Genuit Group H1 2026 Earnings Report

Genuit Group EPS Results

• Actual EPS: GBX 10.50
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Genuit Group Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: N/A
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Genuit Group Announcement Details

• Quarter: H1 2026
• Date: 8/11/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 3:30AM ET

Genuit Group (LON:GEN) is the UK's largest provider of sustainable water, climate and ventilation products for the built environment. Genuit's solutions allow customers to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change and meet evolving sustainability regulations and targets. The Group is divided into three Business Units, each of which addresses specific challenges in the built environment: - Climate Management Solutions - Addressing the drivers for low carbon heating and cooling, and clean and healthy air ventilation. - Water Management Solutions - Driving climate adaptation and resilience through integrated surface and drainage solutions. - Sustainable Building Solutions - Providing a range of construction solutions to reduce the carbon content of the built environment. Across these Business Units, Genuit's brands are some of the most well-established and innovative in the industry, including Polypipe, Nuaire and Adey. The Group primarily serves climate-driven building and construction markets in the UK, with an expanding presence in Europe, the Middle East and North America and sells to specific niches in the rest of the world. The Group was established in 1980 and has been listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange since 2014.

Genuit Group H1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment: Market demand remained subdued: like-for-like revenue declined 5% in the first half, with weakness in housing, residential refurbishment and some civils and infrastructure projects. Underlying operating profit fell 1.6% to £43.9 million and the EBIT margin declined by 70 basis points.
• Positive Sentiment: Management said double-digit price increases, cost controls and procurement actions largely offset polymer inflation, while cash conversion remained strong at over 70%. Full-year expectations are unchanged, with management forecasting more than 90% cash conversion and a sequential margin improvement in the second half.
• Positive Sentiment: The company expects more than £4 million of annualized cost savings from simplification initiatives, including consolidating two Davidson sites into larger facilities. Most of the benefit is expected to flow through from 2027, while leverage of 1.6 times is expected to decline further.
• Positive Sentiment: Genuit reported strong strategic momentum in its growth areas: Monodraught orders were up 24% year over year, with initial combined Nuaire-Monodraught school solution orders exceeding £1 million. AMP8 stormwater opportunities are also expanding, with the quote bank rising from £2 million to £9 million and greater impact expected in 2027.
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted strengthening regulatory tailwinds, including the Future Homes Standard, AMP8 and school ventilation requirements, which should support demand for plumbing, ventilation, water-management and low-carbon solutions. Both recent acquisitions are integrating well, and the company is actively evaluating additional bolt-on deals, particularly in European ventilation and stormwater markets.

Presentation

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Good morning. Great to be here on what promises to be a fairly warm day, but not as warm as what's to come. More on that in a minute. Delighted to be here. I'm Joe Vorih, CEO of Genuit. I've got Tim Pullen with me here, our CFO, as well as a few different members of our management team. We'll all be around afterwards. Feel free to ask questions either during the session or afterwards. Let's hop into it. We're here to present our half-year results for Genuit Group for 2026. I'll give you just a quick scene-setting introduction, pass it over to Tim for the financial highlights, and then come back and definitely wanted to give you an update on the important and really good strategic progress we've made in the last six months. Of course, plenty of time for Q&A.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Getting right into it. It won't surprise you that we have seen a challenging trading environment in the first half. I'm really proud of the actions that our team has taken in order to navigate that quite successfully. We have seen subdued market demand and those lower volumes are really on account of several different factors, of course. Top of mind for a lot of people is the conflict in the Middle East and the impact that's had directly, which we'll talk a little bit about, but indirectly, which I think is true for just about everybody in our industry, in terms of material prices and transport costs. Tim will talk about that as well as the work we've done to mitigate that. The other thing, too, is we're sitting here in a time where I think there's a bit of a lower U.K. growth so far.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Remember, entering the year, of course, we were all expecting a couple of rate cuts. Clearly, that hasn't happened, so we are in this higher for longer environment. When you have a challenging trade environment, Genuit does what we always do, and we take decisive actions. We've done that yet again. Really proud again, as I said, of the work the team has done. Importantly, we've taken what I would characterize as balanced cost and price action. So weighing the interests of both our investors and our customers to make sure that we really offset the impact of inflation on our business model. We also have continued to simplify the business.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

This has been a long-standing journey, and we've been able to identify a few more options that we've taken that in the second half will help accelerate some of the work that we'd actually thought was out there but will begin to take impact and certainly improve our outlook entering 2027. Of course, we've made excellent progress integrating our two acquisitions we made last year in the second half. Both are going really well, and we'll give you more fulsome updates on those. Of course, underpinning all of this is the Genuit Business System, which we deploy across the business increasingly, and I'll share some examples of how that's impacting actually one of our acquisitions, too. In terms of outlook, our full-year expectations are unchanged. Of course, that means that we'll see a good step-up in margin sequentially in the second half.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

We will give you a few insights as to where that is coming from. Importantly, the simplification work I talked about is expected to deliver over GBP 4 million of annualized savings. That will most primarily just impact 2027 and beyond. It is the type of work that we do, really making sure the business is fit for the future. Importantly, and we will spend some good time on this, the regulatory and sustainability tailwinds, which are so important to our future growth and business model, are continuing to strengthen, and they are much closer. We have done a lot to invest to be ready for those, and I will give you some more on that in just a bit. In the meantime, let me turn it over to Tim to walk you through the numbers. Tim, over to you.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Great. Thank you, Joe. Good morning, everyone. Delighted to present our results for the first half of 2026 to you this morning. Thank you for coming. If we start with the financial highlights, you can see that we have actually got good revenue growth for the half at 3% on a reported basis including the acquisitions that we bought last year offsetting a like-for-like decline of about 5%. I will remind you of our four months trading update to April. That was down about 8% at that point. You can see that trading for May and June has been solid and obviously buoyed by the double-digit price increase that we put through in response to the cost inflation.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

