IMI plc (IMI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to IMI's 2023 Preliminary Results Presentation. This slide covers the key messages from the presentation. And the first thing to say is that it was another strong performance from our team in 2023. There is great momentum in this business, and I'm incredibly proud to announce the highest profit ever delivered by IMI in its 160-year history. We delivered 7% sales growth, 6% of which was organic. Adjusted operating margins at 18.7%, which were up 90 basis points and closed in on our 20% target. Adjusted profit before tax was up 12%, and we delivered significantly improved cash flow. Our complexity reduction program delivered another GBP 20 million of benefits in 2023, and we expect to deliver a further GBP 15 million of benefits in 2024. The order book within Process Automation is at a record level, which will provide good momentum into 2024, and I am pleased to announce that we are increasing the final dividend by 10%. Finally, you will have seen that we have now taken the first steps in unifying and evolving our brand. Great things happen when we come together as one IMI, and we will gradually begin consolidating under a unified IMI master brand. Whilst we will retain our strong product brands within our sectors, we will adopt a singular visual identity. And this approach will simplify our engagement with customers, it will support growth, it will help attract top talent, and unite us as one big team. Next slide, please. So in July, we announced that we're adopting a new business structure as the next steps in our purpose-led strategy, breakthrough engineering for a better world. And to build on the opportunities for growth, we have organized the group into 5 market-focused sectors operating within 2 business platforms: automation and life technology. Our automation platform is led by Jackie Hu and leverages deep automation technology and applications expertise to help our customers operate more efficiently, more safely and more sustainably across the process automation and industrial automation sectors. This platform includes IMI Critical Engineering and IMI Precision Engineering and Industrial Automation business. Beth Ferreira leads the Life Tech platform, which focuses on technologies that enhance and improve everyday life, particularly in the areas of health, sustainability and comfort across the Climate Control, Transport, and Life Science and Fluid Control sectors. This platform includes IMI Hydronic Engineering and IMI Precision Engineering, Fluid OEM and Transport businesses. Reporting is now aligned across our new structure. Next slide, please. Our new structure aligns IMI to 5 better world sectors, where secular macro trends will support sustainable, profitable growth. The long-term fundamentals in each of these sectors is strong, and we have the ability to make a significant positive impact. The new structure has been really well received, and we are already feeling the benefits, as we put our best people and resources in front of our biggest growth opportunities. Next slide, please. So before I hand over to Dan, let me provide a quick refresher on our strategy and our financial framework. At the heart of our strategy is our purpose, breakthrough engineering for a better world. And this is an incredibly powerful driver, which has unleashed tremendous energy from our people and our partners to solve key industry problems, helping our customers become safer, more sustainable and more productive. There are 3 key pillars to our strategy. The first is customer satisfaction. We provide world-class engineering expertise and excellent service to our customers. We have deep applications knowledge and know-how. We have market-leading brands, and we are achieving industry-leading customer satisfaction scores across IMI. The second is market-led innovation. Our internal innovation accelerated Growth Hub, supported by sustained R&D investment and selective M&A, allows us to work at pace to develop breakthrough solutions that support our customers with their most complex engineering challenges. And then the third pillar is complexity reduction. We continue to identify and execute opportunities to reduce complexity and drive more efficient, resilient operation. These 3 pillars then support our financial framework. We want to deliver 5% organic growth, 20% operating margin, and 90% cash conversion through the cycle. Finally, we want to maintain our return on invested capital above 12% as we continue to create real shareholder value by deploying our capital, both organically and through targeted M&A. With that, I'm going to hand over to Dan, who will talk through our results in more detail.

