also
contributed to the higher gross margin uplift in the second half of the year
with our core Automation, Control & Electrification categories seeing
recovery in the second half. Additionally, the data we gather from suppliers
shows that we have gained market share overall in EMEA, particularly in
Facilities & Maintenance and Cables & Connectors, with stronger
competitive pressure in Automation, Control & Electrification and PPE
categories.
UK and Ireland, which accounts for 38% of the region's revenue returned to
growth on a like-for-like basis for the year, accelerating from (1)% in the
first half to 2% in the second half supported by strategic pricing
initiatives. In Q4, we completed the acquisition of BPX which specialises in
supporting industrial customers with technical automation and control
solutions in UK and Ireland. As part of our UK & Ireland business, BPX
will strengthen our technical capabilities within our core product categories
and deepen our strategic supplier partnerships.
France, which accounts for 20% of the region's revenue, continued to deliver
robust growth throughout the year, with like-for-like revenue up 6% despite a
weak and uncertain economic backdrop with PMI largely below 50 recovering in
Q4. France is realising the benefit of a strategically targeted product and
sales offer to serve more resilient industry verticals, particularly those
connected to process manufacturing such as food and beverage.
DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), which accounts for 14% of the
region's revenue, saw an 8% like-for-like revenue reduction, with a small
improvement in the second half of the year. This performance was a result of
continued weak end-markets with contracting PMIs as well as the anticipated
operational disruption as part of the integration of Distrelec, particularly
during the decommissioning of certain products as well as the closure of their
distribution centre in the Netherlands in the first half of the year. The
integration of Distrelec is largely complete, with the transition of the Swiss
website and back-end systems being the last of the integration, and has
delivered synergies well ahead of our business case.
RS Integrated Supply EMEA like-for-like revenue grew by 6%, as they leveraged
their technology-led approach to business procurement outsourcing in
attractive industry verticals with a strong pipeline of customer
opportunities. The business is more profitable as a result of exiting
unprofitable contracts and replacing them with contracts that better reflect
the solutions we provide for customers that value our outsourced supply chain
and procurement process services.
Digital revenue (76% EMEA revenue) returned to growth in the second half of
the year and up 1% on a like-for-like basis for the year. This performance was
as a result of strong growth in our eProcurement and Purchasing Manager
platforms which is focused on larger, higher value customers, and creates
longer lifetime customer value. This performance is included in like-for-like
services and solutions revenue growth of 7%. This was partly offset by web
revenue (61% of digital revenue) which was down year-on-year, reflecting
reduced activity from more transactional customers, particularly in the DACH
region as suggested above. RS PRO like-for-like revenue was up 4% and now
contributes 21% of total EMEA revenue.
EMEA's like-for-like gross margin was flat year-on-year with benefits from
pricing discipline largely associated to inflationary increases. Benefits from
the integration of Distrelec and strong cost control offset inflation in the
cost base and a targeted increase in digital marketing to drive digital
performance. This resulted in a £5 million decrease in reported operating
profit to £196 million, and a resulting decline to operating profit margin to
10.9% year-on-year.
EMEA's rolling 12-month Transactional NPS was 46.6, down from 48.5 in 2024/25.
The decline reflects temporary disruption to product availability data during
the upgrade to our new product availability and tracking system in the first
half, which was resolved in the second half and as a result monthly NPS has
recovered.
Americas
2026 2025 Change Like-for-like(1) change
Revenue £855m £907m (6)% (2)%
Operating profit(2) £77m £82m (5)% (1)%
Operating profit margin(2) 9.0% 9.0% 0.0 pts 0.1 pts
Digital revenue(3) £250m £305m (18)% (14)%
Services and solutions revenue(3) £129m £134m (4)% 1%
RS PRO revenue(3) £8m £7m 14% 20%
1. Like-for-like adjusted for currency; revenue also adjusted
for trading days. See Note 12.
2. See Note 2 for reconciliation to Group operating profit.
3. See Note 2 for disaggregation of revenue analysis and
reconciliations to region's revenue.
In Americas, we have a strong technical A&C and Electrification focus,
with expanding presence and solutions expertise. We see the opportunity to
broaden our high lifetime potential customer base, expand our offer and gain
customer share of wallet through targeted supplier and customer propositions,
enhanced digital capability and improved own-brand RS PRO range.
Americas like-for-like revenue decreased by 2% for the year. However, our US
and Canada business (73% of the region's revenue) grew by more than 2% on a
like-for-like basis, accelerating in the second half. During the first half,
we launched a new digital commerce platform in the US which had a short-term
adverse impact on our digital revenue, however this was to a large extent
offset by strong performance in offline sales as the result of focused
activities with key suppliers, product category expansion, sales process
improvements and some channel shift by existing customers from digital to
offline transactions. Services and solutions in the US and Canada saw
like-for-like revenue growth of 12% driven by increased demand for technical
design solutions and expanded use of eProcurement by larger customers. The US
and Canada business saw growth in energy and utility, facility and logistics,
and discrete manufacturing vertical markets.
In Mexico we support customers in factory fit out of automotive and control
panels, and therefore sales include a larger proportion of larger orders tied
to capital investment. Economic and political uncertainty in Mexico, including
ongoing concerns around tariffs and delays to a trade agreement with the US,
led many large customers in the region to defer capital expenditure. This is
reflected in Mexican Manufacturing PMIs, which fell below 50 in September and
reached a low of 46 in December. Against this backdrop, like‑for‑like
revenue in Latin America (c. 20% of regional revenue), declined by 13%.
Mexico's like-for-like revenue in the first half decreased by 6% with a
weighting to Q2. However, the lack of trade agreement visibility continued
through the second half with Mexico declining by 21% over the same period -
half the decline relating to the strengthening of the Peso against the US
dollar. We have visibility of strong pipelines and a backlog of customers
positions and remain confident that, as tariff uncertainty reduces, activity
levels will recover.
At a product category level, sales in US and Canada for Automation, Control
and Electrification products (c. 68% of the revenue) grew at 3% on a
like-for-like basis. Mechanical and Fluid Power, a key strategic growth lever,
grew by around 8%, while Semis and Passives components returned to growth in
the second half. RS PRO for the Americas like-for-like revenue increased by
20% driven by improved range and availability, increased sales and marketing
focus to capture a greater share of customer spend in the US and Canada.
RS Integrated Supply Americas like-for-like revenue declined by 4%. However,
profitability improved following the deliberate exit from unprofitable
agreements, with the strategy refocused on leveraging our technology‑led
procurement outsourcing capabilities in attractive industry verticals and
supported by a strong pipeline of new customer opportunities.
