RNS Announcement

RESULTS FOR THE HALF YEAR TO 30 SEPTEMBER 2025

Overview

Through continued strong profitable growth, against a backdrop of tariff-related uncertainty, the Group has shown the benefits of its positioning as an essential supplier for its global blue chip customers, providing mission-critical components that are integral to complex manufacturing systems.

Volex's diversified end-market exposure remains a core strength, minimising reliance on individual sectors and providing resilience through cycles. Over recent years, we have strategically expanded this diversity, securing leading positions in markets supported by enduring structural trends, notably Electric Vehicles, Medical, Complex Industrial Technology and Off-Highway.

During the period, organic revenue grew by 13.0% at constant exchange rates compared to the prior period, with total revenue growth of 12.7%.

Across our end-markets, demand trends varied in the first half of the year, with three of the five end-markets growing strongly, reflecting a range of market dynamics. Data Centre performance was exceptionally strong, supported by sustained demand for high-speed cables driven by data-intensive artificial intelligence applications. In contrast, as anticipated, the Medical end-market experienced softer demand, as customers adjusted procurement in response to lower healthcare and research expenditure and tariff-related considerations.

The Group's ability to serve a broad customer base and add value across critical production processes has supported sustained growth, even in a volatile manufacturing landscape. While short term demand fluctuations have persisted, profitability has been sustained over several years through disciplined cost control, operational efficiencies, productivity improvements and agile resource management. These results are underpinned by robust procurement practices and a Group-wide commitment to continuous operational improvement.

The underlying operating margin for the first half of the year was 9.8%. This is the sixth consecutive year in which margins have been maintained within the 9% to 10% target range, underscoring the adaptability and resilience of the operating model and the Group's ability to manage dynamic market challenges in multiple ways, deliver profitable growth and continue to invest in capacity and capabilities for the long term.

Trading performance overview

Revenue for the first half of the year increased by 12.7%, with organic growth of 13.0%. Organic growth was driven by a combination of new customer projects, exceptional demand from Data Centre customers and strong growth in Electric Vehicles, Complex Industrial Technology and Off-Highway. Gross margins improved year-on-year, primarily reflecting a favourable shift in the mix of products sold during the half.

The underlying operating margin rose to 9.8%, up 60 basis points from 9.2% in the same period last year and is consistent with the 9.8% achieved for the full year 2025. This result includes costs associated with strategic capability enhancements designed to support future growth.

Underlying profit before tax increased by 29.3% to $48.5 million, primarily reflecting the favourable shift in the mix of products, while underlying basic earnings per share rose by 29.6% to 19.7 cents. Statutory profit before tax, which includes the impact of adjusting items and share-based payment expenses, was $37.9 million, representing an increase of 43.0% over the prior period.

The underlying effective tax rate for the half year was 22.7% (H1 FY2025: 23.7%), this improvement reflected increased benefits from tax incentives for research and development expenditure and investment in infrastructure.

Underlying free cash flow for the period was $4.8 million, compared to an outflow of $11.5 million in H1 FY2025. This improvement in free cash flow generation was despite capital investments and working capital increases to support growth in the period.

Net debt (before operating lease liabilities) increased by $23.8 million from year-end, primarily due to both operational and capital investments aimed at supporting the Group's long term growth strategy. Covenant leverage, defined as the ratio of net debt excluding operating leases to covenant EBITDA, stood at 1.1x (FY2025: 1.0x), providing significant headroom for continued investment and acquisition opportunities.

Interim dividend

The Board has declared an interim dividend of 1.6 pence, representing an increase of 6.7% on the previous year, and remains committed to a progressive dividend policy, striking a balance between delivering growth through investment and returning cash to shareholders.

Realising our strategy

The Group's strategy is clear and consistent: to be a leading global provider of high-quality, diverse power and data connectivity solutions. This is achieved through a focused approach built on market leadership in structural growth sectors, targeted and sustained long term investment, embedded relationships, disciplined acquisitions and an agile, decentralised operating culture.

The markets we have chosen to operate in are highly fragmented and all display diverse, strong structural growth characteristics. Leveraging our technical expertise and customer focus, we have built market-leading positions across diverse markets that provide resilience throughout economic cycles and position us strongly for sustained outperformance.