Thanks, Roy, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to be able to take you through our 2023 results today. As Roy mentioned, really strong performance in the year as our purpose-led strategy continues to deliver. Revenue increased by 7%, adjusted operating profit was up 13%, and our adjusted operating margin increased by 90 basis points as we made further progress toward our 20% margin target. We significantly improved our cash generation during the year and are increasing our proposed final dividend by 10%, reflecting the continued confidence in the business. So next slide. So firstly, some more detail around our revenue and profit performance. Revenue increased by 7% to GBP 2.2 billion, and we delivered 6% organic growth, around 2/3 of which was price. Recent acquisitions also contributed positively to our results. Adjusted operating profit increased by 13% to GBP 411 million. Organic profits increased by 10%, and we again benefited from our recent M&A activity. As you can see on the slide, there was no material FX impact in the year. Next slide. We've made significant progress delivering sustainable improvements in our margins since launching our purpose-led strategy in 2019. As already mentioned, we improved margins to 18.7% in the year, which is well up from the 14.2% delivered in 2019. We're now getting close to our 20% through-cycle margin target. And the good news is that we have a clear pathway to deliver on this commitment. Our complexity reduction program is progressing well and is expected to provide a further GBP 22 million of incremental P&L benefits in the next 2 years. And this, combined with further growth in our attractive sectors and in aftermarket sales, should see us delivering margins in line with our through-cycle target. Next slide, please. So looking at the income statement. As mentioned, we saw strong organic growth in revenue and operating profit in the year. As expected, the net interest charge increased to GBP 23 million, largely reflecting the increased rate environment and the funding for recent acquisitions. Adjusting items have increased when compared to the prior period, largely due to our restructuring program, which I will run through in a few slides. Our adjusted tax rate for the year was 21.8% and was supported by the favorable resolution of a number of historic tax disputes. We do expect this to increase to 24% in 2024, due in part to the U.K. rate increase and new minimum tax legislation. And finally, our adjusted basic EPS increased by 11% to 116.8p in the year. Next slide. Now looking at the performance of the platforms and sectors, starting with Automation. Automation delivered strong revenue growth of 8%, both statutory and organic. Process Automation had an excellent year, delivering strong order intake as shown at the bottom of the slide. Orders were up 18% organically with a 23% increase in aftermarket. Organic revenue was 14% higher than 2022 and 13% higher on an adjusted basis. We have benefited from our own self-help initiatives, particularly in the aftermarket, where we continue to ramp activity on retrofitting both our own and competitor valves, and continued investments in energy security, and have seen particular strength in LNG, nuclear and downstream oil and gas. Industrial Automation delivered a resilient performance, particularly when considering major market PMIs were sub-50 for most of the year. Organic revenue was in line with prior year and up 1% on adjusted basis. We see continued demand for solutions that automate processes to increase efficiency and reduce reliance on competitive labor markets. Turning to Life Technology. The platform delivered a good performance in the year against very mixed end markets. Revenue was up 6% and 2% on an organic basis. Climate Control saw good demand for its energy saving products with revenue up 3% on an organic basis and 10% when including the Heatmiser acquisition. While the recent slowdown in the European construction market did impact sales in the second half, the sector continues to perform resiliently due to the retrofit demand for products that improve HVAC system efficiency. The integration of Heatmiser acquired in December of 2022 has progressed well, and we look to accelerate our growth in smart buildings. Life Science and Fluid Control revenue was 4% lower than 2022 and 5% lower on an organic basis. We saw customer destocking and reduced demand in the second half, and expect this to continue in 2024. But the long-term fundamentals of this sector are strong, and we remain very excited about our opportunities for growth. Transport revenue was up 14% when compared to 2022, and 14% higher organically. Growth was certainly helped by the normalization of our customer supply chains. We have also benefited from particularly strong demand and new contract wins in China and India. We saw strong margin growth in both platforms, which was supported by the continued execution of our complexity reduction initiatives. Next slide. So continuing to cash flow, where we delivered significant improvements during the year, supported by our profit performance and focus on working capital management. We saw GBP 31 million working capital outflow in the year with debtor and creditor increases in line with our top line growth. Inventory levels grew by GBP 32 million, with increases to support the process automation order book, offsetting reductions across the rest of the business. CapEx of GBP 80 million is about 1.3x depreciation and includes investments to support growth and our sustainability and complexity reduction initiatives. We continue to see good opportunities to deploy capital into our core businesses to drive organic growth and deliver further productivity improvements. This includes continued investment in R&D which was over 3% of sales for the second consecutive year. Our net debt has reduced to GBP 639 million at year-end from GBP 812 million at the start of 2023. Net debt-to-EBITDA reduced to 1.3x, giving us ample capacity to continue investment in organic and inorganic opportunities. Next slide. Next, an update on our complexity reduction program. We delivered GBP 20 million of incremental benefits in the year and now expect to deliver GBP 15 million of benefits in 2024, slightly up from our previous estimate, as we accelerate the completion of the program. All projects are progressing to plan, and we still expect the overall program to come to its conclusion in 2024. As you can see on the slide, the overall program payback has been less than 2 years and has helped our platforms improve both customer service levels and the environmental impact. Next slide. Now as I mentioned at the half year, we see a clear pathway to delivering a step change in free cash flow generation, and we took a big step in 2023. You can see our free cash flow generation improved significantly from GBP 158 million in 2022 to GBP 234 million in 2023. This is great progress, and we continue to see a pathway to delivery in excess of GBP 300 million through a combination of continued growth of the business and delivery of our remaining complexity reduction initiatives. Next slide. So with that free cash flow delivery, this slide is a reminder of our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Our priority is delivering consistent, profitable organic growth. So we continue to invest in both our people and operations to accelerate breakthrough solutions to solve our customers' most complex engineering problems. We will continue to invest in CapEx at a level slightly higher than depreciation, and we'll look to maintain R&D spend above 3% of sales. This includes investments in Growth Hub, which is now a fundamental part of growth delivery across the whole organization. Next, as you know, we have completed 4 strategic acquisitions since December of 2021, and we will continue to pursue targeted better world opportunities. These deals must be in attractive better world markets like smart buildings, life science, and automation, and they must be scalable within IMI and they must deliver returns in line with our strict financial criteria. Our recent acquisitions are integrating well and the pipeline of bolt-on opportunities remain attractive. And last, but certainly not least, we will continue to deliver returns to shareholders. Our progressive dividend is an important commitment we will maintain even while we invest in the business, both organically and inorganically. And should we see a situation where we expect leverage to fall below our 1x to 2x target range, we will consider returning additional capital to shareholders likely through share buybacks. You will remember and see on the slide that we did this in 2021, completing a GBP 200 million share buyback in that year. And since launching our strategy in 2019, we have effectively deployed over GBP 1.6 billion of capital, all while increasing our post-tax return on invested capital. Next slide, please. So final slide before I hand back over to Roy, the group outlook. Based on current market conditions, we expect adjusted EPS to be between 120p and 126p in 2024. This guidance reflects strong growth in our automation platform following on from the record order book in Process Automation and continued resiliency in our industrial automation sector as the competitive labor market drives investment. The Life Technology platform is expected to be broadly flat in the full year, reflecting continued demand for our energy-efficient products in Climate Control, offset by softer markets in Life Science and Fluid Control and Transport. And given the strong start in 2023, in Climate and Life Sciences, we expect this platform's revenue to be down in H1. Our group operating profit delivery is expected to return to its normal phasing in the year, which is an approximate 45-55 H1-H2 split. We again expect margin progression in the year towards our 20% target. I'd also like to draw your attention to a few other moving parts in our guidance this year. As you can see in the bridge, we expect to see our interest charge reduced to about GBP 17 million in 2024, offset by a tax rate increase from just under 22% to 24% this year. As things stand today, we also see FX creating a headwind of around 2% on sales and profits. This is all considered and takes us back to our guidance of 120p to 126p. So with that, let me hand back to Roy to talk you through the strategy update. Thanks, everyone.

