Morgan Advanced Materials H1 2026 Earnings Report

Morgan Advanced Materials EPS Results

• Actual EPS: GBX 10.70
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Morgan Advanced Materials Revenue Results

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

Morgan Advanced Materials Announcement Details

• Quarter: H1 2026
• Date: 8/7/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, August 6, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 5:00AM ET

Morgan Advanced Materials (LON:MGAM) operates as a materials science and application engineering company primarily the United Kingdom. It serves customers in the industrial, transportation, petrochemical and chemical, energy, semiconductor and electronics, healthcare, and security and defense markets. The company was formerly known as The Morgan Crucible Company plc and changed its name to Morgan Advanced Materials plc in March 2013. Morgan Advanced Materials plc was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Windsor, the United Kingdom.

Morgan Advanced Materials H1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Underlying revenue grew 3% organically at constant currency in the first half, led by aerospace and energy, while adjusted operating margin improved to 9.6% excluding the nonrecurring take-or-pay benefit.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical Ceramics delivered 7.8% constant-currency growth and expanded margin to 13%, supported by aerospace ceramic cores and industrial gas-turbine demand; management is adding capacity to support further growth.
• Negative Sentiment: The GBP 8.9 million take-or-pay payment was recognized in the first half and will not repeat, creating a material second-half comparison headwind. Performance Carbon also saw weaker armor and industrial-equipment demand, while European industrial markets remain cautious.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management maintained its full-year outlook for approximately 2% organic constant-currency revenue growth and expects second-half margin to be broadly in line with the first half excluding the take-or-pay benefit; year-end leverage is expected at about 1.7x EBITDA.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational initiatives are progressing, including the Augusta site turnaround, procurement savings and the closure and relocation of the Hayward site. Management expects at least GBP 20 million of margin improvement from these actions by 2028 and remains on track for its 12% margin target.

Presentation

[Operator]

Welcome everyone, thank you for joining the Morgan Advanced Materials Half-Year Results 2026 Call. My name is Gabrielle and I will be coordinating your call today. During the presentation, you can register a question by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. I will now hand over to your host, Damien Caby, Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Advanced Materials. Please go ahead.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Good morning, everyone. I'm Damien Caby, Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Advanced Materials. I'm joined on the call today by Richard Armitage, our CFO. I will start today with a summary of our half-year results. Richard will take you through the financial position, the outlook, as well as the technical guidance. I will then come back to share progress against the strategy that we have unveiled in December last year, and then we'll move on to Q&A. I am pleased to report that performance for the first six months of the year is in line with expectation. Revenue shows positive momentum and operating profit margin is improving sequentially. We're making clear progress against our strategy to unlock our potential by transforming our operational effectiveness and driving stronger and more profitable growth.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Within our transform effectiveness strategic lever, we're progressing well on two large site turnarounds and on the delivery of benefits from our group procurement approach. In drive growth, we have established focus teams to accelerate in selected key markets, and we have already started to deliver wins from our enhanced OEM engagement strategy. In maximize portfolio, as previously announced, the group is undertaking a strategic review of its Thermal Products division with a full range of options under consideration, including a potential disposal. We have made good progress in assessing the division's growth prospects, and we're preparing for a number of options. Further updates will be provided in due course as appropriate. We are on track to achieve our financial framework and deliver our 12% margin target in 2028.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

During the first half of 2026, excluding the positive impact of the phasing of a take-or-pay payment, which Richard will explain shortly, the group revenue grew by 3% organically at constant currency. This was primarily driven by two areas. Firstly, in our energy business, our strategy to combine collaboration with OEMs at the design stage to benefit from the strong investment cycle and generate aftermarket pool. With alignment with operators and their priorities to secure strong aftermarket sales, has helped us to take advantage of increased investment in power supply and storage. Secondly, our aerospace and defense business has continued to grow, driven by aviation with both new engine and MRO orders. This was partly offset by lower demand for body armor and defense. Elsewhere, our sales were resilient. This first-half demonstrates our strategic momentum to drive stronger growth and transform our operational effectiveness.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