Targeted strategic organic investments remain central to our growth ambitions. We prioritise initiatives that support our long term strategic ambitions, are driven by customer needs and guided by a disciplined evaluation process, typically requiring a two-year payback. Our ongoing investment in vertical integration has strengthened control over our supply chain, enhanced operational agility and protected margins. At the same time, continued investment in research and development has expanded our product portfolio, enabling us to collaborate closely with customers to design solutions that meet their evolving requirements.

Strong customer relationships are built through adding value. This can include early engagement on product development where our engineering teams work closely with the customer's specialist teams to develop and improve designs. The complexity of many of the solutions we deliver creates long-lived relationships, often lasting for the life of the relevant technical platform. Adopting a customer-first mindset drives organic revenue growth as we attract new business and grow our share of existing customer portfolios. We continuously monitor and optimise our manufacturing operations to enhance efficiency, reduce costs and further improve quality, ensuring we uphold the standards that distinguish our business.

Acquisitions remain a key pillar of our strategy. Since FY2019, we have successfully deployed nearly $400 million across 12 acquisitions, significantly broadening our product range, expanding our global manufacturing footprint and contributing meaningfully to earnings and margin growth.

As well as considering acquisition opportunities, we also keep our portfolio of operating businesses under review. On 2 April 2025, the Group contributed certain trade and assets of Terminal & Cable ('TC'), its Canadian Off-Highway business, into a newly incorporated partnership. The Group retains a 49% interest in the new venture. Under this structure, the business will qualify as a Canadian indigenous owned operation which will be a significant advantage when submitting tenders for defence and aerospace opportunities. TC contributed revenues of $2.9m to the Group in H1 FY2025 and revenues of $5.2m for FY2025 in total. As such, this was considered non-core. The investment in 49% of the new TC venture will be accounted for as an associate and the results of TC are no longer fully consolidated from April 2025 onwards.

Our success is underpinned by a deliberately decentralised culture that empowers local management teams, encourages accountability and enables faster, more effective customer responses. Local general managers behave entrepreneurially and keep close to customers, backed by shared quality systems and supply chain scale.

By staying true to our strategy, focusing on our chosen markets and maintaining our customer-centric approach, we are confident in our ability to sustain strong growth momentum and achieve our five-year plan target of reaching $1.2 billion in revenue by the end of FY2027, with an underlying operating margin of 9-10%.

Revenue by reportable segment

Volex is a global, interconnected and fully integrated business. Supporting our customers is at the heart of our business model and our extensive international footprint enables us to do so efficiently and effectively. As customers increasingly seek multi-location manufacturing solutions to mitigate supply chain risks associated with reliance on a single country and to navigate the evolved tariff environment, our global presence, with manufacturing capabilities in multiple strategic locations, has become a key differentiator in meeting the objectives of our blue chip customer base.

Our business is structured on a regional basis to serve these needs, with reporting lines through Regional Chief Operating Officers. Accordingly, we present our segmental information by region and analyse our customer revenue geographically on this basis. This structure reflects our customer-centric approach, with classification determined by where each customer relationship is managed.

North America is our largest customer region at 49.3% of overall revenue (H1 FY2025: 42.4%). In this region, we collaborate with some of the world's leading technology companies and global innovators. This sector includes products that we manufacture within the US, shipments to Canada and Mexico and exports worldwide, where the customer relationship is managed in North America. Revenue in this market grew by 30.8% to $287.5 million (H1 FY2025: $219.8 million), reflecting the exceptional growth from Data Centre customers in the period.

Asia revenue decreased by 19.7% to $77.8 million (H1 FY2025 $96.9 million), comprising 13.3% of Group revenue (H1 FY2025: 18.7%). The decline was largely attributable to a shift in the regional mix of Data Centre customers, with increased sales to North America-based customers. This was partially offset by growth in inYantra, which continues to benefit from exposure to the rapidly expanding Indian market.

Europe recorded revenue growth of 8.5% to $218.6 million (H1 FY2025: $201.5 million) and now accounts for 37.4% of Group revenue (H1 FY2025: 38.9%). Demand across European markets was mixed, with strong growth with Electric Vehicles customers and a one-off project with a major Off-Highway customer offset by lower European order volumes in Consumer Electricals and softer demand from Medical customers.