Thanks, Dan. So the first thing I want to say is that our Better World strategy continues to deliver results. We have grown organic revenue at an average of 3% per year since 2019. Our operating margin has increased by 450 basis points, and our ROIC has increased by 170 basis points. And as you can see on this slide, our full year EPS has grown at a 12% CAGR. Next slide, please. Now I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight how we have successfully improved the quality and the resilience of IMI's portfolio over the last decade. Firstly, as you can see on the slide, the geographic mix of our revenue has evolved quite significantly since 2014. Whilst our European operations remain strong, North America now represents almost 30% of group sales, up from around 20% in 2014. Thanks, in part, of course, to the successful integration of acquisitions like PBM, Bimba and Adaptas. Secondly, our strategic focus on the aftermarket is clearly paying off, with group aftermarket content increasing from around 35% of sales in 2014 to around 45% in 2023, improving both our returns and the long-term resiliency of our through-cycle earnings. Finally, we have continued to increase our exposure to attractive growth markets, using our engineering expertise to build exciting businesses in better world markets like life sciences, smart buildings, and automation. And the good news is that the hard work that we have put in to evolve our portfolio is clearly delivering results, and we have seen a significant improvement in our financial KPIs since the introduction of the new strategy in late 2019. I'm particularly proud of the performance in 2023, though, delivering 6% organic growth and improving margins in the current macro environment really shows how far we've come. Next slide, please. I also wanted to spend some time giving you a few examples of how our Better World strategy is successfully driving incremental growth. Firstly, we continue to see a great opportunity to add value in the rapidly evolving hydrogen market. Hydrogen looks set to play an important role in the transition to net zero. And I'm pleased to report that we doubled our hydrogen orders to GBP 15 million in 2023. A particular highlight is our innovative IMI VIVO Electrolyzer solution, which is capable of generating 100% green hydrogen and is starting to gain real traction across a number of different territories. We feel really good about the growth opportunities in hydrogen, and we expect further progress in 2024. Secondly, as I'm sure that you will remember, we completed the acquisition of Heatmiser in December 2022. Heatmiser is a leading smart thermostatic control manufacturer in the U.K. Performance is in line with our business case, and we launched the predominantly U.K. business into Germany during the year. We stabilized the supply chain for electronic components and we enhanced the management team in Heatmiser. We will continue to scale the business across Climate Control's core European markets in 2024 as we look to accelerate our growth in smart buildings. Finally, Adaptas is now fully integrated into the group, and we have seen great synergies across our Life Sciences business. We are now able to offer our OEM customers an expanded range of engineered solutions, and we won additional synergy orders during the year. We have a large opportunity pipeline as we work with our key customers on developing the latest technology. Next slide, please. Responsible business underpins everything we do at IMI, and we are committed to minimizing our environmental impact and playing our full part to address climate change. And we continue to see great progress in reducing our CO2 intensity with a 29% improvement since 2019. And we are completely committed to a net zero target for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2040, and for Scope 3 by 2050. We are also progressing initiatives to reduce our water usage, and we have improved our water intensity by 11% since 2020. Next slide, please. Our people are obviously absolutely key to the successful delivery of our strategy. And we want to empower our people to make an impact and create a better working world. Employee engagement remains high, and we continue to make progress on gender diversity, with strong female representation on both our Executive Committee and on our Board. Training and development remains a core part of our talent strategy, and we continue to invest in focused programs to ensure that our people are able to progress and grow our business. Next slide, please. So to summarize then, the key takeaways from today are: first, that our purpose-led strategy that we laid out in 2019 continues to deliver results, and I'm really proud of our achievements in 2023. Organic revenues grew at 6%. The adjusted operating margin was up another 90 basis points, and our adjusted EPS grew by another 11%. Second, as previously announced, we have organized our business into 2 platforms focused on our key market sectors. These sectors are supported by long-term secular growth trends that will support the sustainable delivery of profitable growth. Third and finally, as Dan said, we are targeting another year of earnings growth. And based on current market conditions, we expect this year's full year adjusted EPS to be between 120p and 126p. Okay. So I'm going to stop talking there and turn over to the moderator for the Q&A, please.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Lush Mahendrarajah of JPMorgan.

