Zotefoams H1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Strong first-half performance: Revenue rose 23% to £95.2 million, while adjusted operating profit increased 34% to £16.3 million and the margin expanded to 17.1%. Growth in non-footwear markets, North America and the OKC acquisition more than offset footwear normalization.
  • Positive Sentiment: OKC is ahead of plan and earnings-accretive, contributing nearly £15 million of first-half revenue with early cross-selling wins. North America was also a standout, with revenue up 29% and operating margin rising 930 basis points to 17.6%.
  • Negative Sentiment: Footwear revenue is expected to decline through the second half of 2026 and into 2027 as production transitions from the U.K. to Vietnam and moves toward 3D preforms. Management describes 2027 as a transition and optimization year, with recovery expected from 2028.
  • Positive Sentiment: The Vietnam footwear facility remains on track for first customer product trials in October 2026, while the South Korea innovation center is already hosting tier-one footwear manufacturers. Management continues to target 2029 revenue above £230 million and operating profit above £40 million, excluding any future M&A.
  • Negative Sentiment: The company has proposed restructuring its U.K. operations, potentially affecting more than 100 roles, to align Croydon with innovation and non-footwear applications. Although the plan could generate about £4 million in annual savings with sub-one-year payback, working capital and net debt are expected to remain elevated through 2027 during the Vietnam transition.
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Earnings Conference Call
Zotefoams H1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Zotefoams Plc investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time by the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. I'll now hand time over to Ronan Cox, CEO. Good afternoon, sir.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Thank you very much, Lily. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Zotefoams 2026 interim results. I am Ronan Cox, Group CEO, and I'm joined here by Nick Wright, our Group CFO. Today I'll begin with the business performance and the strategic context. Nick's then going to take you through the financials in detail. We'll cover the strategic progress together. I will close on the outlook before we take your questions. If we go to the next slide, please, Lily. I'll take the disclaimer as read. Then we move on. Just quickly on business performance, let me start with how the business performed in the first half. If we go on again, Lily. Next slide, please. Thank you. The first half really shows diversification and disciplined execution working together. That is the key message here.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Sorry, I think that we are probably a few slides ahead. Can we go back, Lily, please? Yeah, there we go. That's the one. Thank you. Diversification and disciplined execution working together. Group revenue was up 23% to GBP 95.2 million. It's really important to be clear about the quality of the growth. It includes the first full half year contribution from OKC. That was acquired growth. On an organic basis, revenue grew by 4% or 6% at a constant currency basis. The important point is that growth was broad. Non-footwear markets were particularly strong, with doubling of Asia and the contribution of OKC together more than offset that footwear normalization that we have been signaling for quite some time. After an exceptional run starting in around about H2Q4, 2024, following the whole way through in 2025, that normalization has come in in 2026 in H1.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

The mix that we've seen in H1 is why profitability has improved. Adjusted operating profit was up 34% to GBP 16.3 million. Indeed, the adjusted operating margin improved 130 basis points to 17.1%. Adjusted earnings per share were up nearly 29%. The balance sheet is really strong with leverage sitting just about 1x on a new GBP 90 million multi-currency revolving credit facility is in place. Indeed, we have increased our interim dividend by just over 5%. In short, what I would say is that the group has absorbed really significant footwear normalization, still delivered really strong revenue and profit and margin growth. For me, this is the proof point of the strategy. If we go to the next slide, please, Lily. This is a brief reminder of that strategy and a brief reminder of where we are going.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Expanding beyond the core is moving from execution to impact. The strategy that we laid out as much as a year and a half ago at our Capital Markets Day is now starting to have impact. Health and safety remains the foundation of everything that we do. Around it sits our priorities. With so much going on across the group, as I say, health and safety is incredibly important for us as we're installing factories, upgrading facilities. It is our number one priority. As I say, around that, our priorities are about getting closer to the customer, around driving innovation and sustainability leadership, with a much sharper industry and customer focus. Driving that disciplined M&A beyond the core with high-performing teams. I think the thread that connects all of this is the shift from selling a product to serving industries.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Moving up the value chain and building capability closer to where our customers are. If we then start to go into the different regional performances, we go to the next slide, please, Lily. Thank you. We're going to start with EMEA. EMEA delivered record revenue up almost 20% with non-footwear growth more than offsetting the anticipated footwear normalization that I mentioned earlier. Transport & Smart Technologies really continue to build on strong momentum that we'd seen towards the end of last year, including a growing aerospace and indeed a growing space business, which are both key drivers to the underlying growth. That footwear normalization was as expected after that exceptional demand that started in and around Q4 2024 and continued the whole way through 2025. Revenue was GBP 28.5 million in footwear, it is not insignificant, but that was down 23%.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