Americas gross margin increased 1.3 percentage points to 34.5%, mainly
supported by c. 2 percentage point improvement in US & Canada reflecting
strategic pricing initiatives, improved inventory management and changes to
provisioning rates. Mexico's gross margin was stable year-on-year, despite the
revenue decline. Operating costs reflected inflationary pressures and
continued strategic investments, however these were mitigated by disciplined
cost management. Americas operating profit of £77 million was 5% lower than
last year, and down 1% on a like-for-like basis, driven by strong growth in
the US and Canada, but more than offset by Mexico. The resulting Americas
operating margin was flat at 9.0%.
Americas rolling 12-month Transactional NPS was 56.8, down from 65.2 in
2024/25 initially impacted by the digital commerce launch, but monthly NPS
recovered in the fourth quarter.
Asia Pacific
2026 2025 Change Like-for-like(1) change
Revenue £223m £219m 2% 5%
Operating profit(2) £7m £6m 11% 28%
Operating profit margin(2) 3.0% 2.8% 0.2 pts 0.5 pts
Digital revenue(3) £120m £118m 1% 4%
Services and solutions revenue(3,4) £52m £52m 0% 3%
RS PRO revenue(3) £35m £34m 5% 8%
1. Like-for-like adjusted for currency; revenue also adjusted
for trading days. See Note 12.
2. See Note 2 for reconciliation to Group operating profit.
Regional operating profit has been restated in the prior period as shown in
Note 2.
3. See Note 2 for disaggregation of revenue analysis and
reconciliations to region's revenue.
4. 2024/25 restated following a review of services and
solutions categorisation, see Note 2.
Asia Pacific benefits from the investment in process, inventory and
infrastructure in our EMEA region, and is able to build positions in a number
of markets with strong growth opportunities.
Asia Pacific revenue was up 5% on a like-for-like basis driven by both volume
and pricing growth. Growth accelerated in the second half of the year and
reflects both stable economic conditions, with PMIs remaining above 50 in most
of our markets throughout the year and accelerated performance across our
largest product categories, Automation & Control, Cables & Connectors
and Facilities & Maintenance plus strong recovery of Semi and Passives.
Strategic digital and marketing focus drove strong growth in Standard
customers with like-for-like revenue up 23% and Corporate customers up 5%.
Australia and New Zealand (36% of the region's revenue), delivered 8%
like-for-like revenue growth, reflecting a resilient manufacturing environment
throughout the year. Southeast Asia (33% of the region's revenue), delivered
5% like-for-like revenue growth driven by the region's strategy of driving
growth in higher value corporate customers and increased take up of RS PRO
products and eProcurement solutions. Greater China (representing 21% of the
region's revenue), saw a 2% increase in like-for-like revenue despite a weak
first half with China and Taiwan growth accelerating in the second half. Hong
Kong remains challenging due to significantly lower spend from a few large
state-owned customers linked to government budgetary constraints. Japan and
Korea, with 10% of the region's revenue, delivered 3% like-for-like revenue
growth, with particularly strong RS PRO growth.
Digital like-for-like revenue was up 4% year-on-year and contributes to 54% of
Asia Pacific revenue. Performance was driven by both web growth and greater
take up of our eProcurement solution by larger corporate customers. RS PRO
like-for-like revenue was up 8%, accelerating in the second half, as we
continue to enhance our go-to-market strategy, including targeted product
marketing campaigns and focused product range catalogues.
Gross margin improved again in 2025/26 by 0.2 percentage points on a
like-for-like basis, benefiting from favourable pricing and volume throughout
the year. Regional operating costs increased by 4% on a like-for-like basis,
driven by investment in our people, as well as increased freight costs.
Increased operating costs were more than offset by our revenue growth, and as
a result, operating profit increased by 11%, and 28% on a like-for-like basis,
with a resulting operating margin of 3%.
Asia Pacific's rolling 12-month Transactional NPS decreased in 2025/26 by 1.7
points to 17.3 as a result of a temporary impact on order fulfilment during
implementation of our product availability and tracking system. This was
resolved in the second half with a strong recovery in monthly NPS.
GROUP FINANCIAL REVIEW CONTINUED
Net finance costs
Net finance costs decreased to £20 million (2024/25: £27 million),
reflecting reduction in net debt and lower market interest rates. At 31 March
2026, 34% of gross borrowings (excluding lease liabilities) were at fixed
rates, unchanged year-on-year, with surplus cash held at variable rates.
Profit before tax
Profit before tax increased by 7% to £220 million. Adjusted profit before tax
declined by 1% to £246 million, or 2% lower on a like‑for‑like basis.
Taxation
The income tax charge was £58 million (2024/25: £54 million). The adjusted
tax charge was £65 million (2024/25: £64 million), resulting in an effective
tax rate of 26.4% (2024/25: 25.8%) driven by overseas tax rate differentials,
non‑deductible items, movements in uncertain tax positions and prior year
adjustments. Going forward, we expect the full-year 2026/27 effective tax
rate on adjusted profit before tax to be c. 27.0%.
Earnings per share
Earnings per share rose by 6% to 34.6p (2024/25: 32.5p). Adjusted basic EPS
was 38.7p, 1% lower year-on-year and 2% lower on a like‑for‑like basis.
EBITDA
EBITDA was broadly stable at £319 million, reflecting operating profit
performance and slightly lower depreciation and amortisation.
Cash flow and working capital
Cash generated from operations was £351 million (2024/25: £349 million),
delivering adjusted operating cash conversion of 109%, well above the >80%
target. Adjusted free cash flow was £202 million (2024/25: £214 million),
with year-on-year decline primarily reflecting lower adjusted EBITDA and
increased capital expenditure, partially offset by active management of
working capital. After accounting for the cash effect of adjusting items
(including the net gain related to the acquisition-related legal settlement)
free cash flow increased by £1 million.
Working capital reduced as revenues declined and we took an active working
capital management position, with working capital remaining stable at 24% of
revenue. Trade and other receivables increased by £41 million to £729
million, driven by higher Q4 sales and balances acquired with BPX. Credit risk
continues to be tightly managed. Inventories decreased by £22 million to
£595 million, with provision rates improving to 11.9% (2024/25: 12.3%).
Inventory turns remained stable at 2.7x. Trade and other payables rose by £23
million to £634 million, primarily reflecting the acquisition of BPX and
higher March trading.
Looking forward, we continue to manage our working capital position actively
and optimising cash conversion is a key area of focus. We remain focused on
receivables collection. We will continue to seek to manage our inventory
levels to take account of changing demand dynamics and supply chain behaviour,
whilst anticipating our customers' expectations. We will continue to invest
in the right inventory to ensure that we remain well positioned
to maintain service levels and deliver strong growth as markets recover.
We pay our suppliers to terms and continue to work with some of our larger
suppliers to improve terms where possible.