They are a very challenging market as Joe sets out, but actually our profit just slightly down 1.6% to GBP 43.9 million, and our EBIT margin down about 70 basis points as a result. Cash conversion remains very strong. We have the usual phasing where H1 is slightly lower than the full year, so over 70% cash conversion at the half, still on track for over 90% for the full year. Because we have a lot of confidence in our strategy execution over the medium term, we have held our dividend at GBP 0.042 despite those challenging market conditions. Leverage at 1.6 times is well within the one to two times range that we target, and that will delever further as we go through the second half as well. Looking at the summary P&L, you can see there the revenue increase of 3% on a reported basis.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

It is important here, I think, to point out the gross margins, which have remained strong, which I think shows the cost control and the price management that Joe was referring to coming through the P&L there. Obviously, we did have a bit of a lag there where we had inflation in March and April before price increases kicked in in May. The second half dynamic will be slightly different. Overall, though, that margin being affected by the cost and price lag, also by a couple of issues at ADEY, which I will come on to talk about in the segmented results. Really offset to an extent by those accretive acquisitions coming through the P&L as well. This is how our revenue breakdown looks. Water division representing about 70% of the business, our climate division representing just under 30%.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Looking at it by sector, house building is about a third of our business. Obviously, we have seen some, I think, resilience there in the first half, but with an outlook that looks like it could be a bit weaker. Really, the strength of the Genuit portfolio is in that breadth across different areas. So, almost a third of the business coming from RMI, 27% almost from non-housing, including commercial and civils and infrastructure type work, and about 10% internationally. It is worth pointing out that the Middle East, whilst we did see some direct revenue loss when the conflict erupted in March, April, that is now pretty much back to normal, and June was a good month for the Middle East operation. So if we look at our profits, GBP 43.9 million underlying operating profit.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

It is just slightly down on a reported basis, as a result of those lower volumes, which obviously do affect our gearing, the cost inflation that we saw before price increases kicked in and those operational issues. We do have GBP 5 million contributed by the acquisitions, which are accretive on a margin basis. We have also been working on the cost base in this environment to bring forward or accelerate our simplification initiatives, which particularly affects the Davidson businesses. I will talk a bit more on those when we look at water in particular. If you break it down then into the segmentation, you can see both divisions growing on a reported basis. That climate reduction in profitability, really the majority of that is those two issues. So looking at climate in particular, revenue there is up 2.4% on a reported basis. It is down 8% on a like-for-like basis.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

There are two different dynamics going on there which are important to unpack. So ventilation is actually one of our relatively strong sectors in the first half of the year. Actually, if you look at ventilation on a trailing 12-month basis, we are about flat, which in this market is pretty good. Both on the commercial side, in particular the schools sector, which Joe will talk a bit more about in our strategic update section, but also in residential as well, and the continuing theme of the addressing of damp and mold problems in social housing. So ventilation remains strong, and really that is offset to an extent by our heating business, which is weaker. There, we are more exposed to the RMI market in our ADEY business, associated with boilers, and in our new heat business in underfloor heating.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

There we are seeing lower levels of renovations, extensions, and refurbishments, etc., and therefore lower levels of business. Two specific issues in ADEY that happened in the first half that will not recur in the second are, one, a slow-moving stock provision of GBP 1.5 million, related to some particular products, and also a supplier issue with an impact of about GBP 0.8 million, and that is the loss of sales plus the cost of addressing that issue. We are confident that both items have been root caused and will not recur in the second half. On the positive news front, we have seen really good progress in integrating Monodraught into our climate business. Actually, the technical integration of the controls capability is a fantastic news story. So we can now go to market with a combined school solution with Nuaire mechanical ventilation and Monodraught hybrid ventilation.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

We think a unique offering in the marketplace, and we have already received our first orders in July. Great momentum there. The water division revenue is about 4% higher on a reported basis, about 3% lower on a like-for-like basis. Residential markets have been subdued, I think both in new house building and in the RMI sector. We have seen some project delays in civils and infrastructure markets, really a reflection of lower business confidence in the current macro environment. There are some positive areas as well. Our Manthorpe business actually grew year on year in the first half of the year, as did our Italian business and also our operations in Ireland as well. Whilst that international sector is smaller for us at the moment, it does show we have some strength in diversification there.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Underlying operating profit is broadly flat on a like-for-like level, really demonstrating strong price and cost management, as Joe says. This is the sector that is most affected by the cost inflation. Obviously, we saw rapid inflation in March. We have seen that whilst the situation remains volatile, we have not seen the worst-case scenario, so we have not seen supply shortages. We do still see elevated levels of polymer costs, and hence our price increases have been important to stabilize things, and you can see the business has covered that well with this result. The acquisition side of things has gone really well. Davidson has been integrated well, and we have accelerated that simplification. Two of the three sites will be closed for Davidson and integrated into our larger strategic sites. That means there will be no loss of capacity.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

It is underpinning a big chunk of the GBP 4 million savings that we are talking about for next year. Also, it gives us the scope for more sales and operational synergies by co-locating those operations. That will be completed by the end of the year. As I say, those cost savings will be generated next year. Which brings us into the non-underlying items. We have got about GBP 17 million or so. About GBP 9 million of that is non-cash impacting. That includes GBP 4 million investment in a multi-year IT systems transformation. This is a really important pairing with GBS. Deploying modern software as a service, software platforms to complement the lean operational input that we are putting in with GBS. As is normal practice for cloud-based systems, this is accounted for through exceptional items, as opposed to previously on-premise systems that would have been capitalized and depreciated over time.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Expect to see a run rate at about this level going forward. As we get more into the program and drive the consistency, efficiency, and productivity through that combination of modern software platforms with lean thinking, we will start reporting the benefits alongside that in the future as well. Our restructuring costs associated with the simplification work that we have done in the half are GBP 3.9 million. That is underpinning over GBP 4 million of savings from next year. We have also got a loss on the Polydeck disposal that we completed in the first half of the year of about GBP 1 million to tidy up the accounting there. In terms of cash flow, really positive result here. You can see the strong cash conversion of 70% in line with our phasing expectations. In particular, I would highlight the working capital here, where we continue to focus and drive real benefit.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