The one thing I really want to stress is that the long-term opportunity in footwear is intact, and indeed, the shift of production to Vietnam is central to that long-term growth opportunity. OK Company contributed just under GBP 15 million in its first half, in its first full half, and that was ahead of plan, and it was earnings accretive. With some early cross-selling wins being registered in H1. Margin improved modestly to 22.8%, reflecting really good cost discipline. There was some partial offsets from mix and wage inflation, and indeed higher input costs with some of the headwinds that we've seen from the conflict in the Middle East. Again, great discipline to see those margins nudging up. Our Global Innovation Hub at Croydon is progressing at pace. This is going to strengthen the research and development of the innovation that supports all of the group growth.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

If we go to the next slide, please, Lily. Touching on North America. North America really was a standout with revenue up 29% and the segment margin up a whopping 930 basis points to 17.6%. Growth was broad, and it was across both Transport & Smart Technologies and Construction & Other Industrial. New business and key account wins were really important here. On top of that, we had record manufacturing output growth at both Walton, which is in Kentucky and Tulsa in Oklahoma. You'll see one of the pictures there is us celebrating the opening of the LP2 investment with the lieutenant governor in Kentucky, and we did that last month. That big investment that we went through in 2025, we started to commission properly in 2026, really taking traction and helping us significantly.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Also in North America, we've got a fully reshaped commercial organization that in of itself is driving stronger customer engagement, and it's really helping us to grow the commercial pipeline here. I would also say that the margin step up reflects the new operational leadership that we have in North America, so fundamentally better performance out of the factory with higher volumes, better mix, stronger operational gearing. That operational gearing, we've said it for a very long time. Gearing in our factories is really important. Volumes really help the profitability, and that was helped by that second low-pressure vessel that, as I said, is now fully operational, and we commissioned it fully in the last couple of months. Moving to the next slide, please. On Asia. Asia is and continues to be a small business today, but it is strategically very important for us.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Even with the existing small business there, revenue more than doubled to GBP 3.9 million, driven principally by that Construction & Other Industrial demand. Most of the legacy demand in Asia is around that Construction & Other Industrial market coming from T-FIT, mainly in China and indeed in India. The bigger story is the platform that we're building in Asia. The bigger story is the Vietnam footwear facility, and that is very much on track for first stage trial from October, so in a couple of months' time. Autoclaves are on site. I'll come into more detail on Vietnam later in the presentation, but you'll see a picture here. There'll be a bigger picture later on in the presentation. Autoclaves are on site, and indeed, the South Korea Footwear Innovation Center has been opened. It is operational. It's already hosting customers, deepening collaboration with those key customers and footwear partners.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Still more installation to do there, and I'll touch on that as well later in the presentation, but still already incredible progress. If we turn to the next slide, please, Lily. Touching on vertical performance, the profile of the business is more balanced. What we've seen is Transport & Smart Technologies growing by 76%, become the largest vertical. As I said, supported by those sort of industries like aerospace, space, automotive. We had Construction & Other Industrial, which grew 41%, the largest part of that growth coming from North America, then a reasonable amount coming from that doubling of sales coming in Asia. Consumer & Lifestyle was down 19%, and that is the full reflection of the normalization of that footwear demand after that 2025 exceptional run. The long-term opportunity remains in Vietnam, and that is really, really important. We are still very confident.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