Net capital expenditure increased to £53 million (2024/25: £49 million),
reflecting continued investment in supply chain (e.g. our DC in Italy) and
customer experience capabilities (e.g. Digital commerce). Capex represented
1.3x depreciation, within the normal range. 2026/27 capex is expected to
remain around £50 million.
Net debt and liquidity
Net debt reduced to £329 million (2024/25: £364 million), reflecting strong
free cash flow, partially offset by dividends (£106 million), purchase of
shares in relation to employee share schemes (£34 million), and the BPX
acquisition (£28 million).
Committed facilities total £682 million, with £335 million undrawn at year
end. Financial headroom remains strong, with net debt to adjusted EBITDA at
1.0x and EBITA to interest of 14.9x, well within covenant limits.
Return on Capital Employed
ROCE increased to 15.4% (2024/25: 15.2%), driven by lower capital employed,
partially offset by lower adjusted operating profit.
Retirement benefit obligations
The UK pension recovery plan has been completed. Preliminary results from the
31 March 2025 triennial valuation indicate a likely surplus. No contributions
are expected to the UK scheme in 2026/27, with £0.4 million payable to other
defined benefit schemes.
Dividend and capital allocation
In line with our capital allocation policy and disciplined approach to
deploying capital across both organic and M&A opportunities, the Board has
reviewed the strength and efficiency of the balance sheet and intends to
continue to pursue a progressive dividend policy, alongside the return of
£100 million of capital to shareholders via a share buyback.
A progressive dividend policy supports the Group's commitment to maintaining
healthy dividend cover over time, underpinned by improving performance and
strong cash generation. The share buyback will be conducted over a 12-month
period, and the Board will continue to review efficient deployment of capital
in line with the capital allocation policy.
The Board proposes a final dividend at 14.2p per share. This will be paid on
24 July 2026 to shareholders on the register on 12 June 2026. As a result, the
total proposed dividend for 2025/26 will be 22.9p per share, representing an
increase of 2% over the 2024/25 full-year dividend. Adjusted earnings dividend
cover for 2025/26 is 1.7 times.
Foreign exchange
The Group does not hedge translation exposure on the income statements of
overseas subsidiaries. Based on the mix of non-sterling denominated revenue
and adjusted operating profit, a one cent movement in the Euro and US dollar
would impact annual adjusted profit before tax by £1.8 million and £0.5
million respectively. Translation gains of £33 million were recorded in Other
Comprehensive Income, partially offset by £5 million of net investment hedge
losses. The Group is also exposed to foreign currency transactional risk
because most operating companies have some level of payables or receivables in
currencies other than their functional currency. Where the exposure is
material, Group Treasury maintains three to seven months hedging against
freely tradable currencies to smooth the impact of fluctuations in currency.
The Group's largest exposures relate to euros and US dollars.
Non-Financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
We have eight non-financial KPIs to help measure progress against our strategy
and the commitments of our 2030 ESG action plan - For a Better World. To
provide greater transparency on our performance in the period, a summary of
our progress is included below with further details available in the ESG
section on our website: www.rsgroup.com (http://www.rsgroup.com)
/sustainability.
2026 2025
Carbon intensity(1,2) 2.0 2.2
(tonnes of CO(2)e due to Scope 1 and 2 emissions / £m revenue)
Carbon emissions(1) 5,850 6,500
(tonnes of CO(2)e due to Scope 1 and 2 emissions)
Packaging intensity(2) (tonnes / £m revenue) 1.67 1.55
Waste(1) (% of waste recycled) 88% 84%
Group rolling 12-month Transactional Net Promoter Score (NPS) (3) 45.2 48.5
Employee engagement 75 72
Percentage of management that are women 38% 37%
All accident rate (all accidents per 200,000 hours) 0.35 0.44
1. Coverage includes operations under our direct financial
control globally, excluding BPX Group which will be integrated into our ESG
reporting in 2026/27.
2. Intensity metrics are reported on a constant exchange
rate basis.
3. Commentary on NPS scores by region is included in the
Regional Performance section.
RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES
The Board has overall accountability for the Group's risk management, which is
delegated to the Executive Committee and supported by the Group's risk team.
The Board is fully committed to setting and embedding a sound risk culture
which is aligned with the principles and ethics of the Group.
The Group has a defined risk appetite, approved by the Board, which reflects
the Group's willingness and ability to absorb the impact of risk and the
Board's appetite for such risks in six risk categories: strategy and change,
operational, regulatory compliance, financial resilience, customer experience,
and product risks. The business uses consistent impact and likelihood
assessment criteria with behaviours that are mapped across the six categories
of risk and are aligned to the strategy of the business and the products and
services that RS Group provides.
For further information on the Group's approach to risk management see the
"Risks, viability and going concern" section of the 2026 Annual Report and
Accounts.
Principal risks and uncertainties
The principal risks disclosed in the 2026 Annual Report and Accounts are:
1. Cyber and information security
2. Legal and regulatory compliance
3. Geopolitical and macroeconomic environment
4. Change initiatives
5. Talent and capability
6. Market disruption
7. Business resilience
8. Climate change
9. M&A activity
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This financial report contains certain statements,
statistics and projections that are or may be forward-looking. The accuracy
and completeness of all such statements, including, without limitation,
statements regarding the future financial position, strategy, projected costs,
plans and objectives for the management of future operations of RS Group plc
and its subsidiaries is not warranted or guaranteed. These statements
typically contain words such as "may", "will", "should", "project", "intends",
"expects", "anticipates", "estimates" and words of similar import are forward
looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk
and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that
will occur in the future. Although RS Group plc believes that the expectations
reflected in such statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that
such expectations will prove to be correct. There are a number of factors,
which may be beyond the control of RS Group plc, which could cause actual
results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. Other than as required by applicable law
or the applicable rules of any exchange on which our securities may be listed,
RS Group plc has no intention or obligation to update forward-looking
statements contained herein.