I am pleased by our visible progress towards unlocking our potential. I will now hand over to Richard.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Thank you, Damien, and good morning, everyone. I would like to start with an overview of the financial results for the six months to the 30th of June 2026. Revenue was GBP 518 million, an increase of 4.8% on an organic constant currency basis, resulting from growth in our aerospace and energy end markets. Our revenue includes an GBP 8.9 million phasing benefit from a take-or-pay arrangement with one of our semiconductor customers, which will not repeat in H2. If we exclude this phasing benefit, revenue grew by 3% on a constant currency basis. Group headline adjusted operating profit was GBP 57.8 million, giving an adjusted operating margin of 11.2%. Operating margin also reflects the GBP 8.9 million phasing benefit, without which it would have been 9.6%. Return on invested capital was 14.5%, slightly below our through cycling trajectory.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Free cash flow saw an inflow of GBP 3.5 million, broadly in line with the first half of 2025, and reflecting the investments we continue to make into the group. Adjusted EPS was GBP 0.107 per share, and we have held the interim dividend flat at GBP 0.054. Specific adjusting items amounted to GBP 18.4 million for the half year, driven primarily by expenditure on the implementation of our group wide ERP system. Turning to look at the reporting segments in more detail, we can see that Performance Carbon revenue increased by 4% on a constant currency basis, which includes the GBP 8.9 million take-or-pay revenue.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

This take-or-pay contract related to the reduction in our outlook for semiconductor revenue that we announced during the second half of 2025, arising from the sourcing of certain products moving to China. Whilst we had expected to supply these products during the second half of 2026, the customer has settled their contractual requirements in full during the first half. Excluding this phasing item, revenue declined by 1.8% versus the prior year, with strong growth in energy, notably in wind, more than offset by reduced demand for body armor and industrial equipment. As has been seen before, the demand for body armor is driven by uneven government procurement patterns. We do expect to see an increase in demand going into 2027 with new products being launched. We would also note some caution around the outlook within our European industrial segments where we're starting to see slightly softer demand.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Margin improved by 70 basis points, driven by the GBP 8.9 million take-or-pay income which will not repeat in H2. Excluding this item, margin showed a deterioration caused primarily by the lower armor sales. Technical Ceramics saw strong growth during the first half, growing 7.8% on a constant currency basis. The main growth driver continues to be aerospace and defense, with growth driven by demand for ceramic cores, a critical component in the manufacture of jet engine turbine blades. Aerospace and defense now accounts for 39% of divisional revenues following strong growth over the last few years. We also saw strong growth in energy driven by increasing demand for industrial gas turbines to power data centers. Operating margin improved by 130 basis points to 13%, mainly due to a strong drop through on revenue growth.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

We have spoken before of the opportunity for revenue growth to help drive margin expansion in this way, which was clearly demonstrated by Technical Ceramics in the first half. Thermal Products returned to growth during the first half of 2026, showing 2.5% growth on a constant currency basis. We saw a strong performance in Asia, driven by growth in metals processing in India and China. In North America, increased CPI project revenue and demand for our innovative energy storage solutions also supported growth. However, European revenue is being impacted by weaker investment in process industries attributed to the geopolitical environment. Coming into the year, we did experience a number of operational challenges arising mainly from equipment failures in our main North American facility affecting margin. These have been addressed, and we're starting to see a steady improvement in performance. Turning now to our profit margin bridge.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

We have attempted to illustrate the movement firstly from the first half of last year to the second, and then from the second half of last year to the first half of this year. The comparison from H1 to H2 of last year was firstly driven by a number of one-off items in the first half that did not repeat in the second. However, the principal driver was volume and mix, where we saw a sharp decline in demand from industrial markets, as well as declines in revenue from armor, semiconductor, and healthcare that affected our margin mix. We have then started to see a solid improvement in margin this year, driven by a 250 basis point contribution from efficiency and simplification, which substantially reversed the decline in the second half of last year. We did experience some operational issues earlier in the year, primarily affecting Thermal Products, as noted.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