A lot of that is coming from inventory management. Remember, GBS is not just about efficiency in the sites, it is also about that working capital management to really help with our cash flow. So net debt about GBP 190 million, and our leverage about 1.6 times. Just a final word then on capital allocation to round things off. I think we continue to invest in the business. We are confident in the strategy despite the challenging environment, so investing in capacity, innovation, and sustainability for our capital spends. We have got that optionality for additional bolt-on acquisitions, given the strength of our balance sheet. We are maintaining our dividend, and we also have optionality for buybacks if conditions are right in the future. Okay, so that is the financial results. Happy to take questions at the end, but for now, I will invite Joe back onto the stage for our strategy.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Thank you, Tim. Let me just set this over here. Don't anyone look at that yet. All right, so I wanted to give you a quick update on the progress we have made in implementing our strategy. So remember our purpose, that together we create sustainable living, and that actually drives everything we do, tying back to our strategy, which had the four same tenets that we have been working on for four years now. First is investing in growth, organic growth in areas where there are clear, sustainable, climate-driven tailwinds, where we believe billions and billions need to be spent over the coming decades to deal with the impact and the mitigation of climate change. At the same time, those sustainable solutions can be augmented by great M&A, as we did last year, where we can both get into higher growth segments, even less cyclical segments, but also improve our solutions.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

We will talk a bit about some of those. So focusing on growth first, absolutely number one on our agenda. At the same time, while what we do is fundamentally green, as you see from our green mark, where 70% of our revenues plus are climate-friendly solutions, how we operate the company is equally important. So continuing to push the envelope on recycled material, lowering the carbon content of our supply chains, using renewable energy throughout the business, and increasingly, as I will share in a few minutes, being able to show customers how that can actually benefit them remains very important. The Genuit Business System is heart to everything we do. It is how we run the business. Founded in lean thinking, in the Kaizen methodology. We have continued to share some good examples of that, and I have got another example for you today.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

But increasingly, as Tim alluded to earlier, we see the ability to really make this a more inclusive set of tools. So partnering with the best technology so that we can take advantage of everything that is out there, eventually even some of the AI tools as well. On the people side, investing in people has been the fourth key part of our strategy, and it underpins everything because the best team wins. So investing in our people is key. So this is our strategy, remains true. But I did say at the outset, look, the warm weather today is kind of indicative of some of the things we are dealing with. A lot of people complain about the weather, but actually, we see some real opportunity despite the difficulties.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

First, it will not surprise anybody that we are actually looking like we are extending what was the hottest July on record in many parts of the U.K., with some of the longest drought conditions we have ever experienced in this country. Lots of opportunities, lots of discussion about cooling and ventilation and how we are going to deal with or essentially adapt to this climate change. At the same time, standing here, it is very difficult to cast your mind six months ago in this room where we were just talking about the wettest January on record in the U.K., certainly in most of it. It is quite a duality. We are seeing extremes of drought and flooding, and this is becoming more common. I do not think there is much debate about that anymore.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

While some companies are faced with some ESG pressure, we actually see really the need to respond, innovate, and release new solutions as more important than ever. At the same time, while the inevitable climate change issues are driving fundamental end demand, I get a lot of questions from investors about what the regulatory framework looks like. Our team prepared this incredibly complicated slide that is very busy. That is really the point. This is a very busy sector. There are over 10 different regulatory and framework drivers here on this slide, and this is not all of them. This is just probably the 10 most impactful ones for us. The way to think about this, broad terms, is on the left essentially is what is driving innovation and new regulations in new homes.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

The center is essentially getting after the 25 million homes in the U.K. that need to be upgraded. It is really about RMI work to upgrade existing homes. Of course, the ever-growing, approaching 40%, non-housing sector for us now. We are going to highlight two specific areas of infrastructure and education, but there is more. A few of the things on here. The way it looks, basically, the stuff that is in green is already in effect now. The stuff that is in yellow will largely have already taken effect by the time we are back together for the full year results. Of course, the other stuff is actually already planned and coming, but just a year or two further out. All of these will stimulate more solution opportunity, more end market demand for us. A couple of highlights. You know that the Future Homes Standard was finally released in March.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

By next year, by March, all new housing permits will now need to be compliant with the Future Homes Standard, and a year from that, the grace period expires. There is a separate grace period for high-risk buildings, but just six months after that. The timeline for the Future Homes Standard is now active, and the clock is ticking. Obviously, there is Awaab's Law that we have talked about. If I turn to AMP8, we are now a year and a half into AMP8, and the momentum is seriously picking up, as well as the consensus that AMP9 and AMP10 are probably going to be similar or larger in scope, focused on a lot of the same issues, including a heavy emphasis on stormwater and flood mitigation. Of course, Construction Framework 2025 is the current four-year school rebuilding program framework.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

It is a serious upgrade to the ventilation and indoor air quality standards in schools, and that is what is behind a lot of the growth that we are seeing at Monodraught and the solutions we will talk about coming up. What are we doing about it? This is a case study in our water business. As Tim said, while parts of the overall traditional civils business are still a bit slow, it feeds housing and other sectors. This part is actually growing very well. At this time last year, we had 2 million of quotes in our quote bank, meaning quotes issued, active projects that we are going after winning. That is 9 million today. We have already been taking orders. This is actually a real live order for Yorkshire Water that has been delivered recently.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

You can see from the top left, these are more complex assembled solutions made from our large, best-in-class, nearly fully recycled polymer products that we make at our Loughborough plant. This is the installation going in. You will note also in the background, it is a really challenging environment. It is right in the middle of a housing estate, some traditional homes, petrol station. We are essentially retrofitting the country with much better stormwater mitigation to protect our sewers and our waterways. This is challenging, and what is really exciting about this is that these integrated plastic solutions are lighter, easier, faster, and lower carbon to install than any of the alternatives, including concrete. We do think that the opportunity here will continue to grow. While the projects are growing and we are starting to ship this year, it will be much more material impact in 2027.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