GROUP INCOME STATEMENT
For the year ended 31 March 2026
2026 2025
Notes £m £m
Revenue 2 2,881.1 2,903.5
Cost of sales (1,630.8) (1,660.3)
Gross profit 1,250.3 1,243.2
Operating costs (1,011.7) (1,010.4)
Operating profit 2 238.6 232.8
Finance income 2.9 4.7
Finance costs (22.4) (32.0)
Share of profit of joint venture 0.6 0.6
Profit before tax 2 219.7 206.1
Income tax expense (57.8) (53.5)
Profit for the year attributable to owners of the Company 161.9 152.6
Profit for the year is attributable to:
Owners of the Company 162.0 152.7
Non-controlling interests (0.1) (0.1)
161.9 152.6
Earnings per share attributable to owners of the Company
Basic 3 34.6p 32.5p
Diluted 3 34.5p 32.5p
GROUP STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
For the year ended 31 March 2026
2026 2025
£m £m
Profit for the year 161.9 152.6
Other comprehensive income/(expense)
Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to the income statement
Remeasurement of retirement benefit obligations - 1.5
Related income tax - (0.3)
Items that may be reclassified subsequently to the income statement
Foreign exchange translation differences of joint venture - (0.1)
Foreign exchange translation differences 32.6 (84.1)
Fair value (loss)/gain on net investment hedges (5.2) 6.6
Movement in cash flow hedges 2.4 1.4
Related income tax (0.6) (0.2)
Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year 29.2 (75.2)
Total comprehensive income for the year 191.1 77.4
Total comprehensive income is attributable to:
Owners of the Company 191.2 77.5
Non-controlling interests (0.1) (0.1)
Total comprehensive income for the year 191.1 77.4
GROUP BALANCE SHEET
As at 31 March 2026
2026 2025
Notes £m £m
Non-current assets
Intangible assets 913.0 898.9
Property, plant and equipment 181.2 176.7
Right-of-use assets 52.3 54.3
Investment in joint venture 1.2 1.2
Other receivables 4.8 4.6
Retirement benefit net assets 5 2.4 2.5
Deferred tax assets 5.0 11.1
Total non-current assets 1,159.9 1,149.3
Current assets
Inventories 7 595.0 617.3
Trade and other receivables 8 729.2 688.5
Cash and cash equivalents - cash and short-term deposits 9 166.5 147.7
Derivative assets 2.6 1.9
Current income tax receivables 17.6 15.9
Total current assets 1,510.9 1,471.3
Total assets 2,670.8 2,620.6
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables (634.2) (611.0)
Cash and cash equivalents - bank overdrafts 9 (50.2) (41.7)
Borrowings (120.6) (23.5)
Lease liabilities 9 (16.9) (15.5)
Derivative liabilities (2.8) (1.8)
Provisions (4.7) (5.0)
Current income tax liabilities (12.8) (17.9)
Total current liabilities (842.2) (716.4)
Non-current liabilities
Other payables (6.6) (7.4)
Retirement benefit obligations 5 (11.3) (16.4)
Borrowings 9 (270.0) (390.0)
Lease liabilities 9 (37.7) (41.2)
Provisions (4.0) (3.1)
Deferred tax liabilities (85.1) (91.6)
Total non-current liabilities (414.7) (549.7)
Total liabilities (1,256.9) (1,266.1)
Net assets 1,413.9 1,354.5
Equity
Share capital and share premium 287.1 287.1
Own shares held by Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) (73.4) (42.3)
Other reserves 58.9 32.0
Retained earnings 1,140.9 1,077.2
Equity attributable to owners of the Company 1,413.5 1,354.0
Non-controlling interests 0.4 0.5
Total equity 1,413.9 1,354.5
GROUP CASH FLOW STATEMENT
For the year ended 31 March 2026
2026 2025
Notes £m £m
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before tax 219.7 206.1
Depreciation and amortisation 80.1 85.4
Impairment of intangible assets 14.9 12.8
Impairment of property, plant and equipment - 0.4
Profit on business disposal (3.4) -
Loss on disposal of non-current assets 0.3 0.1
Equity-settled share-based payments 10.4 9.9
Net finance costs 19.5 27.3
Share of profit of and dividends received from joint venture - -
Decrease in inventories 35.5 7.6
Increase in trade and other receivables (11.2) (2.0)
(Decrease) / increase in trade and other payables (9.3) 12.3
Decrease in provisions (0.5) (0.4)
Defined benefit retirement contributions in excess of charge (5.2) (10.7)
Cash generated from operations 350.8 348.8
Interest received 2.9 4.7
Interest paid (22.5) (34.0)
Income tax paid (67.4) (60.4)
Net cash from operating activities 263.8 259.1
Cash flows from investing activities
Acquisition of businesses 10 (31.8) (8.4)
Cash and cash equivalents acquired with businesses 10 7.4 -
Total cash impact on acquisition of businesses (24.4) (8.4)
Purchase of intangible assets (34.0) (33.1)
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (18.9) (16.2)
Proceeds on sale of business 4.5 -
Net cash used in investing activities (72.8) (57.7)
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from the issue of share capital - 0.2
Purchase of own shares by EBT (33.7) (46.5)
Net repayment of revolving facilities and short-term loans (27.4) (42.3)
Other loans drawn down 9 - 24.0
Other loans repaid 9 - (0.4)
Principal elements of lease payments 9 (17.2) (15.7)
Dividends paid 4 (105.9) (104.7)
Net cash used in financing activities (184.2) (185.4)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 6.8 16.0
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 106.0 96.0
Effects of exchange rate changes 3.5 (6.0)
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 9 116.3 106.0
GROUP STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
For the year ended 31 March 2026
Attributable to owners of the Company
Share capital and share premium Own shares held by EBT Other reserves Retained earnings Total Non-controlling interests Total equity
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m
At 1 April 2024 286.9 (1.8) 108.9 1,024.3 1,418.3 0.6 1,418.9
Profit for the year - - - 152.7 152.7 (0.1) 152.6
Other comprehensive (expense)/income - - (76.4) 1.2 (75.2) - (75.2)
Total comprehensive (expense)/income - - (76.4) 153.9 77.5 (0.1) 77.4
Cash flow hedging gains transferred to inventories - - (0.6) - (0.6) - (0.6)
Tax on cash flow hedging transferred to inventories - - 0.1 - 0.1 - 0.1
Dividends (Note 4) - - - (104.7) (104.7) - (104.7)
Equity-settled share-based payments - - - 9.4 9.4 - 9.4
Settlement of share awards 0.2 6.0 - (5.5) 0.7 - 0.7
Purchase of own shares by EBT - (46.5) - - (46.5) - (46.5)
Tax on equity-settled share-based payments - - - (0.2) (0.2) - (0.2)
At 31 March 2025 287.1 (42.3) 32.0 1,077.2 1,354.0 0.5 1,354.5
Profit for the year - - - 162.0 162.0 (0.1) 161.9
Other comprehensive income - - 29.2 - 29.2 - 29.2
Total comprehensive income/(expense) - - 29.2 162.0 191.2 (0.1) 191.1
Cash flow hedging gains transferred to inventories - - (3.1) - (3.1) - (3.1)
Tax on cash flow hedging transferred to inventories - - 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.8
Dividends (Note 4) - - - (105.9) (105.9) - (105.9)
Equity-settled share-based payments - - - 9.9 9.9 - 9.9
Settlement of share awards - 2.6 - (2.1) 0.5 - 0.5
Purchase of own shares by EBT - (33.7) - - (33.7) - (33.7)
Tax on equity-settled share-based payments - - - (0.2) (0.2) - (0.2)
At 31 March 2026 287.1 (73.4) 58.9 1,140.9 1,413.5 0.4 1,413.9
NOTES TO THE PRELIMINARY ACCOUNTS
1. Basis of preparation
The financial information contained in this release does not constitute the
Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 March 2026 or 31 March
2025 but is derived from those accounts. The accounts are prepared in
accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards (UK IAS) and the
requirements of the Companies Act 2006. None of the new accounting standards,
amendments or revisions to existing standards or interpretations which have
become effective have had a material impact on the reported results or
financial position of the Group. Statutory accounts for the year ended 31
March 2025 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and those for the
year ended 31 March 2026 will be delivered following the Company's Annual
General Meeting. The auditors have reported on both of these sets of accounts.