I would also note that we have successfully offset inflation through pricing of around 2%, as is our usual practice. Finally, the payment under a take-or-pay agreement added 160 basis points to margin. Excluding this operating margin in our first half would have been 9.6%, a significant improvement over the second half of last year, and a result that gives us confidence in being able to make further progress towards our target of 12% margin by 2028. Moving to specific adjusting items. In the first half, we incurred costs of GBP 18.4 million. Restructuring costs of GBP 9.4 million include the costs associated with the closure of a Technical Ceramics site in the U.S. This investment will allow us to optimize margin over the longer term, and Damien will talk more about our site turnaround plans, which are progressing well.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Once completed, this closure will bring our simplification program to an end, delivering a total annual run rate of GBP 27 million of ongoing cost benefits for an implementation cost of GBP 45 million. The work we have done to reduce our manufacturing cost base over the last three years, coupled with our planned optimization opportunities, will accelerate margin improvement via a healthy drop through as end markets recover. This will support the achievement during 2028 of our 12% margin target. Expenditure on our ERP rollout plan has progressed as planned with GBP 11.5 million incurred on configuration and implementation in the period. We expect to incur between GBP 22 million and GBP 24 million of total spend during 2026 before the program starts to wind down towards the end of 2027.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

We have also recorded a gain in the fair value of our shares in Foseco India Limited as at 30th of June of GBP 2.5 million, which values our holding at GBP 49 million.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Moving on to cash flow. I would firstly note that working capital showed an outflow of GBP 23.5 million during the period, reflecting normal first half seasonality. We expect this to substantially reverse during the second half. Net capital expenditure amounted to GBP 12.5 million, significantly lower than the prior year as our investment in semiconductor capacity came to an end, and due to the phasing of spend on certain other projects. Exceptional items totaled GBP 15.2 million, and free cash flow was therefore an inflow of GBP 3.5 million. Cash flow includes a further GBP 4.4 million benefit from supplier financing and non-recourse debt factoring programs, which totaled GBP 42.6 million at the 30th of June.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Net debt finished at GBP 253 million, excluding lease liabilities, in line with our expectations and representing 2x EBITDA. We anticipate that leverage will improve during the second half as free cash flow continues to normalize and as we realize the proceeds from the disposal of our shares in Foseco India. As a result of this, we expect year-end leverage to be around 1.7x. As a reminder of our capital allocation policy, our target leverage remains in the 1x-1.5x range in relation to ongoing operations, which we will make progress towards reaching over the next 12 months. As before, once our leverage is within this range, we would consider a temporary increase into the 1.5x-2x range in the event of a compelling acquisition.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Whilst capital investment remains a priority to support organic growth opportunities, we foresee limited needs for capacity investment and expect to be able to maintain overall CapEx at around GBP 50 million or 1.2x depreciation for the next three years. We will maintain the dividend for now, then grow it in line with adjusted earnings once cover returns to around 2.5x. Once stabilized, we will consider the need to fund inorganic investment alongside additional returns to shareholders. The board will review this situation regularly, recognizing the opportunity that additional returns present to return cash to shareholders and enhance earnings. Now I will move on to technical guidance. Simplification costs for 2026 are expected to amount to around GBP 10 million, bringing the program to a close. ERP expenditure is expected to be in the range of GBP 22 million to GBP 24 million.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

We continue to expect capital expenditure of around GBP 50 million during 2026, weighted to the second half due to phasing. Our net finance charge will be around GBP 24 million, increasing on the prior year, in part due to the expiry of GBP 94 million of fixed debt during the year on which we have been paying an average interest rate of 3%. Our effective tax rate is expected to be in the 27%-29% range due to our geographic mix of profitability. We expect year-end leverage to be around 1.7x, showing a positive trajectory towards our target range of 1x-1.5x.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