I've got a few questions, if that's okay. The first just in terms of guidance on Life Technology, I suppose pleasing flat over the year, down in H1 and up in H2. How shallow do you think that is in the first half before that sort of shallow or deep recovery in the second half? I guess, is it -- just to get an idea of sort of how we could be and how much recovery you're assuming in the second half? Or is it actually a bit shallower than that in terms of how we should think about that?

Yes, Lush. I mean, I can tell you that Danny...

So we're not expecting a steep recovery at all in Life Sciences. So it's more of a comparator effect, Lush. So if you think about the orders, first quarter of last year, still strong in Life Sciences, came off in the second half of the year. Now orders look like they've bottomed out, right? And they're pretty much in line with the second half of last year. So what we're seeing is a stabilization. And in terms of this year, we don't expect any big recovery for this year. Could come Q4, but we haven't built that into our outlook.

Okay. And the second one is just on process automation. So clearly continues to be very strong, but obviously, we're lapping sort of tougher comps. And I guess sort of what sort of run rate do you think we should be thinking our orders for this year? And where in particular are you seeing that incremental growth of a tougher and tougher comp?

Yes. I mean we're delighted with process automation. And I just think Jackie and the team have done such a phenomenal job of an awful lot of self-help, Lush, right? 60% of that business is aftermarket and they are really driving upgrade valves. In fact, our upgrade valve business doubled in the competitive valve space in the aftermarket last year to over GBP 35 million of bookings. So that strategy that we laid out at the Capital Markets event a couple of years ago now, wasn't it Dan, that really is coming through. So I'm really pleased with that, Lush. In terms of the order book, it's 21% up. We shipped only about what was GBP 807 million of sales last year, and orders were GBP 950 million. So you can see the overall book-to-bill, I think is 1.18. So there's plenty of headroom in terms of sales going forward. Some of those orders, obviously, are falling next year, for 2025, some longer lead time orders now. So we think we're building a really nice sustainable business for the future. In overall terms, our forecasts show that we expect this year's orders to be ahead of last year. So when you put all that together, that would bode well, obviously, for next year's sales as well, Lush. So yes, we feel very good about the pipeline and where that business is going.

Okay. And then just last one, I guess, related to that in terms of inventory, obviously, how should we think about that this year? Because obviously, the sort of step-up won't be as significant in terms of orders in process automation, although still good. So do we start to think about sort of it not getting bigger, I guess, in terms of your [indiscernible] share and sort of less of an outflow?

Yes, Lush. I think if you take it all in context, we are expecting the order book to grow again, and that part of our business, definitely, the inventory will flow against that order book. So we will likely see some further increases there. The rest of the portfolio, I think there's still opportunity to drive a bit more efficiency. And I think that's why a combination of the profit growth plus good working capital management in 2024 will continue to move that free cash flow up. So yes, I think there's still a bit of investment we'll need and that will just flow as a result of the higher order book.

Yes. I think the other good news on that, Lush, is that this is the last major year of our complexity reduction program, right? And definitely, as we've consolidated sites, which has helped us drive, as Dan said in the presentation, better customer service, actually a better environmental footprint as well, and obviously, the efficiencies that have come through to the margin improvement. As we've done that, obviously, every time you do that, you need to put safety stocks in place. And so this year, we'll still have fine safety stocks. But as we go through into next year, I expect to see that unwind in the non-process automation areas as well.