We're not stepping away from that. That long-term opportunity still exists and will be realized as we commission and optimize the facility there. This rebalancing of the portfolio is exactly the strategy that we put in place, and it is exactly the strategy actually starting to deliver. This is what we designed, and this is what we are achieving what we designed. With that context, let me hand over to Nick, who's going to take you through the financials in more detail. Over to you, Nick.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Thank you, Ronan, and good afternoon, everyone. We go to the next slide. 2026 has started well, with a strong performance that demonstrates the growing breadth and resilience of our business. Ronan has already covered revenue and adjusted profit. In terms of a few other key items on this slide, adjusted profit before tax increased 34% to GBP 15.3 million. Adjusting items total GBP 1.3 million, GBP 0.9 million of this is non-cash amortization of acquired intangibles. Adjusted earnings per share increased 29% to GBP 0.257. Finally, we have proposed an interim dividend of GBP 0.0263 today, an increase of 5%. These headlines reflect the momentum in our business and the benefits of diversification alongside disciplined execution. Let me take you through the financial performance in more detail on the next slide.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Group revenue increased 23% to GBP 95.2 million. More significantly, gross profit grew 26% to GBP 33.9 million, demonstrating strong cost control. This includes our rapid response to the conflict in the Middle East. The war in Iran has resulted in higher raw materials and transport costs, which we have passed on to customers through surcharges. We have also experienced some supply chain disruption, although none of our goods go through the Strait of Hormuz. Our customers' top priority is typically security of supply. We've safeguarded that by investing in raw materials where necessary. Gross margin improved 100 basis points to 35.6%. This benefited from the OKC contribution, price increases, and surcharges, partly offset by higher raw materials, utility and freight costs, and wage inflation. SG&A expenses increased to GBP 17.6 million, largely reflecting the inclusion of OKC, as well as the build-out of teams in Asia and innovation.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Looking at the breakdown by region, operating profit in EMEA increased 22% to GBP 16.8 million, with a margin of 22.8%. This was driven by OKC and a strong non-footwear performance, partly offset by the normalization of footwear, which was down 23% following exceptional demand last year. In North America, operating profit almost tripled to GBP 3.3 million, with margin improving to 17.6%. The second low-pressure vessel is now fully operational. This gives us additional capacity to process higher volumes at marginal cost, driving strong operating leverage. Operating profit in Asia improved to GBP 0.5 million from break even last year. This was driven by Construction & Other Industrial demand in India and China. Asia also absorbed the first half start-up costs incurred in Vietnam and Korea. We expect Asia to become materially more important as Vietnam comes on stream.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Looking at the right-hand side of the slide, net finance charges increased to GBP 1.1 million, reflecting higher average borrowings following the OKC acquisition and our ongoing investment in Asia. Adjusted profit before tax increased 34% to GBP 15.3 million. The tax charge was GBP 2.4 million, an effective tax rate of 15.7%. This is up from 14%, reflecting lower tax deductions from patents and the addition of OKC, which is taxed at 25%. This resulted in adjusted profit after tax of GBP 12.6 million, up 29%. Turning now to cash generation and our balance sheet on the next slide. Cash generated from operations was GBP 8.2 million, compared with GBP 15.8 million last year. This is a year of strategic investment, which reflected in both working capital and capital expenditure. Net working capital increased by GBP 14 million.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Around half of this reflects higher inventory in the U.K. and U.S., both to maintain customer supply and to manage the transition of footwear from the U.K. to our new site in Vietnam. Receivables also increased due to normal seasonality in OKC and higher activity levels in the U.S. We continue to focus on managing working capital across receivables, payables, and inventory. CapEx of GBP 7.2 million mainly relates to investment in Asia and the Innovation Hub in the U.K. Return on capital employed was 15.8%.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Net debt increased to GBP 39.1 million from GBP 31.5 million at the year-end. This reflects our strategic investments and the deferred consideration paid on OKC. Despite this, our leverage ratio remains below 1x, well below our target of 2x. Following our refinancing in January, we have a new GBP 90 million multicurrency revolving credit facility, giving us liquidity headroom of GBP 50 million.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Turning now to the movement in net debt on the next slide. We started the year with net debt of GBP 31.5 million. We generated GBP 8.2 million of cash from operations, invested GBP 7.2 million in CapEx, and paid GBP 3 million of deferred consideration on the OKC acquisition. A further GBP 3 million is expected in October, with the final GBP 1.3 million in the first half of next year contingent on OKC delivering its targets. We paid net interest of GBP 0.7 million, tax of GBP 1.4 million, and returned GBP 2.6 million to shareholders in dividends. Finally, there was a net outflow of GBP 0.9 million from other items, bringing closing net debt to GBP 39.1 million. Before I conclude, if we move to the next slide, let me remind you of our approach to capital allocation.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

