Another year of strong financial performance and good organic growth
16% increase in underlying profit before tax to £73.1m (2014: £63.2m) despite more challenging markets in Q4.
5% organic increase in constant currency revenue.
Good divisional performance benefiting from diverse mix of end markets:
o Wireless Systems: 12% organic constant currency revenue growth, driven by automotive/M2M applications.
o Performance Materials: 1% organic constant currency revenue growth, reflecting some softer markets in Q4.
5% increase in underlying operating profit in US$.
Strong operating cash conversion of 95% (2014: 74%).
Statutory profit impacted as expected by exceptional charge of £45.0m (2014, £0.7m gain), mainly relating to operating model redesign.
Net debt at year end of £200.0m (2014: £159.5m) reflects £35.9m cost of acquiring LSR (including £1.5m of net debt acquired).
Continuing to deliver against our strategy
Average of 7% organic US$ revenue growth p.a. over last three years.
Strong performance in Wireless Systems underpinned by leading market positions.
Significant progress made in the re-design of our operating model, on track to meet plan with $20m per annum of cash benefits from 2017.
Successful acquisitions of LS Research (LSR) in the United States and Novero in Germany, adding new capabilities and opening up new markets and customers. The integration of both businesses is going to plan and their performance is encouraging.
David Lockwood, Chief Executive, commented:
"This has been another year of good growth in both revenue and underlying profits, with softer conditions in some markets being off-set by success in others. This demonstrates that our strategy of re-balancing our business through the diversification of customers and markets, has delivered a more robust and sustainable business. We expect this to be further enhanced by the redesign of our operating model as announced in October.
"We enter 2016 confident in our outlook for further growth. This confidence is underpinned by an increasingly well diversified mix of technologies, customers and end-markets. While internally we are in our best position for several years. Continued progress in Wireless Systems and the better markets within Performance Materials is countering headwinds in other areas. This, coupled with full year contributions from the LSR and Novero acquisitions and the positive benefits of our operational improvements supports our expectations for the year as a whole. We anticipate a progressive improvement in our performance during the year, with a steady first half performance and growth weighted towards the second half."