Revenue by customer sector

Electric Vehicles

Revenue from Electric Vehicles increased to $89.9 million (H1 FY2025: $79.5 million), representing organic growth of 13.1%. Performance in the first half was supported by a major new programme with a European charging manufacturer, launched in the second half of the prior year. This programme exemplifies our vertically integrated capabilities, with four Volex facilities collaborating on the full-build of the product.

During the period, we continued to broaden our product offering and diversify our customer base, reinforcing Volex's position as a trusted manufacturing partner to the world's leading electric vehicle manufacturers and suppliers.

Looking ahead, medium term demand for electric vehicles is expected to remain strong, driven by continued legislative support in key markets. A small number of new programme launches have been temporarily deferred due to relocating manufacturing to support our customers, with these expected to be delivered in FY2027 and beyond. Volex is well positioned to capture growth, not only through higher vehicle volumes but also by identifying additional specialist manufacturing opportunities within the EV supply chain.

Consumer Electricals

Consumer Electricals revenues decreased to $125.6 million (H1 FY2025: $131.7 million), representing organic decline of 6.3%, though remaining broadly consistent with the performance in H2 FY2025.

The year-on-year reduction reflects a strong prior-year comparative, as H1 FY2025 benefitted from a post-destocking rebound in demand. In addition, competition from China has intensified in the European market due to tariffs, resulting in a modest loss of share for some of our European customers and a small adverse effect on our revenue in the first half. A new harness programme is expected to commence for an existing customer in Europe in the second half of the year.

Volex's competitive manufacturing base, underpinned by a strategic blend of geographic diversification, automation, continuous improvement and vertical integration, continues to deliver strong value to customers. This combination enables competitive pricing and responsive support across a wide range of markets. Consequently, Volex is securing new customer projects and remains well positioned for sustained growth.

Medical

As anticipated, demand in the Medical segment remained subdued during the period, with revenues decreasing to $76.1 million (H1 FY2025: $82.3 million), representing an organic decline of 9.9%. The reduction reflects lower overall spending in public healthcare and medical research in the period and the impact of tariffs, which has affected customer demand. The impact varies by customer, with some continuing to increase demand, whilst we have seen others reducing inventory to adjust to anticipated lower run-rates. It is likely that the uncertainties caused by the impact of tariffs and policy changes will continue in the short term and will result in a headwind to medical demand.

Volex continues to support a wide range of advanced medical technology customers and demand is growing with several major global names. Looking ahead, the Medical market remains underpinned by strong structural growth drivers, including the ageing global population and rapid technological innovation. With its broad international footprint and medical-grade manufacturing capabilities, Volex is well positioned to support customer growth and capture opportunities as market conditions improve.

Complex Industrial Technology

Sales to Complex Industrial Technology customers grew significantly, with organic revenues up by 48.2% to $155.5 million (H1 FY2025: $104.7 million). Growth from Data Centre customers, which now represent 55.0% of revenue in this sector, was very significant at 80.0% organically, fuelled by surging global investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure and a continuation of the strong performance from the second half of FY2025.

Demand was also robust across other industrial customer segments compared to the prior year. Revenues for harnesses used in building environmental systems accelerated during H1, reflecting the ramp-up of project wins secured a year ago. US-based defence customers increased orders in line with their project cycle. There was also an increase due to our continuing success in the Indian domestic market.

The sector's performance highlights its significant diversification, both in customer end-markets and technical capabilities. Volex's wide portfolio of solutions, combined with its presence in key strategic geographies, provides a strong competitive advantage. This breadth enhances the Group's ability to secure new customer programmes and creates valuable cross-selling opportunities across markets.

Off-Highway

Revenue in the Off-Highway end-market increased to $136.8 million (H1 FY2025: $120.0 million), representing strong organic growth of 20.1%. This performance was supported by additional revenue from a defence vehicle programme that does not repeat in the second half.

Looking ahead, medium term growth prospects for the Off-Highway sector remain robust, supported by increasing urbanisation, global infrastructure development, advances in agricultural technology and the growing shift toward environmentally sustainable and electrified vehicle solutions.

The Group's strategic focus in this sector is on expanding its presence in the large and highly fragmented North American market. We have established an experienced sales team and enhanced capacity and technical capability across our North American manufacturing operations to support this growth ambition.

Underlying gross margin

The underlying gross margin for the first half of the year increased by 150 basis points to 23.3% (H1 FY2025: 21.8%). This improvement was driven by several factors, with the most significant contributors being a more favourable product mix, particularly strong demand for Data Centre products, in addition to the ongoing benefits from efficiency and optimisation initiatives.