Their reports were unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to
which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their
report and did not contain any statement under sections 498(2) or 498(3) of
the Companies Act 2006. The accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026 were
approved by the Board of Directors on 19 May 2026.
The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis. In adopting the
going concern basis for preparing the accounts, the Board has considered the
Group's future trading prospects; the Group's available liquidity, the
maturity of its debt facilities and obligations under its debt covenants; and
the Group's principal risks.
Reverse stress tests have been undertaken on the latest forecast to assess the
circumstances that would threaten the Group's current financing arrangements.
These included significant declines in revenue, significant declines in
revenue and gross margin, and a major deterioration in cash collection. These
reverse stress tests assumed that capital expenditure and operating costs are
unchanged from those in the forecast, no significant working capital
initiatives occur in mitigation, dividends continue to be paid and there are
no changes in or extensions to debt financing.
Based on the assessment outlined above and the output of detailed rolling
forecasts, the Board believes that it is appropriate to continue to adopt the
going concern basis in preparing the Group's accounts.
2. Segmental reporting
The Group's operating segments comprise three geographical regions: EMEA,
Americas and Asia Pacific.
EMEA Americas Asia Pacific Group
£m £m £m £m
Year ended 31 March 2026
Revenue from external customers 1,803.0 854.7 223.4 2,881.1
Segmental operating profit 196.1 77.3 6.8 280.2
Central costs (15.2)
Adjusted operating profit 265.0
Amortisation of acquired intangibles (20.2)
Impairment of technology assets (Note 6) (14.9)
Acquisition-related items 8.7
Operating profit 238.6
Net finance costs (19.5)
Share of profit of joint venture 0.6
Profit before tax 219.7
Year ended 31 March 2025
Revenue from external customers 1,777.3 907.4 218.8 2,903.5
Segmental operating profit 200.5 81.6 6.1 288.2
Central costs (14.0)
Adjusted operating profit 274.2
Amortisation and impairment of acquired intangibles (37.3)
Acquisition-related items (4.1)
Operating profit 232.8
Net finance costs (27.3)
Share of profit of joint venture 0.6
Profit before tax 206.1
2. Segmental reporting (continued)
The Group's largest own brand is RS PRO. Services and solutions includes
procurement solutions, maintenance solutions and other solutions. In the
tables below, revenue is disaggregated by sales channels, RS PRO or other and
Services and solutions or other. £2,791.0 million of revenue is recognised at
a point in time (2024/25: £2,805.2 million) and £90.1 million over time
(2024/25: £98.3 million).
Sales channels, brands and services and solutions
During the year the Group reviewed its categorisation of services and
solutions revenue in Asia Pacific and identified that certain revenues should
have been categorised differently, resulting in an increase in services and
solutions revenue of £4.9 million in the year ended 31 March 2025. The
information below represents the new classifications.
Sales channel
EMEA Americas Asia Pacific Group
£m £m £m £m
Year ended 31 March 2026
Web 838.2 211.8 83.0 1,133.0
eProcurement and other digital 525.1 38.0 36.8 599.9
Digital 1,363.3 249.8 119.8 1,732.9
Offline 439.7 604.9 103.6 1,148.2
Revenue 1,803.0 854.7 223.4 2,881.1
Year ended 31 March 2025
Web 851.2 269.5 81.9 1,202.6
eProcurement and other digital 479.1 35.7 36.5 551.3
Digital 1,330.3 305.2 118.4 1,753.9
Offline 447.0 602.2 100.4 1,149.6
Revenue 1,777.3 907.4 218.8 2,903.5
RS PRO / other
EMEA Americas Asia Pacific Group
£m £m £m £m
Year ended 31 March 2026
RS PRO 371.4 8.1 35.4 414.9
Other 1,431.6 846.6 188.0 2,466.2
Revenue 1,803.0 854.7 223.4 2,881.1
Year ended 31 March 2025
RS PRO 351.5 7.1 33.7 392.3
Other 1,425.8 900.3 185.1 2,511.2
Revenue 1,777.3 907.4 218.8 2,903.5
Services and solutions / other
EMEA Americas Asia Pacific Group
£m £m £m £m
Year ended 31 March 2026
Services and solutions 606.5 128.9 51.7 787.1
Other 1,196.5 725.8 171.7 2,094.0
Revenue 1,803.0 854.7 223.4 2,881.1
Year ended 31 March 2025 (restated)
Services and solutions 557.1 133.7 51.6 742.4
Other 1,220.2 773.7 167.2 2,161.1
Revenue 1,777.3 907.4 218.8 2,903.5
3. Earnings per share
2026 2025
Number Number
Weighted average number of shares 467,881,253 470,022,152
Dilutive effect of share-based payments 1,467,287 214,829
Diluted weighted average number of shares 469,348,540 470,236,981
Basic earnings per share 34.6p 32.5p
Diluted earnings per share 34.5p 32.5p
4. Dividends
2026 2025
£m £m
Final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2025 - 13.9p (2024: 13.7p) 65.1 64.9
Interim dividend for the year ended 31 March 2026 - 8.7p (2025: 8.5p) 40.8 39.8
105.9 104.7
The trustees of the EBT have waived their right to receive dividends and this
amounts to £1.5 million (2024/25: £0.8 million).
A proposed final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2026 of 14.2p is subject
to approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on 16 July 2026 and
the estimated amount to be paid of £65.8 million has not been included as a
liability in these accounts. This will be paid on 24 July 2026 to shareholders
on the register on 12 June 2026 with an ex-dividend date of 11 June 2026.
5. Retirement benefit obligations
The Group operates defined benefit schemes in the United Kingdom and Europe.