We have actually done some Kaizen work on the Loughborough plant, and we have authorized some additional investments. We have enough capacity now, but looking two and three years down the road, we want to make sure that we are ahead of the game because we believe this could continue to be quite a fast-growing market for us. That is water. On the climate side, as Tim said earlier, first I would like to say, look, our acquisition last year of Monodraught was underpinned on the commercial strength of that business. That has continued and just gone from strength to strength. In the 11 months to date of the acquisition compared to the 11 months before the acquisition, same period, their orders are up 24%. This is really exciting. This is before the synergy potential of the new solution.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

That new solution, as Tim said earlier, is essentially the release of this product right here. This is the very last rapid prototype version. The production tools are in place, and we will be shipping this in production in September. What this is, very exciting product. I am sure you are thinking the same. It is actually an interface box. It was designed in just six months, fully tested, released to market, and has now been for sale since June. What does this do? Essentially, as it shows there, and as Tim said earlier, if you take a complete school system, although this could be many other applications, an office building, a doctor's surgery, a community center, any building that has essentially a multi-mode ventilation system and higher air quality standards will benefit from this.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

It allows the hybrid systems of Monodraught, which essentially directly access outside air and allow natural ventilation, which often is very good and a lot of fresh air, to be linked directly to the Nuaire units, which are the powered units often found in, say, the hallways, the canteens, the gymnasiums, the kitchens. So when you think about all of those different applications, this interface box allows all the Nuaire products needed to now interface into the Monodraught ecosystem. That is the Medina wall controllers, which are state-of-the-art, easy-to-use, configurable wall controllers, which can do the whole ventilation system and control heating. And Acuity, which is the brains of the whole operation, one per building, which also allows us to remote monitor and diagnose and troubleshoot systems, which has been a great update.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

If you ever get a chance to visit Monodraught, you will see there, you can actually see every installed system in the U.K. they have ever done. Which is really fantastic. So, as of now, all the Nuaire products that are needed can interface through this box into the whole system. This is first to market in this case, and we have already received our first orders in July, totaling over GBP 1 million just for the first two projects. Quite exciting. So despite already being up 24%, strength to strength. The question I often get is, well, do you have the capacity for all this growth? Well, glad you asked. Or anticipating your question, I guess I should say. Our GBS case study we wanted to share today actually is exactly that.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

It is a really good example of the business, in this case, Monodraught, our newly acquired business, saying, "We need some help. We see big orders coming. We need to increase our output." So we had a Kaizen team together of Monodraught people, plus people from ventilation and across the patch in Genuit, work for a week on how to improve the assembly cell there. As a result of this work, by the end of the week, they had demonstrated a new cell, which is now in full operation if you go there, which it takes up half the floor space, has demonstrated 40% more output capacity, so they are ahead of the 24% increase, and I am confident they will be able to do more than that, and gets a nearly 30% productivity benefit. Pretty impressive, and typical of the kind of results we can get in clearly addressing core business needs.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Now, on the sustainability side, as I mentioned earlier, we lead with lowest carbon products with a high content of recycling. We continue to be the industry leader here. So the question then comes, how do you actually document this? EPDs, or Environmental Product Declarations, affect the carbon passports for products. It has become pretty much the industry standard approach to do this. Our customers are asking for these increasingly. We joined a sort of a clearing house for this called One Click LCA last year. And in the first six months of this year, we saw over 3,000 views of these EPDs from about 350 end users. These are people around the industry, architects, specifiers, engineers, project managers, sustainability experts. And they have been attached then, being used and sort of put into the documentation for nearly 700 active projects.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

This is proof, and this has grown very, very rapidly. The adaptation of this is important. Why this matters is because we continue to push. At the end of last year, we were at 57% of our revenue coverage had these EPDs in place. That is definitely over 60% now, and it takes a bit of work to calculate, so we will update you as we go forward. The goal is to get more than 80% of our product line covered. The second thing that is important is that two-thirds of the time when people compare our products, we are the lowest carbon alternative, and that is really important as well. This is gaining momentum. Again, something we have worked on for years, but there are tangible examples of where this is really starting to matter.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

On the people side, this was just a fantastic article in one of the trade magazines with some of our graduates and apprentices, and it is characteristic of the investment that we have made in our people. When I came here four years, almost four years ago, 3.5% of our people were in what we call earn and learn programs, apprenticeships, graduate programs, and continuous education. It is really important not to forget about the colleagues who are already here, perhaps early leavers who have not had that kind of attention investment. They are learning math skills, lean work in accredited learning environments. I am pleased to say that as of now, about 20% of our people are in this wide range of earn and learn programs, reflecting our commitment to actually putting the best team in the field and making this the kind of place where people can grow an incredible career.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Very important investment there as well. On the M&A front, we have made great progress here. On the climate division, we acquired Monodraught last year. As I said, the revenue synergy opportunity, which really is underpinned by that solution that we walked through, is better than we initially anticipated. When we did the business case and we decided to do the acquisition, we thought there was a double-digit millions piece of revenue to go after that actually was on top of what Nuaire or Monodraught could do separately. Without giving specific numbers, that is even higher still as we have really gotten in and learned the market better. Really pleased about that. That was the primary driver here. The technology transfer we have talked about, and we are really collaborating together. Six-month new product release that is already driving additional revenue.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Importantly, we had said at the beginning that these acquisitions need a clear pathway to get to the growth margin target. Monodraught has that, and they are on track. On the water division side, we bought a collection of brands. You remember the Davidson acquisition. What is important is the brands inside there. Salamander Pumps and Cistermiser are water conservation brands that are really well positioned for some of the innovation needed, as we do expect water conservation to make it into subsequent generations of housing regulations as scarcity becomes a problem. So that was really, really helpful. Talon is actually a bit like Manthorpe. They are complementary products to what we have. They go through the same channel, and have done really well.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Really pleased with the businesses, but perhaps even more so, we accessed the first synergies, essentially a reduction in corporate overhead, and they are on track as we'd expected this year. More importantly, they had some small under-invested facilities that we are going to be consolidating into two really good scale Genuit facilities during the second half of this year. This is the main driver for the over GBP 4 million step-up in operating cost reduction that we'll see heading into 2027. That means that they'll continue to be ahead of plan. Already, however, they are in line with our group margin target of 20%, which is fantastic. So really pleased with both acquisitions. Of course, we remain active in the space, as Tim said, with the de-leveraging continuing, so we'll be in a good position to continue to make more good acquisitions like this, increasingly beyond the U.K.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