Our next question comes from Christian Hinderaker of Goldman Sachs.

First question, just to elaborate on the sector level outlook. It reads as though Life Technologies is the only area where you see revenues down in 2024, if I've read that correctly. Just what are the growth prospects, external risks perhaps to Climate Control? I mean, if newbuild markets in Europe, say, remain weak, can that business still grow organically? Or are you assuming that there's some sort of recovery in newbuild there?

Thanks for the question. No, we're not seeing a major improvement in the newbuilds, Europe construction sector. Obviously, our sales were 3% up last year. Even in the darkest days of 2009, the sales were only down 4%, Christian. That business has a beautiful resiliency to it. Part of it is the energy saving nature, which is still very, very important to our European customers. Part of it is the fact that more than 70% is into refurbishment of buildings as well. And obviously, the refurbishment of buildings is slowing in areas like bathrooms, areas like that. But in terms of energy efficiency, we're still seeing good demand. I will say, Christian, that the first quarter comparative will be tough in Climate Control, because last year Q1, we grew at 12%, and that was driven by, as we said at the time, wholesaler restocking plus Halo B. If you remember that product that helps the German municipal buildings run at 19 degrees C. And that was very much a one-off project. So Q1, we expect to be down. But beyond that, due to the energy saving nature of the product, we expect to carve out growth this year. And it's small amount of growth, but growth.

Understood. If I am zooming out a little bit, if we can think back to 2018, growth in that year organic was plus 5 versus plus 6 this year. Operating margins are up 470 basis points, and net debt-EBITDA is effectively unchanged at the 1.3x as it was then. I think really restructuring has probably been the theme since. There's obviously some more work to do in terms of reaching the 20% margin target, but you pull forward some of the savings ambitions for this year. But then looking at your financial framework, I guess, 5% growth is the target, but you've delivered around 2% on average organically since that 2018 period. I guess, just interested in that growth element. What gives you confidence that you can drive a much higher growth rate going forward?

Yes, great question, Christian. And I think, for obvious reasons, since we launched the strategies, when I tend to measure things from -- despite COVID and all those things, we've been growing 3% organic since then. So why do I think we can lift it to the next level? It's really the reasons that we covered in the presentation that we are improving the mix of the business, right? So using organic growth techniques, and obviously growth accelerator, our innovation orders associated with growth accelerator were nearly GBP 90 million last year. They are up 70%. And we see tremendous opportunities still to create faster growth through innovation. So we've gone from very low levels of innovation growth back in your sort of time period, 2018-2019. So really, really improving that rate. So I think that's probably the first reason. The second reason we've been gradually improving the mix of the business into Automation, Smart Buildings, Life Sciences. And obviously, Life Sciences having a bit of a tough time at the moment as the sort of COVID stock unwinds and all of that. But we think the fundamentals of those markets are much more 5%-plus than some of our more traditional market areas. And then the final reason is that clearly, the outlook for process automation has changed completely. And back in 2017-2018, we were still in an oil and gas recession, a much smaller part of the business was aftermarket, we hadn't cracked the code of competitor and our own upgrade valves that creates that beautiful stream of parts annuity and resilience that we're building into the business. So we think that we've really changed the mix of the business. We've fine-tuned the strategies. We're very much a sector-led company now. So we've got 5 really material sectors. That's the way we now run the business. And that means that our strategy in terms of exactly where we play and how we win is much clearer. And I think you've seen, in the last few years, a buildup of organic growth, and we expect that to continue and run at that sort of 5% rate at 20% margins.

I'll keep the third 1 brief. If I can just come back on the potential for special returns if leverage goes below 1x. Obviously, some uncertainty, but our consensus is the net debt-EBITDA 0.3x in 2025. If that scenario was to play out, what's the process for evaluating buyback versus an increased or special dividend?

Yes, as you know, we'll watch it. We certainly have the pipeline to deploy that capital, but we need to make sure they hit our financial criteria. So the bolt-ons are there and are available. We need to just see if they will come through. If we get down to those levels, Christian, we will evaluate it. We talk to the shareholders constantly around it. By and large, the view is a share buyback is more palatable to a special dividend. And essentially, it enables every shareholder to choose whether to participate or not versus a special dividend where they must take the cash. That has some tax implications for some shareholders, and that's why, in 2021, when we looked at the opportunity and we felt absolutely, we could give that capital back to shareholders and still pursue everything on the strategy, that's what we did. We did a share buyback. And by and large, that feels like the way most of the shareholder base is happy for us to do it.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Mark Davies Jones of Stifel.