We deploy capital to drive long-term sustainable growth and create value for our shareholders. This slide sets out our priorities. First, we are investing in geographic expansion and product innovation, particularly in Asia and the U.K. We are also building a scalable platform to drive efficiency and improve return on capital employed. This includes digitalization and the deployment of AI. Second, we intend to maintain our progressive dividend policy. Third, we have a disciplined approach with high hurdles for acquisitions in line with our strategy. Fourth, we will return any surplus capital where this represents greater value for shareholders. In summary, we've delivered strong revenue and profit growth despite the normalization in footwear as we continue to diversify and grow the wider business. We are pleased that OKC is performing ahead of plan.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

We're making good progress with our strategic investments in Vietnam, South Korea, and the U.K. We've achieved this while maintaining a strong balance sheet with leverage below 1x and significant liquidity headroom. Thank you very much. I'll now hand back to Ronan.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Brilliant. Thank you, Nick. We go to the next slide, please. Just going to get a little bit of five minutes just talking through strategic progress. If we go to the next slide. I think the first strand of progress is around diversification. Transport & Smart Technologies and OKC are actually driving growth and more than offsetting that footwear normalization. As we mentioned earlier, OKC has contributed just under GBP 15 million in its first full half year. Well ahead of plan and it's an early proof point for disciplined value accretive M&A. Our approved partner network continues to roll out across both North America and EMEA. The cost discipline and productivity gains together with much stronger profitability in North America are really supporting the margins, while footwear margins are temporarily moderated. If we go to the next slide, and we'll delve into Vietnam.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

This is the second strand, which is really all about getting closer to the customer. Vietnam, this gives us in-region, scalable, footwear optimized manufacturing with a much shorter lead time and a factory that is designed from the bottom up for sustainability. We've received all of the permitting required in the business, all of the construction licenses. We've started to receive machinery. You see some pressure vessels there in the picture. Hiring is accelerating. The first injection molding machine has been delivered on-site and trials have been run through that. Lab equipment goes in this month, and the first autoclaves that are already there are going to be fully commissioned in September with the first stage trials of products going to our customer to begin in October. That's really about proving out the efficacy of the whole manufacturing process there.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Incredible progress in that facility that's really risen out of the ground and is substantial in nature now. All on track, which is excellent progress in H1. If we go to the next slide. Alongside Vietnam, we have the South Korea Footwear Innovation Centre. The two are completely intertwined. There is no point in doing one without the other. Vietnam needs the Innovation Centre in South Korea to actually make it viable long term, feed it with the innovations that are going to help us get more platforms in future. That Innovation Centre accelerates our supercritical foam material development and shortens those footwear development cycles. We work in this Innovation Centre alongside the key partners. Those are the key partners that are essentially the tier 1 shoe manufacturers. They're the people that work directly with our materials.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