If I turn to outlook, it's no surprise. We are prepared for the challenging market conditions to continue for the remainder of the year. The Middle East conflict has proven difficult to predict exactly how that's going to play out. Obviously, we're entering an autumn of continued political and economic circumstance and uncertainty in the U.K. Another budget coming, thankfully not in November. Underlying operating margins, however, will benefit in the second term from a few different things. One is the impact of that balanced cost price approach that really started to help in May and June, but actually will have a full impact for the second half. The non-recurrence of the isolated operational issues at ADEY. We root caused those, no issue there. The productivity gains we continue to make across the piece.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

I'd emphasize, as I said, most of the simplification work will actually take effect from 2027 onward, but we continue to make the kinds of improvements, like the case study I shared with you, GBS across the business. As a result, we'd like to confirm that our full-year expectations remain unchanged, and that, as I said, the profitability will benefit heading into 2027 by that over GBP 4 million of annualized operating cost reduction. Most importantly, the structural growth drivers that we've anchored our strategy on for the last four years are getting closer every day. We are now in some of the key regimes, Future Homes Standard, AMP8, CF25, and we see a lot more coming. So the future actually looks brighter than ever. We are well-positioned to address those climate change challenges.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

I think that puts us well on path to deliver our long-term investment case, where we said that we would certainly deliver, outperform the market, which we believe we have done. But increasingly, we want that just to become much more consistent organic growth period. By investing in those markets that are actually growing and less cyclical. Of course, we'll augment that with really good acquisitions as well, as you've done. So you saw that impact this year, certainly in the first half. Continue to be committed to taking that really large market we have, that GBP 3 billion market opportunity and growing in the U.K., and make sure that it's addressing, and that we are addressing those key climate change drivers so that essentially, not only are we reducing the scope of our carbon, but we're delivering more and more climate-friendly solutions.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

All of this then matters as a sustainable investment case where we are committed to our over 20% margin target for the business and the over 20% return on invested capital. We think that the work we have done, the growth we are seeing starting to come through in the future years, and the acquisitions have us well on track for that. Finally, that strong cash conversion is really important so that we can continue to delever, make more good acquisitions, improve those through the application of the Genuit Business System, and continue that cycle. With that, I would like to open up to questions. Tim, if you would like to join me. That is the end of the presentation, so all right. Sure. Let us get started. Yes, you -are first. Sorry.

[Rob Chantry, Analyst at Berenberg]

Oh, okay.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Yeah.

[Rob Chantry, Analyst at Berenberg]

Hi, it is Rob Chantry from Berenberg. Thanks for the presentation, guys. Just three questions. Firstly, can you talk about some of the, I guess, political dynamics of the timing lag on cost recovery? You mentioned cost increases May and April, but it was May when you started putting the prices up. Is there any kind of conversation around increasing indexation or the kind of puts and takes of trying to get price increases in would be interesting. Secondly, could you just give a bit more of a structure update on ADEY in terms of the state of the boiler market, the proposition that it has, the headwinds that it could face on a multi-year view separate from the near-term issues?

[Rob Chantry, Analyst at Berenberg]

Then thirdly, could you just give us an update on the potential pipeline of international acquisitions and expansion, like two really good deals last year, but both in the U.K. Is that something you are still prospecting in the, I guess, the wider climate and water space in continental Europe? Thanks.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Want to take the first two on pricing and ADEY, and then I will take the acquisitions piece?

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Sure.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Okay.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

On the cost dynamics, I think we have seen the inflation come through. It is a complex landscape. You cannot just look at the oil indices, and you cannot just look at the NAPA indices or things like that. The polymer pricing is really specific to the grade of polymer, so quite a complex landscape. We have put through double-digit price increases to cover that. We have seen, I guess, on average, things stabilize at the cost level. The picture remains volatile, obviously, in the Middle East. We are not seeing polymer costs come down dramatically. That may change in the second half, and we will manage that accordingly. If we see deflation, then clearly we will be having conversations with customers if that comes through. It has not yet. It could be that it stays where it is. We cannot rule out further increases if we saw further inflation, if there was a re-escalation.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

It is a dynamic picture. We have managed it well. Our procurement teams are liaising across the supply chain to get as best value as possible and maintain supply, which they have been successful at doing. We just need to continue to actively manage that, and see how we go. In terms of ADEY, actually, there is a quality business in there. We have had two issues in the half, which are non-recurring. But they have been root caused, and we have made improvements there as to how we manage our inventory, so that we do not get those, and how we manage our suppliers so that does not repeat. They are a strong gross margin business. It is a high market share product for a reason. It is the highest quality product in the market. Really the first to market back in the day in terms of magnetic filtration and continuing to innovate.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

As you move from boilers to heat pumps, they have products for those as well because whatever your system, a hydronic water system, it needs to be kept clean to run efficiently, to protect the heat source, whether that is a boiler or a heat pump, and also to maintain the life of that system and the efficiency. That will continue. Clearly, the more RMI work that is out there, the more people are moving house, doing renovations, extensions, all those kind of things, that will drive volume. We are still at a low point in the cycle, but we do still see that that is a really important part of our overall portfolio.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Sure. So on the M&A, great question. As I have said, we have been quite active. These two deals, one was a process, one was actually a bilateral piece of effort on our part. The ones that closed, they are representative of many of the things we would like to see going forward. Good easy bolt-on size, good strategic fit. The one thing that they did not do is bring us a bit more geographic diversification. Obviously, the solution infill was really pleasant on both of them, especially Monodraught. Our funnel is quite active. We remain, as I have always said, we would like to be cultivating between five and 10 active discussions at a given time. It is always difficult to know when things will happen, of course.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

But I can tell you right now that we are at the upper end of that range, and most of those deals that we are actively discussing with people, hoping to make something happen, cultivating relationships, are outside the U.K. Our main focus is on ventilation first and then stormwater management, because we see those are the two end markets, which by the way, not just in the U.K., have those same sorts of macroeconomic drivers everywhere. These are issues, those slides I showed earlier, those are true across all of Europe as well. So the climate issues, the mitigations there, and the need for better ventilation is actually a universal issue today, too. So hope that answers your question.