2026 2025
£m £m
Fair value of scheme assets 432.8 432.9
Present value of defined benefit obligations (376.7) (379.3)
Effect of asset ceiling / onerous liability (65.0) (67.5)
Retirement benefit net obligations (8.9) (13.9)
Amount recognised on the balance sheet - liability (11.3) (16.4)
Amount recognised on the balance sheet - asset 2.4 2.5
A change would have the following increase / (decrease) on the UK defined
benefit obligations as at 31 March 2026:
Increase in assumption Decrease in assumption
£m £m
Effect on obligation of a 0.5 pts change to the assumed discount rate (18.3) 20.2
Effect on obligation of a 0.25 pts change in the assumed inflation rate 5.4 (5.9)
Effect on obligation of a change of one year in assumed life expectancy (8.1) 10.1
6. Intangible assets
Goodwill Other intangibles Total
£m £m £m
Cost 646.3 692.0 1,338.3
At 1 April 2024
Acquired with businesses 5.9 0.5 6.4
Additions - internally generated - 16.5 16.5
Additions - other - 16.5 16.5
Disposals - (2.4) (2.4)
Reclassifications - 3.0 3.0
Translation differences (35.8) (29.0) (64.8)
At 31 March 2025 616.4 697.1 1,313.5
Acquired with businesses 9.3 11.2 20.5
Additions - internally generated - 16.2 16.2
Additions - other - 17.9 17.9
Disposals - (16.2) (16.2)
Disposals from sale of business (2.0) (0.7) (2.7)
Translation differences 11.0 13.7 24.7
At 31 March 2026 634.7 739.2 1,373.9
Amortisation - 355.7 355.7
At 1 April 2024
Charge for the year - 50.7 50.7
Impairment losses - 12.8 12.8
Disposals - (2.1) (2.1)
Reclassifications - 2.4 2.4
Translation differences - (4.9) (4.9)
At 31 March 2025 - 414.6 414.6
Charge for the year - 44.8 44.8
Impairment losses - 14.9 14.9
Disposals - (16.2) (16.2)
Disposals from sale of business - (0.1) (0.1)
Translation differences - 2.9 2.9
At 31 March 2026 - 460.9 460.9
Net book value
At 31 March 2026 634.7 278.3 913.0
At 31 March 2025 616.4 282.5 898.9
In the year ended 31 March 2026, the Group undertook a review of its assets
and recognised an impairment charge of £14.9 million on certain technology
assets including the production management system and inventory availability
and production fulfilment module, for which functionality was superseded by
the release of new assets. These assets were assessed as providing no future
economic benefits and these components were fully written down. In the
previous year, the impairment assessment of the customer contracts,
relationships and distribution agreements indicated that the asset related to
the acquisition of RS Integrated Supply EMEA required full impairment, with an
impairment charge of £10.9 million recorded in the year ended 31 March 2025.
In addition, £0.4 million of software acquired with RS Integrated Supply EMEA
was also impaired.
7. Inventories
2026 2025
£m £m
Gross inventories 675.6 704.1
Inventory provisions (80.6) (86.8)
Net inventories 595.0 617.3
Currently the Group does not expect any reasonably likely changes, including
regulatory changes and the current global economic and geopolitical
uncertainties, to have a material impact on the net realisable value of
inventories.
8. Trade and other receivables
2026 2025
£m £m
Gross trade receivables 651.9 615.9
Impairment allowance (11.4) (11.5)
Net trade receivables 640.5 604.4
Other receivables (including prepayments and accrued income) 88.7 84.1
Trade and other receivables 729.2 688.5
Trade receivables are written off when there is no reasonable expectation of
recovery, for example when a customer enters liquidation or the Group agrees
with the customer to write off an outstanding invoice.
9. Net debt
2026 2025
£m £m
Cash and short-term deposits 166.5 147.7
Bank overdrafts (50.2) (41.7)
Cash and cash equivalents 116.3 106.0
Non-current private placement loan notes (75.4) (153.2)
Non-current multicurrency revolving facility (65.0) (112.6)
Non-current term loan (129.6) (124.2)
Unsecured bank facilities repayable within one year (44.6) (23.5)
Unsecured private placement loan notes repayable within one year (76.0) -
Current lease liabilities (16.9) (15.5)
Non-current lease liabilities (37.7) (41.2)
Net debt (328.9) (364.2)
The £400 million multicurrency revolving facility has a maturity of October
2029 and the €150 million term loan has a maturity of October 2028.
Movements in net debt were:
Borrowings Lease liabilities Total liabilities from financing activities Cash and cash equivalents Net debt
£m £m £m £m £m
Net debt at 1 April 2024 (440.3) (73.9) (514.2) 96.0 (418.2)
Cash flows 18.7 15.7 34.4 16.0 50.4
Acquired with businesses - (2.3) (2.3) - (2.3)
Net lease disposals - 3.1 3.1 - 3.1
Translation differences 8.1 0.7 8.8 (6.0) 2.8
Net debt at 31 March 2025 (413.5) (56.7) (470.2) 106.0 (364.2)
Cash flows 27.4 17.2 44.6 (0.6) 44.0
Acquired with businesses - (3.3) (3.3) 7.4 4.1
Net lease additions - (12.9) (12.9) - (12.9)
Translation differences (4.5) 1.1 (3.4) 3.5 0.1
At 31 March 2026 (390.6) (54.6) (445.2) 116.3 (328.9)
10. Acquisitions
On 1 March 2026 the Group acquired 100% of the issued share capital of BPX
Group Holdings Limited, a UK and Ireland based specialist distributor of
industrial automation and control products. BPX stocks, supports and supplies
automation and control components, devices and solutions from many of the
world's leading electrical, electronic and pneumatic manufacturers. Serving
over 6,000 active customers, BPX's offering is highly complementary to the
Group's automation and control capabilities, and further expand the Group's
relationship with key suppliers. The goodwill arising on the acquisition
represents the anticipated revenue synergies through offering enhanced product
and capability to complementary customers in addition to the optimisation of
combined costs over the medium term.
The fair value of the net assets acquired, consideration paid and goodwill
arising, plus transaction costs and contribution to the Group's results since
acquisition were:
£m
Intangible assets - customer contracts, relationships and distribution 9.0
agreements
Intangible assets - brands 2.2
Property, plant and equipment 1.3
Right-of-use assets 3.3
Inventories 7.0
Current trade and other receivables 15.2
Cash and cash equivalents - cash and short-term deposits 7.4
Current trade and other payables (12.3)
Current lease liabilities (0.9)
Non-current lease liabilities (2.4)
Non-current other provisions (0.6)
Current income tax liabilities (0.3)
Deferred tax liabilities (2.8)
Net assets acquired 26.1
Goodwill 9.3
Consideration paid - cash 31.8
Deferred consideration payable 1.9
Contingent consideration payable 1.7
Total consideration 35.4
11. Disposal
On 1 August 2025 the Group disposed of its sales activities in Finland,
Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia to Boreo plc, the Group's exclusive regional
distributor in those regions. RS will continue to supply Distrelec customers
in these markets through an expanded distribution agreement. These activities
were acquired on 30 June 2023 as part of the acquisition of Distrelec B.V. and
its subsidiaries (Distrelec), a high-service, digital-led distributor of
industrial and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) product in Europe, and
were included in EMEA. The transaction was in the form of both a transfer of
share capital (Finland) and of assets and trade, with compensation received
for any working capital liabilities (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia). The
disposal includes the transfer of customer relationships and staff, excluding
the shared service centre activities in Latvia which is retained by the Group.