At that Innovation Centre, the construction is complete. First injection molding machine is in situ. Almost all of the lab equipment has been installed there. We have already been hosting our customers there. The large autoclaves with super high pressure ranges, they're coming in 2027. That facility is already hosting people, hosting tier 1 footwear manufacturers who we're helping work with new models and new designs for our customer. If we go to the next slide, I'm going to hand over to Nick, who's just going to talk you through the U.K. business.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Thank you, Ronan. Turning to our U.K. business. We have continued to invest in automation and process improvement in Croydon. As footwear transfers to Vietnam and we make greater use of our facility in Poland, our U.K. site will carry higher fixed cost base than the business needs. Today, we have announced proposals to optimize our U.K. business across all functions. This means that Croydon will focus on materials innovation and non-footwear applications for the other six key industries. I want to be clear that we remain committed to our U.K. manufacturing base in Croydon. Croydon is also home to our Global Innovation Hub, which is progressing at pace. The board has approved starting a collective consultation process, which is expected to affect more than 100 roles. These are proposals at this time.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

No final decisions have been taken, and no decisions on individual roles will be made until the consultation has concluded. Our priority is to consult openly and fairly, and to support our colleagues throughout the process. Subject to that consultation, we expect the changes to deliver annualized savings of around GBP 4 million, with payback of under a year. The associated one-off costs, including the redundancy and impairment of plant that is no longer required, will be treated as adjusting items. These do not change our adjusted expectations for the full year. I will now hand back to Ronan, who will cover our investment in AI and our outlook. Over to you, Ronan.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Brilliant. Thank you, Nick. As Nick alluded, the final strand of our investment strategy is around AI, which is now starting to drive productivity, innovation, and growth rather than sitting on the side of the business. Our customer tools, powered by the ZoteIQ engine, are already generating leads and giving customers high-accuracy material recommendations. This is available on our website today. We have ZoteLabs, which is in its beta version. I will dig into a bit more detail in a moment, but this is accelerating material innovation through AI-driven recipe design, feasibility scoring, and this is drawing on more than 2.1 million technical files and more than 6 million academic and patent papers. AI is also active in operational planning now in the business. It is improving forecasting. It is improving production efficiency.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

All of this is done with really robust governance framework with our black wall protection, ensuring it is secure and responsible. To bring this to life, I am going to try to bring it to life with a very short video clip with ZoteLabs in action. If we go to the video. ZoteLabs we have developed, it is a proprietary AI platform that brings together over 100 years of technical knowledge, more than 2 million internal files, millions of scientific publications into a single connected system. We have got Forge. This helps engineers explore new formulations and concepts, and it accelerates early-stage development while capturing really valuable technical expertise and reasoning.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

The great thing is that with a single click, we can take data from Forge, and we can push that into what we call Bench, which is carrying forward that design intent and assumptions and rationale, and this allows specialist agents to build on each other's work. We've got an application selector. This application selector really helps the team identify opportunities and support customer conversations faster and with greater confidence. We also have then Academy. This gives our team the ability to explore those millions of scientific publications in a single environment. It helps us discover knowledge and insights at scale that honestly otherwise would have been impossible for the business. Finally, an area of great impact for us is Gas Lab and Permeate.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Our most expensive assets are our gassing equipment, and this is using AI modeling to help reduce unnecessary trials and accelerate this development. Permeate enables the platform to continuously grow by bringing new knowledge into the system under expert oversight. Together, these capabilities create a platform that protects institutional knowledge, accelerates innovation, and actually improves our business with every single interaction. That's ZoteLabs. It's built today, it's delivering value now, and it's creating a more competitive advantage for the future right now. Moving to outlook. Can we go to the next slide, please, Lily? The first half really underpins our confidence in the full year and indeed in our medium-term ambition. Our full-year expectations are unchanged, and the continued momentum supports the delivery in line with market expectations. The business is broader and more balanced, with non-footwear, OK Company and Asia offsetting the footwear normalization.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