It is worth highlighting that with our simplification and ERP programs coming to an end in 2027, and with capital expenditure expected to remain close to 1x depreciation in the medium term, we expect to be generating positive free cash flow by the end of 2027. Finally, I will move on to the outlook for 2026. We are mindful of the current geopolitical and macroeconomic environment, particularly within European industrial markets. We therefore expect organic constant currency revenue growth of around 2% for the full year. Noting also a headwind due to foreign exchange, we expect an adjusted operating profit margin for the second half, broadly in line with that of the first, excluding the GBP 8.9 million phasing benefit from the take-or-pay agreement. Thank you. I would now like to hand back to Damien.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Thank you, Richard. Let me now shift the focus towards our strategic progress. We have been executing at pace on our strategy to unlock our potential, achieve 12% margin by 2028, and then reach 14% margin via stronger margin enhancing growth. Our strategy is founded on three levers: transforming operational effectiveness, driving stronger growth, and maximizing portfolio value. In transforming operational effectiveness, we're carrying on and moving beyond continuous improvement. We are addressing large underperforming sites. We are leveraging the group's scale for procurement and back-office efficiency, and we are enhancing business analytics for faster and better-informed decisions. In driving stronger growth, we are adding incremental capacity to fulfill multi-year contracts, and we are proactively pursuing customer collaborations in selected markets, focusing where we have the strongest way to win. Stronger partnerships with key customers help us embed more into the installed base to benefit from aftermarket recurring revenue.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

In maximizing our portfolio value, we continue to shape our portfolio and establish partnerships to achieve or expand advantaged positions in our selected areas. This chart summarizes the significant progress that we've made over the first half of 2026 and our next steps. As you can see, there is a lot going on, and we're managing our initiatives and priorities via a new operating cadence. The adoption and engagement have been strong, and I'm very pleased to report that we're on track on all key actions, and confident in our ability to continue to progress on all fronts and achieve our goals. Starting with transform operational effectiveness, during 2025, we launched our first large site turnaround, and in 2026 we initiated at a second large site. I will provide more information on these two sites later in my presentation.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Both transformations will be completed by the end of 2027. Further sites are under review. The implementation of our new group procurement function remains firmly on track. We have established spend visibility and initiated the shift from reactive purchasing to proactive category management. This will unlock better cost, higher supply resilience, and lower working capital. We are already executing on savings initiatives. We will see the first tangible benefits in the second half of 2026. Our goal is to embed category management across the business by the end of the year and quickly expand the scope of the savings. We remain confident that the site turnaround and procurement initiatives will deliver at least GBP 20 million of margin improvement by 2028, supporting our 12% margin. Moving on to drive growth.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

The team at Thermal Products in the U.S. and Performance Carbon have increased delivery reliability, which has contributed to higher revenue. Across our businesses, focus teams have been set up or reinforced in selected markets to drive stronger growth. Our business leaders set a rigorous commercial operating cadence to drive cross-functional project management and pace on commercial opportunities. They have been increasing their engagement with key customers to enhance the way we collaborate with OEMs. I will come back to this in a few minutes. We have been rapidly deploying incremental capital to expand our capacity for parts used in ion implantation in silicon semiconductor fabrication, and we are seeing a 15% growth in sales. As previously reported, we're also enhancing the capabilities of our armor business to support future growth for vehicles. This is backed by government contracts and will support our growth during 2027.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

To maximize our portfolio value, we're pursuing partnerships along our strategic value chains. As previously announced, we are undertaking a strategic review of Thermal Products. We've made good progress in assessing the division's growth prospects and are preparing for a number of options. I would now like to spend a few minutes to share more detail on some of our high-impact initiatives, starting with site turnarounds. The opportunity to transform operational effectiveness at a few of our larger sites is significant, and it will allow us to unlock growth and improve margins. We have identified sites representing 20% of group revenue as targets for this initiative. During 2025, we started our first large turnaround at our site in Augusta, Georgia. This site is one of the largest facilities in the group, manufacturing multiple Thermal Products lines for our North America customer base.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