[Rob Chantry, Analyst at Berenberg]

Thank you.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

All right. Let us see. Aynsley. Sure. We will try to get. We have got time to get to everyone, so yeah.

[Aynsley Lammin, Analyst at Investec]

Thanks. Aynsley Lammin from Investec. Just two from me, please. Just wondering, obviously like for like, declining revenue for May and June was better than the first four months. Just wondering how much of that was better pricing versus the volumes actually trend a bit better as well on what you have seen in July? Then the second question, just on the fact that PVC price, polymer price has gone up. Is there a risk in the second half you get more substitution for copper? I am not sure how that dynamic works, what the price differential is. Any color on that would be interesting. Thanks.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Want to take the first one?

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

I will take the second.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Yeah, so, sorry, what your first one was on the?

[Aynsley Lammin, Analyst at Investec]

May, June, the improvement like-

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Oh, the improvement May, June. Yeah.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Yeah. Obviously there's a big price impact there. We put through double-digit price impacts on about 60% of our business, so that's had a big effect. But we did also see a seasonal uptick. You normally expect May, June to be higher on a seasonal basis, given the activity levels in the construction industry as a whole, and that did come through. So that's a solid sign. I would say the market volumes really are still being slightly negative year-on-year overall, but stabilized and not getting worse. That's really come through in July as well. So July was in line with our expectations and is consistent with the kind of seasonal phasing of May and June.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

On your second question, Aynsley, on could we see some sort of reverse substitution with the pricing increases? I really don't think so. Two different sides. One is if you think about plumbing, the switch from copper to plastic has been going on steadily for decades now. One of the things that come, it's a completely different way of working. Push fit ease, much faster assembly work, much more assurance of not having leaks. I think going back to soldering is something I don't think you'll see a lot of plumbers who haven't already made the switch or have made the switch, won't be going back. The other thing that I remind people that as much as a double-digit price increase in plumbing is significant for us in the product line, plumbing is still less than 1% of the cost of a house.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

The overall pressure to shift is probably bigger on other issues. I think you will see higher up the bill of materials, perhaps a bit more substitution pressure over time. We are not worried about that. On the drainage side, the substitution has been largely from concrete to plastic over the years. Similar situation. We think that the total installed cost of the solution is still far superior, so we are not anticipating or modeling for a reverse substitution to happen. Sure. I will go over there and then we will come back over to this side. How is that?

[Charlie Campbell, Analyst at Stifel]

Charlie Campbell at Stifel. Couple from me as well please, if I can. First of all, just as we get very close to Future Homes, finally I suppose. Just wonder if you have got a feel now for kinda pounds per house under a house and for a house now, versus pounds per house in a Future Homes Standard sort of fully compliant unit with selling everything that you could into it. Then the second question was just on getting that plastic concrete point, and just wondering if that is coming through as you expect under AMP8.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Sure. I will take both of those. On the Future Homes Standard, what we said, we did modeling early on in this, and really it has not changed much. If you think about a house today that could have GBP 800-GBP 1,200 worth of plastic plumbing. If you think about, and of course each individual house design in the future may be a bit different, have different combination of heat pumps, underfloor heating, different ventilation solutions, filtration, wastewater heat recovery, right? So if I think about all the things that we can deliver to a house, it is still somewhere in that sort of two or three times more revenue to up to five times more revenue. The five times would be two floors of underfloor heating, mechanical ventilation heat recovery, the best filtration and heat recovery options. Of course, there is hybrids all the way in.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

In any case, it is clearly a net revenue gain for us, and we expect the penetration of these solutions to be quite high, as it is pretty much consensus that everything is pretty much going to air source heat pumps. That really changes the dynamic of both the heating and how you heat the house because you need much larger emitters, more efficient systems. Actually the impact of ventilation with heat recovery. Because if you do not have heat recovery in the ventilation, you are going to be increasing the operating cost of the house over time. Some of this may take a few years to play out, but it is quite positive and we still think that is about the right range. Okay? On the concrete substitution, so when we did the AMP8 modeling in particular, we assumed a traditional one-third, two-thirds. One-third being plastic, two-thirds being concrete.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

This is very broad strokes. What we do believe, and we see some indications, that we are going to be able to apply plastic solutions in this retrofit. Retrofit is not the right term. But you are essentially going into developed areas, subdivisions, areas in sometimes urban environments where you have to go in and essentially put in drainage where it was not originally anticipated. So the ability to get more products in on each lorry, fewer lorries, faster time install, much easier, less heavy equipment, all of that is really significantly advantaged by using a plastic solution. So we do expect that conversion actually to be better, with AMP8 going forward for us. Let us see. Let us come up, maybe, I guess Christen, and then we will just work our way back on this side maybe. Okay.

[Priyal Woolf, Analyst at Jefferies]

Thank you.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Oh, okay. We will just go there first. That is fine. Christen, we will get to you eventually. Do not worry. Priyal, go ahead.