The margin progression is supported by that disciplined execution and a materially stronger North American profitability. The strategic investments in Vietnam, South Korea and indeed the U.K. Global Innovation Hub are on track. As you've heard from Nick today, we have set out proposals, and these are still just proposals to optimize our U.K. business alongside the buildup of Vietnam and the greater use of Poland and the continued investment in innovation, automation and process improvement. It's the right step to keep the U.K. footprint fit for the long term. This is about continued investment in our U.K. manufacturing business. This is getting the right fit footprint for the future. On footwear, I want to be really straight with you.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

As the production transfers to Vietnam and as we move from foam shape to 3D preforms, we expect footwear revenue to be lower through the second half of 2026, and indeed into 2027, before recovering from 2028. This is not unexpected. This is a planned transition. It is not a change in the long-term opportunity. We remain very confident in the medium-term ambition of revenue above GBP 230 million and operating profit above GBP 40 million by the full year 2029. While the timing of profit progression will reflect that transition, we are increasingly confident in the materially stronger value creation from 2028 onwards. That's the presentation. With that, Nick and I will move over to take your questions. I see that we've got quite a few in. Let me just have a quick scan through and we'll go top to bottom, first come, first served.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

First question is, "Will pre-tax profit be flat in 2027 compared to 2026 due to lower footwear sales and margins balanced by growth in other areas and by cost cutting in the U.K.?" Nick, want to?

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Yeah. Thank you, Ronan. We are at the very start of our planning process for 2027 in terms of going through our five-year plan and moving into our budget process, and therefore we have not given formal guidance for 2027. That said, we are very cognizant of 2027 being a year of transition for the reasons that Ronan's highlighted. I would hope there would be some modest progress in terms of profitability between 2027 and 2026. We're in the process of finalizing those plans. As Ronan said, it is a year of transition, and that will be reflected in those plans.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Perfect. Thanks, Nick. Next question is, "Will the expansion in Vietnam move the revenue concentration back to footwear? Do you think the foundations away from footwear will grow equally?" We want to grow both. That's the bottom line here. Footwear, there's an amazing opportunity, but the strategy is now set that a development of the business in Vietnam, I think it's key. I can see that business growing materially. We've also got great avenues for growth in the rest of the business. We want to grow both, and the success of having a more balanced business, I think that that's the way that we would like to be. That doesn't mean that we hold back footwear. We press on footwear and we press on everywhere else at the same time. "What is the current spare capacity in the U.S.?

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Do you have line of sight filling that capacity?" The capacity is very much dependent on mix. I think that what we have consistently said is that we believe that we could double the revenues in the U.S., so taking it very close to $100 million without having to invest significantly. We think the big pieces of investment have already been made there. The next question is, "Your 2029 forecast of sales of GBP 230 million, operating profit of GBP 40 million, does this forecast include M&A?" No, it doesn't. M&A would layer on top of that. "Why are you confident of 17.4% operating margin?" Well, a lot about our business is about getting operational gearing. I think we're right sizing our facilities. When we optimize, we've got experience of those sort of margins, and we're confident that we can maintain those.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Where do you expect footwear operating margins to reach in 2028 compared to, say, H1 2026?" I think that is getting to a level of granularity we prefer not to get to, simply because it can be identified down to one single customer. I think that we can have very healthy margins and give great value at the same time to our key customer there. I am confident that that move to Vietnam will be very successful for that business. "How did non-footwear operating margins normally compare to footwear operating margins?" Nick, do you want to answer that?

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Yeah. Across the range of products outside of footwear, we have a wide range of margins, is the truth. Some are higher margins than footwear and some of those product ranges are lower. It really is a range. You can see the non-footwear growth in the first half. As well as growing that non-footwear revenue, we have managed to improve our margins. Overall, it is very much, as Ronan's highlighted before, mix dependent. We are confident that there is good opportunities to grow the non-footwear business and to grow that and have good margins in non-footwear as well.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Okay. Next question is, "When do you expect the footwear operations to run smoothly?" I assume that means the footwear operations in Vietnam. "By June 2027." Listen, I think that we have made incredible progress at commissioning machines. First testing in October. Real sort of production will start towards the end of Q1, middle of Q2 next year. That is dependent on the programs that we focus in there. It normally takes a factory a good amount of time to operate and optimize. I think that will be up and running, with initial production in June 2027. It is going to take through the whole of 2027 to optimize. In fact, I think that we will be optimizing that factory forever, as most factories do. I think the main learning is going to take place the whole way through 2027.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