The gain on disposal is recognised in the income statement within operating
profit.
The carrying value of the net assets disposed, consideration received and
resulting gain on disposal were:
£m
Goodwill (Note 6) (2.0)
Intangible assets - customer relationships (Note 6) (0.6)
Trade and other receivables (0.3)
Cash and cash equivalents - cash and short-term deposits (0.4)
Current trade and other payables 0.6
Deferred tax liabilities 0.1
Net assets disposed (2.6)
Consideration received - cash 4.9
Consideration receivable 1.1
Total consideration 6.0
Gain on disposal 3.4
12. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs)
The Group uses a number of APMs in addition to those measures reported in
accordance with UK IAS. Such APMs are not defined terms under UK IAS and are
not intended to be a substitute for any UK IAS measure. The Directors believe
that the APMs are important when assessing the financial and operating
performance of the Group. The APMs are used internally for performance
analysis and in employee incentive arrangements, as well as in discussions
with the investment analyst community.
The APMs assist with the comparability of information between reporting
periods by adjusting for factors such as fluctuations in foreign exchange
rates, number of trading days and items, such as reorganisation costs, that
are substantial in scope and impact and do not form part of operational or
management activities that the Directors would consider when assessing
performance. The Directors review on at least an annual basis the threshold
for what is substantial, in the context of the business performance. The
Directors also believe that excluding recent acquisitions, amortisation and
impairment of acquired intangibles and acquisition-related items aids
comparison of the performance between reporting periods and between businesses
with similar assets that were internally generated.
Adjusted profit measures
These are the equivalent UK IAS measures adjusted to exclude amortisation and
impairment of intangible assets arising on acquisition of businesses,
acquisition-related items, substantial reorganisation costs, substantial asset
write-downs, one-off pension credits or costs, significant tax rate changes
and, where relevant, associated income tax effects. Adjusted operating profit
conversion, adjusted operating profit margin and adjusted earnings per share
are financial key performance indicators (KPIs) which are used to measure the
Group's progress in delivering the successful implementation of its strategy
and monitor and drive its performance.
Operating profit Operating profit margin(1) Operating profit conversion(2) Profit before tax Profit for the year Basic earnings per share Diluted earnings per share
£m % % £m £m p p
Year ended 31 March 2026
Reported 238.6 8.3% 19.1% 219.7 161.9 34.6p 34.5p
Amortisation and impairment of acquired intangibles 20.2 20.2 15.3 3.3p 3.3p
Impairment of technology assets 14.9 14.9 11.2 2.3p 2.3p
Acquisition-related items (8.7) (8.7) (7.2) (1.5)p (1.5)p
Adjusted 265.0 9.2% 21.2% 246.1 181.2 38.7p 38.6p
Year ended 31 March 2025
Reported 232.8 8.0% 18.7% 206.1 152.6 32.5p 32.5p
Amortisation and impairment of acquired intangibles 37.3 37.3 28.0 6.0p 6.0p
Acquisition-related items 4.1 4.1 3.0 0.6p 0.6p
Adjusted 274.2 9.4% 22.1% 247.5 183.6 39.1p 39.1p
((1)) Operating profit margin is operating profit expressed as a percentage of
revenue.
((2)) Operating profit conversion is operating profit expressed as a
percentage of gross profit.
In the year ended, 31 March 2026, the Group undertook a review of its assets
and recognised an impairment charge of £14.9 million on certain technology
assets, for which functionality was superseded by the release of new assets.
In the year ended 31 March 2025, the customer contracts, relationships and
distribution agreements in relation to the acquisition of RS Integrated Supply
EMEA were fully impaired, with an impairment charge of £10.9 million. In
addition, £0.4 million of software acquired with RS Integrated Supply EMEA
was also impaired.
Acquisition-related items comprise transaction costs directly attributable to
the acquisition of businesses, any deferred consideration payments relating to
the retention of former owners and key employees of acquired businesses
expensed as remuneration, adjustments to acquisition-related indemnification
assets and the related liabilities that result from events after the
acquisition date and any remeasurements of contingent consideration payable on
acquisition of businesses that result from events after the acquisition date.
12. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) (continued)
Like-for-like revenue and profit measures
Like-for-like revenue and profit measures are adjusted to exclude the effects
of changes in exchange rates on translation of overseas profits. They exclude
acquisitions in the relevant years until they have been owned for a year, at
which point they start to be included in both the current and comparative
years for the same number of months. These measures enable management and
investors to track more easily, and consistently, the performance of the
business.
The principal exchange rates applied in preparing the Group accounts and in
calculating the following like-for-like measures are:
2026 2026 2025 2025
Average Closing Average Closing
US dollar 1.341 1.324 1.276 1.293
Euro 1.157 1.151 1.189 1.198
Like-for-like revenue change
Like-for-like revenue change is also adjusted to eliminate the impact of
trading days year-on-year. It is calculated by comparing the revenue of the
base business for the current year with the prior year converted at the
current year's average exchange rates and pro-rated for the same number of
trading days as the current year. It is a performance measure for the annual
incentive and a financial KPI.
£m
Revenue for 2025 2,903.5
Effect of exchange rates (7.5)
Effect of trading days (7.3)
Revenue for 2025 at 2026 rates and trading days 2,888.7
2026 Less: acquisitions owned 2026 base business 2025 2025 at 2026 rates and trading days Like-for-like change
Group
<1 year
£m £m £m £m £m %
EMEA 1,803.0 6.2 1,796.8 1,777.3 1,806.6 (1)%
Americas 854.7 - 854.7 907.4 869.1 (2)%
Asia Pacific 223.4 - 223.4 218.8 213.0 5%
Revenue 2,881.1 6.2 2,874.9 2,903.5 2,888.7 (0)%
Gross margin and like-for-like gross margin change
Gross margin is gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenue.
Like-for-like change in gross margin is calculated by taking the difference
between gross margin for the base business for the current year and gross
margin for the prior year with reported revenue and reported gross profit
converted at the current year's average exchange rates.