It has been facing increasing supply chain and product line complexity and reliability challenges. This has resulted over time in productivity and delivery issues, which have in turn impacted profit and revenue. During 2025, we launched a multi-year program of work to create a more predictable, scalable and competitive manufacturing operation. This is a comprehensive program which includes changes to production inventory planning, optimization of the product portfolio, operational effectiveness and reliability improvements. This turnaround is progressing well. The new finished inventory concept is 70% implemented and has been underpinning a more than 50% reduction in lead times and 12% growth in sales. Across several production lines, where the deployment of improved operating principles and management systems is in progress, we have seen meaningful, sustained improvements in productivity yield and equipment effectiveness. This turnaround is not complete yet. There is much more to go for.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

These are tangible signs of progress. We're expanding and accelerating the deployment to achieve material and sustainable margin improvements from 2027 onwards. This year, we have initiated action on our ceramic site at Hayward, California. We announced its closure in March and the relocation of its production to alternative sites in the U.S. and Europe to optimize asset utilization. The qualification of the new manufacturing locations and the phase transfer of assets is well underway. We expect to see the benefits of this relocation start to drop through from 2028. We're also seeing benefits from our driving stronger growth strategic lever. We're taking focused action to accelerate growth in selected key markets. Let me illustrate how this works in energy, which is an attractive segment underpinned by the electricity requirements of AI and data centers, the intermittency of lower carbon power generation, and challenges of grid resilience.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

The reinforcement of our collaboration with leading OEMs in this field has contributed to make it one of our fastest-growing end markets. In battery energy storage systems, our growth is driven by differentiated materials for higher performance rather than by like-for-like products. In this application, our microporous products are increasingly replacing our gels and thermal runaway protection due to their attractive cost and performance proposition in lithium iron phosphate chemistry. In fuel cells, we're providing complete multi-product thermal insulation solutions, and we're gaining share with a global leader. Our engagement with wind turbine OEMs has also contributed to drive growth in energy. The qualifications that we have achieved via best-in-class materials and designs generate aftermarket pull-through revenue. In rail, we've been regularly achieving above-market growth. To drive further growth in the aftermarket, we are reinforcing our collaboration with leading OEMs to be better built into the installed base.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

We are reinforcing our presence in Asia, where we've recently secured new current collector business. These are just four examples of OEM partnerships in an attractive and growing market where we are building on our strength and establishing a spec in sustainable position and driving our share gain. To conclude our presentation today, we have achieved positive momentum in revenue and profit during the first half. I'm pleased with the progress of our strategy. All three levers are on track. The strategy will continue to drive benefits during H2 and increasing benefits during 2027 and 2028. We're on track to achieve our financial framework and deliver on our 12% margin target in 2028. As previously noted, regarding the strategic review of Thermal Products, we're making good progress in assessing the division's growth prospects and are preparing for a number of options. Our commercial and strategic agendas are ambitious.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

The Morgan team has embraced them with strong engagement and energy while keeping focus on the safety of our operations and on the quality of our products and of our supply to our customers. Many people across the organization are resolutely stepping out of their comfort zone to participate in the implementation of our new ERP, to redesign processes, to transform the way we operate in some of our sites, to contribute to cross-functional market or customer focus teams. My greatest satisfaction is to see our strategy and this commitment unlock our potential. Thank you. That ends our formal presentation. We will now take questions, and I will hand back to the operator to coordinate that.