I had 2, if I can. The first one was just if you can give us a bit more of the moving parts within the automation business. I guess the 1 regret of the move to the new divisional structure is a little less granularity and disclosure around those end markets. But particularly, I was interested in the comments around LNG. Has the U.S. export ban there had any impact or is likely to? And then in Industrial Automation, what are you seeing in Germany? Are things flattening out there after what has been a pretty tough period?

Yes. I mean, I'll start with that. So Industrial Automation, as you see, with PMIs dropping as far as they did last year, it was great to see quite how resilient the business was. The good news on that, Mark, is that as we come into this year, actually our 60-day moving average order intake has actually gone slightly positive for the first time in a long time. And just break that down a bit for you, Europe is now flat to slightly down, whereas it was obviously quite a long way down in the second half of last year because Germany, industrial activity was obviously a lot lower. So that's been a good lift. And Asia actually is reasonably in strong shape as well. U.S. broadly flat, I would say, on the order intake. So actually, yes, an improving picture there. If we look at past recessions, we have got a pretty good correlation to PMI. So if that continues to lift, then there's some potential upside there, maybe Q4 potentially. So yes, IA is, I'd say, improving in terms of the outlook, which is good. On the automation, in terms of process automation and LNG, yes, that U.S. decision obviously doesn't affect our existing situation, and it won't affect sales for a very long time, probably 12 to 18 months. But it probably will have a slight effect. I think despite that, Mark, we're seeing really good pipeline in terms of future activity and process automation. And I think the LNG demand is still very, very strong. So I actually believe that demand will be met by supply from other places, and we're still seeing very strong investment in the obvious places like the Middle East. So it might cause a little bit of a timing effect, but at the moment, overall pipelines, oil and gas looking good.

Excellent. That's very helpful. My other one was just on the complexity reduction plan. Obviously, it's good to see the benefits coming through there and the cash costs stepping down and ending this year. But these restructuring plans have a habit of replacing each other in time. So do you think we'd simply go to a point where you come to a more steady state and cash is flowing back into the business? Or is there another plan to come beyond this one?

Yes. No other plan beyond this one. I think we basically set it out with our strategic plan that we were going to dramatically reduce the number of sites, that we were going to consolidate into our best sites in terms of customer service and efficiency and competitiveness. And that's what we've done, Mark. And this year really will be nearly completion of that plan. And as you say, in terms of P&L costs, we intend to close it out. We've got an absolute ambition that our statutory P&L is the same as our management P&L, and that all that beautiful cash flows through. So that's the way we see it. The only thing that could alter that really would be a significant acquisition where a bit like Bimba. We bought Bimba with 9 sites, right? Something like that, where you think, hang on a minute, we really need to look at this and decide, is every one of these sites essential to our competitive advantage? Or is there a better solution there. But obviously, and as that happens, we're very happy with the overall program and what we've done.

Our next question comes from Kulwinder Rajpal of AlphaValue.

I just wanted to pick a little bit on R&D, first. So as you rightly pointed out, R&D spends have increased by 1 percentage points since 2019. So just trying to understand where is this going? Is it being equally spent across all divisions? Or are you more focusing on new-age markets or putting it more towards the Growth Hub?

Yes. So Growth Hub, Kulwinder, is really a culture. So what we're doing is that all of our new product development is done in a way that solves an acute customer problem. So that's been a real shift for IMI, right? Because I think everybody understood the lean strategy. Lean is very important because it keeps us competitive and we do a lot of lean processes today. It's very, very important. But the lean strategy is incremental, right? And so basically what you do is you carry on improving incrementally every day your existing products. What we realized we also needed was new innovation. And new innovation comes from solving acute customer problems. And the almost GBP 90 million of orders that we got with Growth Hub are very much around solving problems in areas like the process automation aftermarket, where customers can get a lot of reliability. They can get a reduction in things like yield from their processes once those valves and the Fluid Control equipment starts to wear over time. So very much -- one of the examples we showed at the Capital Markets Day was using 3D printing to be able to shrink the very complex DRAG valve in the fluid control, so that it actually fits into a much smaller envelope and fits inside our competitors' installed valves. And that was retrofit 3D. If you go in there, you can have a look on the web. It's superb. And that's enabled us to give a much better solution to the customer, but without having to remove the installed valve, massively reducing the risk for the customer, giving them a much better solution. So the whole culture of IMI's innovation is around solving customer problems. And we say, don't fall in love with a solution. I'm an engineer, right? I love technical solutions, where all of us engineers are prone to it. But that is absolutely banned. We must find and validate an acute customer problem, and then you must use test and learn and fail fast techniques and prototyping techniques to prove that the customer is willing to pay for that particular solution. And at that point, we haven't invested very much money, that is Growth Hub, but we're really looking for customer validation and willingness to pay. And we've done that right across our lines. That is a reversal of the old, traditional, the way that nearly all industrial companies do new product development. So yes, we've increased our investment in R&D, and I expect that to gradually tick up over time, and I still expect to be able to deliver 20% margins. The name of the game, of course, is to make sure that we keep hitting and that we keep accelerating our growth rate. But back to Christian's question earlier. How do you raise the whole rate of growth for the whole company. You make sure your innovation, you're spending more on it. But fundamentally, you make sure it's much more effective in terms of the money that you spend. Does that answer your question, Kulwinder?