That is why we very much describe footwear in 2027 as a year of transition. The first battleship that you make is always a little bit more expensive. The second one is better, the third one is better and better, and you optimize. It is no different if you are making midsoles or ships. We will use all of 2027 to optimize. I think that by the time we get to the end of 2027, we will be in a good place, but I would imagine optimization it will be a case of continuous improvement forever.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Okay. Having customers in the Korean development facility, is this outside of the exclusive deal? No, it is not. It is when we talk about customers. Our direct customers in the footwear industry are the tier 1 producers for Nike, with whom we have the exclusive contract. They are very important in the supply chain. They are very important as development partners. Nike don't make any shoes. They make all the shoes. Actually, this is coming together really close as a component supplier with all of those tier 1.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

That's what we use a development center to do because we work together now to design and help with the design of new models and bring new fantastic foams onto those shoes. That is what we focus on. Okay. The like-for-like sales of 6%, how much of this growth is volume? Do you want to describe the big volume movements there, Nick? Do you want to describe that?

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

Yeah. As we've talked, it's all about mix. Volumes in both our EMEA factories, U.K. and Poland, and the U.S. this first half have been very high. We've been producing at record volume. In terms of replacing some of that footwear with non-footwear revenue, some of that is at lower margin and therefore higher volumes. There's quite a lot of increased volume that's gone through the business in the first half. We've also benefited from price and also from the surcharges that I've mentioned as well.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Excellent. Next question is, can you see the Nike, Inc. recovering in 2027 and why? I wouldn't really comment on Nike itself. I don't think that would be appropriate. What we see is that the running sector or the running shoe sector within Nike remains very strong and competitive. We believe in winning with the winners, and we see Nike as a winner. As the single largest footwear brand in the world, I think that we're very happy that they're the people that we're working with at the moment. Okay, next question. Specific to the Croydon facility, there has been significant investment in Croydon during the last 10 years. Does the repurposing mean that the autoclaves will be redundant? If so, can they be repurposed or sold, or will the cost be written off?

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

I think the first thing that just to really stress is that the discussions around Croydon are only proposals. Should those proposals go ahead, we still think that the Croydon facility is a fantastic facility. We're just focusing on making it fit for the future. We would see that we would continue to use much of the equipment there, and anything that we didn't, I would've thought if the proposal went ahead, that we could find other ways to use it. As I said, these are only proposals at the moment. Croydon as a site, and the next question is, what is your plan for the site in Croydon? Well, first, we've got a wonderful workforce there. We're consulting on them on these proposals, and we will treat them with great dignity and respect as we go through that. We see a long-term future for that site.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Today it exports a huge amount of its material. Tomorrow it will be innovating and making different products, I would suggest. Some of it created in the Global Innovation Hub in Croydon and servicing its customers closer to that base. I still see an ongoing role for the Croydon site. We've got, as I say, great people, great equipment. What we are proposing to do is to work with our colleagues to make it even fitter to make sure. We've been on Croydon for over 90 years. We as a business are over 100 years old. We see it still a long, and we want to have a long future for the Croydon facility. We wouldn't be putting our innovation center on that site if we didn't have faith in it in the future. Great to see the updates on Vietnam and Korea.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Can I suggest you formally share more updates on the positive progress incrementally as it occurs rather than just in results? Fair point. We'll think about that. We do concentrate all of our updates really with our customer. Would think about how we might do that. It might be commercially sensitive to do that beyond this, but point taken. Let me take it away and think about that. We can certainly post more stuff on the likes of LinkedIn as we're there to show as machines come on board. Maybe that will be the format. Nick, this is a perfect one for you just by reading the first two words, it says net debt. Net debt has continued to rise despite the improving profitability, largely due to higher working capital.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Can you quantify how much of the increase is temporary and linked to the Vietnam transition, and when investors should expect working capital to unwind and net debt to begin falling? Over to you.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