[Operator]

Thank you, Damien. Our first question today is from Scott Cagehin from Investec. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

[Scott Cagehin, Analyst at Investec]

Thank you. Thanks, chaps, for the presentation and taking my questions. First question, could you just explain a little bit more about take-or-pay and why the timing is what it was and how that come about? Secondly, could you just give us a little bit more color on European industrial, where you're seeing things specifically? Thirdly, on energy, is it very specific to one particular area? Just a bit of color on all those would be very helpful. Thank you.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Morning, Scott. Thank you for the questions. Yes, the take-or-pay contract was one of several that we have in place. The revenue had been anticipated to be fulfilled mainly in the second half of this year. The customer no longer requires that particular set of products. They have honored the take-or-pay agreement, and they paid it to us and satisfied that obligation during the first half. It's pretty much as straightforward as that.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Thanks, Scott. Regarding European industrial situation, as Richard noted, we saw a decline in Thermal Products in Europe in the first half. As you know, the thermal business is partially exposed to the CapEx cycle. We've seen some attentism and cautiousness in the market to make big turnarounds or expand capacities in Europe. Looking into the second half of the year, we're expecting a similar trend. We're also seeing, when we look at our order book, a bit of the same attentism or cautiousness in other parts of our business beyond the Thermal Products, particularly in Performance Carbon. That's where we can see, we expect to see a bigger impact of the geopolitical situation at this time. Energy is a good question. It's coming actually from several end markets and several applications.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Richard mentioned that there is a significant demand increase in industrial gas turbines, tied to the increase in demand and tied to AI data centers and things of this nature. We've also seen some nice growth in wind. We're seeing, as I mentioned, significant growth in battery storage, which are areas where we're not only growing with the market, but we're actually establishing a nice position with our technologies and essentially establishing or growing a share in a market that's growing. You have the double multiplier effect.

[Scott Cagehin, Analyst at Investec]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you, Scott. Our next question is from Jonathan Hurn from Barclays. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

[Jonathan Hurn, Analyst at Barclays]

Hey, guys. Good morning. I have three questions as well, please. First one is just on aerospace and Technical Ceramics. Obviously, you saw really good growth in that in the first half. Can you talk a little bit about capacity there? Are you seeing any sort of capacity constraints for your ceramic cores? Because obviously you're also selling those into industrial gas turbines. That was the first question. The second one was just about MMS and disposal. I think in terms of the shares that you received, the lock-up finished at the end of June. In terms of interest in disposing that stake, has there been quite good interest? What's going to be the process? How fast do we think that can come through?

[Jonathan Hurn, Analyst at Barclays]

The third one, I think you're probably a bit limited about what you can say here, just in terms of Thermal Products, obviously you've said there's a number of options and flagged sale as one of them. In terms of the options outside of that, can you maybe just give us a little bit more color, if you can, in terms of the structure of those additional options for Thermal Products? Those are the three. Thank you.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Morning, Jonathan. Starting with aerospace, yes, there is good growth. We're quite used to introducing additional capacity in fairly modest tranches to support growth in that business. That we will continue to do. It happens that one of the projects that leads us to have a higher rate of CapEx in the second half of the year versus the first is exactly one of those. We're anticipating further growth. We are putting in capacity as required, and we'll carry on doing so. Disposal of Foseco India, we've done some very good preparations. The lockout period concluded on the 25th of June. They actually have quarterly reporting, so they enter the closed period 1st of July through to about a week from now. That limits what you can do in that period.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

We've had very good interest indeed from a number of institutions, once the close period is finished, we will be launching a process with those institutions, anticipating selling our holding during the second half of the year. Finally, on Thermal Products. Yes, you're right, the process is ongoing. We made good progress at evaluating our options. We have noted that one of those is to sell the business. Clearly, we've made no decision yet. The alternative really is, given the very interesting growth opportunities we've identified in the business, given the opportunity for margin expansion that Damien has outlined in some detail. It is understanding in full what that will look like over time, and thinking about what is the best way for the business to realize its potential. I think that's the best way of describing the alternative, if that makes sense.

[Jonathan Hurn, Analyst at Barclays]

No, that's very clear. Thank you very much, guys. Appreciate it.