[Priyal Woolf, Analyst at Jefferies]

Okay, cool. Thank you. It is Priyal Woolf here from Jefferies. I have just got two questions. The first is a follow-up on the Future Homes Standard. So you have obviously talked about this two to three times to five times uplift. Does that kick in mainly from March 2027, or are there some particularly volume house builders who might already be building to the Future Homes Standard already? Just trying to work out the curve of that uplift that might come through. The second question is just on the GBP 4 million of cost savings that you have been talking about. Should we think about that as incremental to profit next year, or potentially just offsetting weakness that you might see in the market, or more cost inflation that might come through?

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

I'll do the Future Homes Standard, you'll do the cost?

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Yep.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Okay. On the Future Homes Standard, some of the large house builders have already started implementing some of these so that they make sure they're ready. Nobody's expecting to all of a sudden flip a switch on March of next year and go from zero to 100%, for a few reasons. First of all, from March of next year, new projects can't be permitted unless they have all the plans in place will be Future Home compliant. Things that are already in flight will be completed as they are. A year and a half from now, you won't be able to complete anything that isn't compliant. We're talking about standalone houses and pitched roof house building right now. There is a slight lag for high-risk buildings, about another roughly six months.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

You can think that between now and essentially two years from now, everything will need to be compliant that gets a building certificate. Okay? So that's the phase-in period. Now, there's two other factors. One is some builders are already building already, and we've done about 3,000 plots. Are doing, either completed or are doing about 3,000 plots of underfloor heating for mid-size and large house builders already. So they're essentially ramping up ahead to debug the system. Okay, so that's underfloor heating. The other thing that we'll see is there's work to do by different housing designs to see what ventilation solutions will be needed. And so in the beginning, we expect we'll see more one floor underfloor heating. That could become two at some point in the future.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

The mix between distributed ventilation and mechanical ventilation and recovery, we think will shift over time toward more MVHR. So it is a bit of a phase, starting small now. Will certainly pick up between March of next year and March of 2028. At which point all new houses will need to be compliant. And then the question is, how do we actually continue to improve? Because the point I've made many times before is it's not like one and done. This is the beginning of an innovation cycle, I believe. So I think we'll see quite a lot more coming out. There are other parts of the regulations, including wastewater heat recovery, that still needs to be worked out. Well, it's there. Now we have to figure out how we're going to meet it.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

The government did say they will come back and take a look at Part O at a future date. That is overheating. I suspect there is going to be pressure to do that sooner rather than later. I think what we will see is this little bit of activity now, starting to ramp up over the next 24 months, and then continuing to find more ways to add value.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

On the GBP 4 million, today is a reiteration of the number that we obviously talked about in May with our trading update. I think at that point, most of our analysts, many of whom are in the room today, updated next year's numbers and included that in there. I am expecting GBP 4 million to be incremental to this year's result when you look on a year-on-year build, but not necessarily incremental to what is currently in consensus for next year.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Okay. We got two here. Sure, go ahead. You are in back, then Christen.

[Jamie Murray, Analyst at Bank of America]

Hey, guys. Jamie Murray from Bank of America. Two questions, please. First is following the news over the weekend about Vistry, that is an insurer, is cutting supplier credit insurance by 70%. Can I just ask what sort of exposure you have to Vistry, and what sort of impact this might have for you, and how will you manage this development going forwards? Then the second, if you could just provide some color on the like-for-like growth of Monodraught and Davidson, please.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

I'll take the first, and then-

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Yeah. You take both if you want.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

We would never comment on any specific customers, but if I perhaps explain the way our chain works. We sell our product into the merchant network, and that is for reasons of getting nationwide distribution coverage. Our end house builders, we may have an agreement with, but they will be using contractors, obviously, to purchase our products from the merchant network. So we would never see that we have a direct credit exposure to any of the house builders directly. Although of course, we have an interest, as everyone does, in the overall health of the industry overall. I am sorry, the second question was on?

[Jamie Murray, Analyst at Bank of America]

The acquisitions, Monodraught and Davidson, the like-for-like growth, please.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Yeah. I think we won't go down to the full detail of the segmentation of those, but Monodraught is growing well. Actually, order growth is even higher than the revenue intake. We think that's to do with the dynamics of how the schools funding flows. So at some point that will start to unwind. We see good revenue growth, but also getting stronger off the back of that order intake. Davidson is down slightly in line with the rest of the market, to be honest, which you'd expect from that product set. So, no weaker than anything else, but performing in line with expectations.

[Jamie Murray, Analyst at Bank of America]

Cool. Thank you.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Thanks, Jamie. Christen. Thanks for being patient.

[Christen Hjorth, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Not at all. Christen Hjorth from Deutsche Bank. Two questions. The first one, obviously with all the heating, I can imagine air conditioning is becoming more prevalent, particularly probably in the RMI market. How does air con and ventilation work? Are they sort of substitutes? Do they work together? Just how we understand how that fits. The second one, just to touch on the AMP8 win rate to date. I understand you're one of three key competitors in that area, and just how we should think about success in terms of AMP8 as well.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Sure. I can take both of those. In terms of, I think really the core is around air conditioning and ventilation, right, on your first question. It is an interesting one, and I think we have got to look at that because the demand for cooling of some kind is increasing in the U.K. and a lot of places, right? However, I think everybody realizes that actually, the number of days we actually need cooling, it is not that many here, because it cools down at night quite a few times. Really, there is few times where you do not get that cooling effect in the evenings. The problem with retrofitting just sort of RMI air conditioning is it is highly energy efficient, and it tends to essentially overcommit to a carbon footprint that, well, and just a cost in your electric bills that most people do not want.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

What we do think is going to be a real opportunity is use incremental cooling solutions, much like we released with the MVHR with cooling. Some of you saw that when we released it about three years ago. That has been a fantastic solution for apartments. It is essentially mild cooling. It lowers the temperature on the hottest days to make it much more comfortable and livable, but actually also brings the benefits of heat recovery. So a much better solution than augmenting air conditioning. Certainly, for anybody who is operating buildings with somebody else as a tenant, they are going to be mindful of the fact that they do not want to pay for the bills for somebody setting it to 18 and leaving it, right? So I think it will be really interesting to see. And in other markets, we have seen some solutions that I think will continue to play.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

My view, it is too early to tell it is going to play out, but it is clearly an opportunity for us because we do ventilation, and we have cooling capability in both Monodraught and Nuaire already. So, stay tuned. We will watch that space. Let us see, the second question again was?