Yes, very much. And the second one is mostly on pricing and wage inflation. So how should we think about those items going into '24?

Yes. So obviously, last year, inflationary background. For us, much better environment this year, and we expect a return to the normal sort of 1% to 2% pricing, that sort of amount of pricing. And yes, much more than normal conditions. We still expect to marginally win the inflation equation. So we still expect that, because we are -- again, back to Christian's question, really, we're improving the mix, right? So we're now at 45% aftermarket. Really, in an aftermarket environment, customers are much more concerned with the quality and speed of service than they are in terms of price, and we can offer an excellent value while making sure that we protect ourselves against inflation. So yes, much more normal pricing environment this year.

Okay. And wage inflation?

Yes, so our wage inflation is more or less locked in now. Most of it is locked in, actually, in January. So we do expect -- wage inflation, obviously, we expect to be offsetting that through productivity. And as I said, in terms of lean programs, we expect to be able to offset a lot of that wage inflation this year. I think our overall wage inflation number, it's a little bit distorted, Kulwinder, because while we have moved everybody across IMI to the living wage, which I'm really proud of, obviously, we have moved a lot of jobs to best-cost countries as well. So actually what we're seeing is a huge offset, obviously, because wages in the developed economies are typically, well, more than 3x what they are in our best-cost country operations. But overall, wage inflation I would think this year will turn out to be just on a like-for-like basis, around 4%, something like that.

Our next question comes from Calum Battersby of Berenberg.

Firstly, on the Transport side, are you able to say any more about the growth in China and India? So how much of the segment for these geographies now make up? And does exposure to customers in those geographies change the cyclical exposure of the segment at all?

Yes. I mean, certainly, about 25% now of Transport is Asia for us. It took a big step-up last year. So again, we've been in the market last year. What's driving that is emissions legislation. And we've had the tech in Europe, as you know, for a long time to be able to meet the latest European and the U.S. legislation. Well now we're selling very similar technology into China, and that new product for China, and it is modified actually from the European product, is obviously helping drive growth there. So yes, it's up to 25%. I think -- we look at all the numbers in terms of the European and the U.S. transport market. Fully expect them to be down this year. I think our overall Transport segment, which is what, 7% or 8% of our business now, something like that, will be down this year. We don't expect it to be down where the market is going to be down, though, Calum, because of the new product launches that we've got and because of the expanding sales that we've got in China and India, in particular.

Got it. Really clear. Next, in terms of Life Sciences, if we can go back there, just given how long destocking trends have been continuing, shouldn't it be the case that we do see an improving performance through the year as we go from a period of destocking and so, let's say, revenues matching underlying demand as the comps get easier. So is that fair? And if so, do you have a latest view on when destocking trends are most likely to come to an end?

Calum, it's been a really difficult period. And everybody that's trying to call this seems to have got it wrong, right? So we talk to our customers. It's very difficult to get clarity. So for us, we looked at our own order trends. We have talked to customers, again, many, many times. Beth and Martin, we've really got into detail. So we think it's safer at this point to say actually -- looking at where our orders trends at the moment, they do seem to have bottomed out. But sequentially, we see it is a slight improvement we've got in our outlook in the second half, but nothing heroic. And I know other people are saying it's going to come in the second half. Well, when it comes, brilliant. But other people have called it before and it's taken longer than they thought, right? So at the moment, we're just making sure our business is aligned with that level that we're protecting margins. And more importantly, that we're really going after the new platforms, right, and really making sure that we're on that next platform, so that we will return to the sort of faster growth that we're accustomed to in that sector when that happens.

Understood. Makes sense. And then last question for me, please, is on disposals. So you talked before about potential disposals of underperforming parts of the portfolio that then seemed to have improved. Now given how much of the focus is on this 5% organic growth target and the fact that there are clearly areas of IMI that have not delivered at that level historically, does that suggest you're now more likely to look at the space as a solution to improve the overall growth outlook for the group?