2026 Less: acquisitions owned 2026 base business 2025 2025 at 2026 rates Like-for-like change
Group
<1 year
£m £m £m £m £m pts
Revenue 2,881.1 6.2 2,874.9 2,903.5 2,896.0
Gross profit 1,250.3 1.6 1,248.7 1,243.2 1,243.9
Gross margin 43.4% 25.8% 43.4% 42.8% 43.0% 0.4 pts
12. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) (continued)
Like-for-like profit change
Like-for-like change in profit is calculated by comparing the base business
for the current year with the prior year converted at the current year's
average exchange rates.
2026 Less: acquisitions owned 2026 base business 2025 2025 at 2026 rates Like-for-like change
Group
<1 year
£m £m £m £m £m %
Segmental operating profit
EMEA 196.1 0.4 195.7 200.5 207.7 (6)%
Americas 77.3 - 77.3 81.6 77.8 (1)%
Asia Pacific 6.8 - 6.8 6.1 5.3 28%
Segmental operating profit 280.2 0.4 279.8 288.2 290.8 (4)%
Central costs (15.2) - (15.2) (14.0) (14.0) 9%
Adjusted operating profit 265.0 0.4 264.6 274.2 276.8 (4)%
Adjusted profit before tax 246.1 0.4 245.7 247.5 250.0 (2)%
Adjusted basic earnings per share 38.7p 0.0p 38.7p 39.1p 39.5p (2)%
Adjusted diluted earnings per share 38.6p 0.1p 38.5p 39.1p
Segmental revenue
EMEA 1,803.0 6.2 1,796.8 1,777.3 1,811.2
Americas 854.7 - 854.7 907.4 871.3
Asia Pacific 223.4 - 223.4 218.8 213.5
Revenue 2,881.1 6.2 2,874.9 2,903.5 2,896.0
Segmental operating profit margin
EMEA 10.9% - 10.9% 11.3% 11.5% (0.6) pts
Americas 9.0% - 9.0% 9.0% 8.9% 0.1 pts
Asia Pacific 3.0% - 3.0% 2.8% 2.5% 0.5 pts
Adjusted operating profit margin 9.2% - 9.2% 9.4% 9.6% (0.4) pts
Adjusted free cash flow and adjusted operating cash flow conversion
Adjusted free cash flow is net cash from operating activities less purchases
of intangible assets, property, plant and equipment plus any proceeds on sale
of intangible assets, property, plant and equipment, adjusted for the cash
impact of substantial reorganisation and acquisition-related items.
Adjusted operating cash flow is adjusted free cash flow before income tax and
net interest paid. Adjusted operating cash flow conversion is adjusted
operating cash flow expressed as a percentage of adjusted operating profit and
is a financial KPI.
2026 2025
£m £m
Net cash from operating activities 263.8 259.1
Purchase of intangible assets (34.0) (33.1)
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (18.9) (16.2)
Add back: impact of substantial reorganisation cash flows - 0.2
Add back: impact of acquisition-related items cash flows (8.7) 4.1
Adjusted free cash flow 202.2 214.1
Add back: income tax paid 67.4 60.4
Add back: net interest paid 19.6 29.3
Adjusted operating cash flow 289.2 303.8
Adjusted operating profit 265.0 274.2
Adjusted operating cash flow conversion 109.1% 110.8%
12. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) (continued)
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), net
debt and net debt to adjusted EBITDA
EBITDA is operating profit excluding depreciation and amortisation. Net debt
to adjusted EBITDA (one of the Group's debt covenants) is the ratio of net
debt to EBITDA excluding impairment of intangible assets arising on
acquisition of businesses, acquisition-related items, substantial
reorganisation costs, substantial asset write-downs and one-off pension
credits or costs on an annualised basis covering the preceding twelve-month
period. Net debt comprises cash and cash equivalents, borrowings and lease
liabilities and is reconciled in Note 9.
2026 2025
£m £m
Operating profit 238.6 232.8
Add back: depreciation and amortisation 80.1 85.4
EBITDA 318.7 318.2
Add back: impairment of acquired intangibles - 11.3
Add back: impairment of technology 14.9 -
assets
Add back: acquisition-related items (8.7) 4.1
Adjusted EBITDA 324.9 333.6
Net debt 328.9 364.2
Net debt to adjusted EBITDA 1.0x 1.1x
Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) and EBITA to interest
EBITA is adjusted EBITDA after depreciation. EBITA to interest (one of the
Group's debt covenants) is the ratio of EBITA to finance costs including
capitalised interest less finance income (interest per debt covenants).
2026 2025
£m £m
Adjusted EBITDA 324.9 333.6
Less: depreciation (35.3) (34.7)
EBITA 289.6 298.9
Finance costs 22.4 32.0
Less: finance income (2.9) (4.7)
Interest (per debt covenants) 19.5 27.3
EBITA to interest 14.9x 10.9x
Return on capital employed (ROCE)
ROCE is annualised adjusted operating profit expressed as a percentage of
annualised monthly average net assets excluding net cash / debt and retirement
benefit obligations and is an underpin for the LTIP Award and a financial KPI.
Annualised monthly average net assets, annualised average net debt and
annualised average retirement benefit net (assets) / obligations are the
average of those respective month-end balances of the preceding thirteen
months.
2026 2025
£m £m
Average net assets 1,387.0 1,374.9
Add back: average net debt 323.1 414.7
Add back: average retirement benefit net (assets)/obligations 10.3 20.2
Average capital employed 1,720.4 1,809.8
Adjusted operating profit 265.0 274.2
ROCE 15.4% 15.2%
12. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) (continued)
Working capital as a percentage of revenue
Working capital is inventories, current trade and other receivables and
current trade and other payables.
2026 2025
£m £m
Inventories 595.0 617.3
Current trade and other receivables 729.2 688.5
Current trade and other payables (634.2) (611.0)
Working capital 690.0 694.8
Revenue 2,881.1 2,903.5
Working capital as a percentage of revenue 23.9% 23.9%
Inventory turn
Inventory turn is cost of sales divided by inventories.
2026 2025
£m £m
Cost of sales 1,630.8 1,660.3
Inventories 595.0 617.3
Inventory turn 2.7 2.7
Ratio of capital expenditure to depreciation
Ratio of capital expenditure to depreciation is capital expenditure divided by
depreciation and amortisation excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles
and depreciation of right-of-use assets.
2026 2025
£m £m
Depreciation and amortisation 80.1 85.4
Less: amortisation of acquired intangibles (20.2) (26.0)
Less: depreciation of right-of-use assets (17.4) (17.2)
Adjusted depreciation and amortisation 42.5 42.2
Capital expenditure 53.8 48.9
Ratio of capital expenditure to depreciation 1.3 times 1.2 times
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