[Christen Hjorth, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Just on the AMP8 win rate.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Right.

[Christen Hjorth, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

And how we should judge success.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

I'm not going to give you a specific win rate for two reasons. One is it is relatively early. Yes, we're one of three people who can provide the full plastic solutions here, and all I will say is we are definitely winning much. Our win rate so far is definitely more than a third of the projects out there. We're really pleased with the initial performance, and we think it shows the overall engineering capability of our business, which we actually believe is the best in the market.

[Christen Hjorth, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Great. Thank you.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Thank you. [Toby], back to you.

[Analyst]

Thanks. Thank you. I just have two as well, both for Tim. I think good gross margin performance in the half. Can you just unpick for us the impact of the acquisitions from the back end of last year within that, whether accretive or otherwise? I am assuming there was some impact of higher input costs, negative in the first half. Perhaps you should quantify that if you could as well, please. That is the first question.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Yeah. The acquisitions are both accretive. As we have said today, the Davidson acquisitions are over 20% EBIT in the first half, so in line with our medium-term targets.

[Analyst]

At the gross level?

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

At the gross level as well. Yeah. We will not disclose specific figures, but yeah, strong gross margins. Monodraught, as we said, is on track, so again, very strong at the gross margin level, and accretive at the EBIT level as well. You can consider that high teens in terms of performance.

[Analyst]

Okay. Thank you. Polymer costs in the first half?

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

Yeah, so it really does vary quite widely by polymer grade. You can see some quite substantial increases in cost there. As we have said previously, last year we spent about GBP 80 million on polymers. About GBP 50 million of that on virgin polymer, GBP 30 million on recyclate. Recyclate cost increases have been much lower than virgin. So actually, that high use of recyclate that we have does give us a natural hedge, which is important in keeping overall cost down. But across the virgin polymers, we have seen grades at 10%, 20%, 30% plus inflation across the board, hence why we have done a double-digit price increase to make that sustainable.

[Analyst]

Okay. Thank you. Secondly, on cash flow. Could you quantify what you think the non-underlying cash outflows will be second half and perhaps in FY 2027 as well, based on the consolidation of the two acquisition sites?

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

We are not giving specific guidance on that, but you can always assume that we will have a 90%+ cash conversion. So if you model our profit and apply that cash conversion, you will get pretty close.

[Analyst]

Thank you.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Any other questions? No?

[Company Representative at Genuit Group]

We've then just got a couple of questions from the webcast.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Okay, great.

[Company Representative at Genuit Group]

There's no more in the room.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Okay.

[Company Representative at Genuit Group]

So firstly was, can you quantify the annual cost of the surplus capacity you're carrying? And would anything cause you to trim these overheads?

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Well, sure. I could take a stab at that. I think the important piece is actually most of it is essentially in optimized plants and equipment that can be run more. So there really isn't an impactful carrying cost per se. We're able to flex the workforce accordingly, and so we've been quite clear that being able to run more shifts or essentially change tools out on machines, think about extrusion and molding machines, I don't really think that there's an important carrying cost of that extra capacity right now, and more importantly, as you see us investing in the revenue and the growth stories here, it's really important to have that ready. What we will need to do is obviously add some people where we've been able to hire people and add people so we don't see that as a constraint.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

And importantly, with the productivity focus and GBS, we keep improving, and essentially lowering the cost of doing business by improving productivity and better utilizing our overhead. So that's a continual journey, and I think that's really the right approach.

[Company Representative at Genuit Group]

Thank you. The second one was, given the length of subdued market, do you see leverage becoming an issue for participants in the sector? Is this likely to lead to more consolidation or capacity exit in your view?

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

We do not necessarily see ourselves as similar to many in the sector because of, firstly, the breadth of what we do across things as diverse as ventilation as well as piping markets, for example. Ours is a very cash generative business, so we tend to play at the higher quality end. We have strong brands, strong, sticky customer relationships, and because of that we have strong, profitable businesses with healthy cash flow. So we delever quite quickly. We have obviously gone up to 1.6 times leverage in this half, but that is because of the two acquisitions that we did last year, not really because of weak trading conditions. As we continue along the trough in the market, actually we are still a very profitable and cash generative business which is probably going to contrast with some of the pure cyclical players that are out there.

[Tim Pullen, CFO at Genuit Group]

With the leverage that Joe describes when we think about that capacity and how we can come outside the other side, then there is even more potential in the business. We obviously monitor this very carefully, but we do have still optionality on our balance sheet for further acquisitions when we think about that dynamic.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

I guess the only thing I would add is if you think about the last time we had a significant competitor exit the market with Aliaxis, that was actually more of a strategic decision as we understand, but we responded by commercially taking share and I think that is probably the best way to think about this. You never know, something else could come up but it is nice to be in a good position and a relative strength. Anything else on the webcast?

[Company Representative at Genuit Group]

That's everything from the webcast.

[Joe Vorih, CEO at Genuit Group]

Great. Anything else in the room? Okay. Thank you all for coming. We really appreciate the time and effort. It's good to see a lot of people here, probably the best attended half year results we've had yet. I know it's getting a bit warm in here so we can investigate more cooling solutions. There's breakfast upstairs if you haven't had anything. We'll be around. Our extended team is here. We've got chairman, some of the member of our executive team so feel free to ask us more. Thank you very much and we'll see you back for the full year results. All right. Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Joe Vorih, CEO
• Tim Pullen, CFO
• Company Representative

Analysts

• Rob Chantry, Analyst at Berenberg
• Aynsley Lammin, Analyst at Investec
• Charlie Campbell, Analyst at Stifel
• Priyal Woolf, Analyst at Jefferies
• Jamie Murray, Analyst at Bank of America
• Christen Hjorth, Analyst at Deutsche Bank
• Analyst