[Operator]

Thank you, Jonathan. Our next question is from Harry Philips from Peel Hunt. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

[Harry Philips, Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Good morning. Excuse me. Good morning, everyone. Three questions also, if I could. First, just a little bit of clarity around the reference to equipment performance in Thermal Products? Damien, you sort of referred to that in your speech. The second is just trying to get an idea of the 2027 profit bridge, because we've obviously got some performed gains to come through, but there's still quite a lot of costs around and sort of a lot of moving parts. Obviously can see the goal of 12% and then that sound. It's just next year, it just seems to be quite a lot of, as I say, elements moving around and just Maybe some clarity around those, or at least certainly something realistic to work off?

[Harry Philips, Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Lastly, just on semiconductor more broadly, obviously with one customer doing the take-or-pay, where is the sort of semiconductor business? Is it commissionable? Is it at a conclusion as it currently stands? Just where are we on that particular part of the business, please?

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

I'll start with the 2027 viewpoint, Harry. Good morning. Then hand over to Damien. I think I'd refer you back to our CMD presentation last December, and we were working off a base of about 9% margin. We showed our intention to return to 12% by 2028. There are three components to that. One is we assumed relatively modest revenue growth. If you remember, we were not banking on a particularly strong margin market recovery, and that sort of assumed growth of around 2% a year. We had the site turnaround plans, which is why that's so important. Then we had other operational improvements, things like procurement starting to take advantage of our investment in digital tools, basically to get better at running the business. Each of those contributed to that 9%-12% bridge in roughly equal proportions.

[Richard Armitage, CFO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Thinking about 2027, I think we're reasonably comfortable with where consensus is currently sitting, and you can envisage that we get there through those three courses of action.

[Harry Philips, Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Perfect. Thank you.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Good morning, Harry. On equipment performance in Augusta, it has multiple lines on this asset. A few of them had some recurring availability issues. As Richard noted, this has been addressed. This was primarily happening in Q1. The team did a great job at addressing these issues. We had some impact on delivery and some impact on cost. This is something that sometimes happens, and given the site, it did have an impact that Richard expressed. Our semiconductor business, where is this? I think it's important to note that our semiconductor business is a combination of two or plays in multiple parts of the value chain. There's been a lot of focus on the investment that we made two years ago or three years ago regarding the supply of materials or silicon carbide semiconductor.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

What we're seeing today is a significant rebound of demand in the other part of the silicon business, which is tied to the area of memory chips. Strong demand, especially in the places that are tied to the manufacturing of these assets and less to the equipment growth and new builds of the fabs. That's across our Technical Ceramics and Performance Carbon divisions. As far as the material growth part of the business is concerned, as noted previously, this supply chain is largely moving to China. There is, however, still demand in the West, in Europe, and in the U.S., which we're intending and actually are supplying. That means that the utilization of the capacity that we've invested in is lower than anticipated, but is there, and we're commissioning these assets progressively as demand comes back.

[Harry Philips, Analyst at Peel Hunt]

Perfect. Thanks very much indeed.

[Operator]

Thank you, Harry. We currently have no further questions, I will hand back to Damien Caby for closing remarks.

[Damien Caby, CEO at Morgan Advanced Materials]

Thank you. Thank you everyone for attending our presentation today. Just in closing, say that I'm very pleased with the progress during the first six months of the year. It's great to see that the group has shown positive momentum in revenue and in profit during this period. Also good to see that we're making strong progress in executing our strategy to unlock the group's full potential through enhanced operational effectiveness and stronger, higher quality growth. I'm pleased as well that we're on track, as Richard mentioned just before, to achieve our financial framework and to deliver on our 12% margin target by 2028. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you. This concludes today's Morgan Advanced Materials H1 Results 2026 Call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your line

Participants

Executives

• Damien Caby, CEO
• Richard Armitage, CFO

Analysts

• Scott Cagehin, Analyst at Investec
• Jonathan Hurn, Analyst at Barclays
• Harry Philips, Analyst at Peel Hunt