It's a great question. In terms of the working capital movement, as I said in the presentation, about half of that relates to inventory. Of that, just slightly over half relates to footwear. The other half of that is really about a combination of the increased activity levels in North America and making sure that we secure supply for our customers. That is our customers' top priority, that they can see security of supply in the current situation. I would expect that we will be carrying higher levels of working capital as we manage that transition from the U.K. to our new facility in Vietnam, probably throughout the rest of this year and through 2027.

Nick Wright
Nick Wright
Group CFO at Zotefoams Plc

It's absolutely important that we make that transition a success, a key to that success is making sure that we, at all stages, can continue to meet the needs of our customer with product. That's what we're committed to doing to support them through that transition. I expect that working capital will be high throughout 2027 as we manage that transition, then we'd expect it to normalize.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Perfect. Last question is, how is the partnership with Seoheung going? I think that it's been tremendous. I genuinely don't think that we would be where we are without the partnership. They've got in-region, in-country experience, Korea, Vietnam, they know the footwear industry. We have rented a facility off their sister company. They have allowed us to employ people from their business that are experts in injection molding, which is, we have been an extrusion business. They've brought that injection molding expertise, footwear expertise, have helped us navigate everything in and around establishing a business there. They've been tremendous. Wonderful partners, great people. Fantastic to work with, I think they've really helped us with establishing the business to where we are at the moment. Okay. Actually, wow, we've managed to get through all the questions. Lily.

Operator

That's great. Thank you for taking the time to address all those questions that came in from investors. Of course, the company can review all questions submitted today, and we'll publish those responses on the Investor Meet Company platform. Just before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to the company, Ronan, could I please just ask you for a few closing comments?

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Thank you, Lily. I think there's probably five things, it's quite a lot to leave you with, but five things I'd like you to sort of take away today. I think the first of all is that the H1 is a proof point, it's not a promise. H1 is hard evidence that the expanding beyond the core strategy is working. Profits are up, margins are up, growth in other sectors. That's really important. A broader and more balanced business than we were a year ago. I think the second thing is that footwear is normalizing the plan, the future of the footwear platform is being built. Okay? Nearer to the customer, shorter supply chain, lower cost. There is a short-term drag, we will be structurally stronger in this market from 2028 onwards. Third thing I would say is that disciplined M&A is paying.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

We had our first M&A, H1 showing that we can do that. OKC has been an earnings accretive acquisition ahead of plan. Fourth, we've got a very strong balance sheet. We are self-funding the transition. As we transform and we work on our transition, leverage remains below one. We've got a GBP 50 million headroom. Dividend is up. We can fund Vietnam, we can fund the Global Innovation Hub, we can fund the whole OKC purchase. Finally, the fifth point is we've got a fantastic business that's been built by the colleagues that are all around us. Croydon has been at the core of the business. It will continue to be an incredibly important part of this business going forward. What we have proposed is about the fitness for the long term. It is not a retreat from the U.K.

Ronan Cox
Ronan Cox
Group CEO at Zotefoams Plc

Far from it. We are repositioning the site around innovation. We are repositioning it around different applications while committing ourselves to U.K. manufacturing. We are entering into a consultation process. These are just proposals. This is not a retreat from the U.K. That's it. I'd like to thank everyone for joining us this afternoon. Thank you for all your questions. Thank you to all our shareholders for all of your support. Thank you very much.

Operator

Ronan, Nick, thank you for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close this session, as you'll now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This may only take a few moments to complete and I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation and good afternoon to you all.

Executives
    • Ronan Cox
      Ronan Cox
      Group CEO
    • Nick Wright
      Nick Wright
      Group CFO
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