I mean, we always look across the group with a lot of diligence, and as you said, in our first strategic plan, but at that point, we had 30% of what was IMI critical, which is now process automation under review. And the fantastic thing that, that team did was really drive the aftermarket strategy and actually pick up new business as well in areas like hydrogen. So completely altered the margin profile and the growth profile of that part of the business. And now as you can see, price automation firing on all cylinders. So yes, we constantly review all parts of the business, and we're constantly -- and everybody is clear in IMI, what our financial framework is, what our expectations are. And if you step outside of that for too long, you'll be under scrutiny, right? And Dan and I do a lot of business reviews. Jackie is doing a lot of business reviews. So we constantly look at that. I would say, at the moment, actually, that some of the parts, even a couple of years ago that were under more scrutiny are performing very, very well. And in practically all cases, even areas that are under a bit of volume pressure, they're doing well in terms of margin progression. You don't get our sort of -- where would you come from, as Dan said in the presentation, 14% margins, up to nearly 19% in 4 years. Practically, every part of the business has to be improving to enable you to do that. And that's pretty much what we're seeing. So we're absolutely clear. The areas that are dilutive, they're under a lot of scrutiny. But at the moment, actually, we think the business is progressing well.

And our final question of today comes from Jonathan Hurn of Barclays.

Just a few questions for me, please. Just firstly on process. I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about nuclear there. Obviously, we're seeing increasing levels of activity or potential levels of activity in Europe and in Southeast Asia. Obviously, it picked up for you in '23. But can you just sort of talk a little bit about the opportunity for you in nuclear? And just how sort of dynamics of that sector play out, please?

Yes, and Nuclear is having a bit of a renaissance, because I think countries are recognizing that it's an important part of the mix, right, to decarbonize. And yes, we see opportunities particularly in upgrades, where life extensions have been important in places like the U.S. We see opportunity there. I actually had a brief meeting with our Head of Nuclear Sales at Jackie's Automation Conference. And he's also very excited about, let's say, the slightly longer-term impact of small modular reactors. And there's a long way to go, right? But I think most of you know, small modular reactors, I mean, they're aiming for it to cost something like GBP 2 billion versus probably more like GBP 8 million, plus with a lot more uncertainty on the regular reactor. And we're working with all the major parties on that. And for us, it's not going to be a next year thing. So we don't put in next year's model. But already, some of those are advancing quite well, some of those programs. So in the sort of 2030 time frame, that could be a reasonable business for IMI. So yes, I think Nuclear is a having bit of renaissance. I think there's some short-term things, Jonathan, in terms of upgrades, quite encouraging. But I think in terms of the longer term as well, we remain pretty excited about Nuclear.

Okay. Fantastic. And then the second one, again, just staying on automation. Obviously, you put sort of process and industrial under the charge of Jackie. I mean, any sort of comments you can make there? What's his sort of thoughts going forward? Is there sort of areas that you think you can improve? So anything you can give us there would be helpful, please.

Well, Jackie is moving rapidly as usual and done a cracking job. So as I said, I was at his conference a couple of weeks ago now, and he's got a clear structure in place. He's got all of the leadership in place across the business. He has created, I would say, clarity around the strategic imperatives for this year. Everybody is working towards very good alignment, very good motivation in the team to work towards those. So I think the clear things that we want to see are things like the aftermarket strategy that's been so successful in process automation to be applied with Growth Hub, with Growth Hub techniques into Industrial Automation. So I get real clarity and real closeness to the end user, really understand their problems and solve those problems at pace, Jonathan. So yes, I'm super excited about that larger automation platform. And I think good things will happen there, Jonathan, over the next few years. So yes, exciting.

And just maybe the last one. Obviously, you've talked a lot this morning about Life Science. Can you talk a little bit about the other part of that, Fluid Control, and essentially what you're seeing there? Because obviously, I'm sure within that sort of segmentation, that's a fair part of that. So if you could just give us some color there, that would be helpful?

Yes, it's a good point actually, Jonathan. I mean, it's almost -- it's about half, isn't it? That segment is Fluid Control. About half of that Fluid Control is sort of food and beverage end market. So it's things like, we sell the Fluid Control elements into inkjet machines. We sell the Fluid Control elements into PET bottling equipment, and crucially, we sell Fluid Control equipment into coffee, commercial coffee machines as well, which is obviously a nice faster-growing area. So half roughly is food and beverage. There's a lot of other end markets that we sell there as well. It's quite fragmented. And I'd say, the outlook has been -- it was pretty flattish last year from memory. And this year, what we see is, again, a reasonably flattish outlook. Some of it has been weighed down by industrial activity in Germany again. So again, some of it is a bit dependent on that. And there is some upside risk, I would say, Jonathan, if industrial activity starts to improve in Germany.

Thank you. We currently have no further questions. I'll hand back over to the management team for any closing remarks.

Brilliant, Charlie. Well, thanks, as always, to all the analysts for their questions and their work. And I think you can see IMI is evolving into our financial framework, right? And the better world strategy has delivered the fourth year of consecutive profit improvement. We've driven EPS improvement at 12% CAGR, and we are becoming that serial compounder of profits, and that's exactly where we want to be. So thanks very much, and enjoy the rest of the results season. Thank you.