These gains were partially offset by the impact of labour cost inflation in Türkiye, which has not yet been mitigated by a corresponding devaluation of the local currency. For our domestic Türkiye-based customers, we retain contractual rights to pass through inflationary cost increases. For export customers, price increases are subject to negotiations. In parallel, we are accelerating productivity and efficiency initiatives at Murat Ticaret and have implemented foreign exchange hedging measures to further mitigate potential adverse currency impacts.

Underlying operating profit

Underlying operating costs increased by $13.4 million to $78.9 million (H1 FY2025: $65.5 million). Foreign exchange rate changes had a negative impact of $1.3 million and inflationary pressures also contributed to increased labour costs year-on-year. The remaining increase reflects business growth and investments in expanding capabilities and capacity. Underlying operating costs as a percentage of revenue are now 13.5% (H1 FY2025: 12.6%).

Underlying operating profit rose by 20.2% to $57.2 million (H1 FY2025: $47.6 million), benefiting from the strong organic growth. The underlying operating margin for the first half was 9.8%, 60 bps higher than the 9.2% reported in H1 FY2025 and consistent with the FY2025 result. Productivity and cost optimisation improved operating margins by 0.7%, while improvements in product mix contributed a further 1.6% and closing and disposing of undersized sites improved margins by 0.5%. Offsetting this were adverse impacts from inflation of 1.1%, foreign exchange rates of 0.4% and the impact of investment in capacity and growth of 0.7% which arose from additional facility and people costs required to deliver growth.

Adjusting items and share-based payments

The Group presents some significant items separately to provide clarity on the underlying performance of the business. This includes significant one-off costs such as restructuring and acquisition-related costs, the non-cash amortisation of intangible assets acquired as part of business combinations, and share-based payments, as well as associated tax.

Adjusting items and share-based payments totalled $10.6 million in the period (H1 FY2025: $11.0 million). These costs are made up of $4.8 million (H1 FY2025: $6.7 million) of amortisation of acquired intangible assets, $2.6 million (H1 FY2025: $2.6 million) of share-based payments expense, $1.2 million (H1 FY2025: $1.5 million) of acquisition-related costs and $2.0 million (H1 FY2025: $nil) related to site closure costs.

Net finance costs

Net finance costs decreased to $10.4 million (H1 FY2025: $12.0 million), principally due to the prior year write off of debt issuance costs relating to a previous facility following the refinancing in June 2024. Average net debt over the period was higher than in the previous year due to the deployment of capital to support the growth of the business, resulting in higher net interest on bank loans, overdrafts and deposits of $7.1 million (H1 FY2025: $6.1 million). The financing element for leases for the period was $1.4 million (H1 FY2025: $2.1 million), which decreased following exercising the option to purchase previously leased property in Türkiye.

Finance costs also included $0.8 million for the unwinding of the discount on deferred consideration for the Murat Ticaret acquisition (H1 FY2025: $1.2 million).

In September 2022, the Group entered into an interest rate swap in respect of $50 million of drawn debt. This fixes the interest on this element of the debt to provide stability against variability in interest rates over a four-year period.

Taxation

The underlying tax charge of $11.0 million (H1 FY2025: $8.9 million) represents an underlying effective tax rate ('ETR') of 22.7% (H1 FY2025: 23.7%).

The main factors affecting the underlying ETR continue to be currency volatility and the ability to make inflation adjustments for tax purposes in Türkiye, developments surrounding the Group's uncertain tax positions, the continuing availability of certain tax incentives and reduced rate regimes and the jurisdictional profit mix. The decrease in underlying ETR during H1 FY2026 includes increased benefits from tax incentives as a result of the growth in R&D expenditure and production in a key location.

Cash tax paid during the period was $7.1 million (H1 FY2025: $8.4 million), representing an underlying cash ETR of 14.6% (H1 FY2025: 22.4%). The decrease is mainly driven by the jurisdictional mix and timing of tax payments which is expected to normalise during the second half of the year.

Net debt and cash flows

Underlying EBITDA increased by 20.1% to $73.6 million (H1 FY2025: $61.3 million). Underlying free cash flow was an inflow of $4.8 million, compared to an outflow of $11.5 million in H1 FY2025. This included a working capital outflow of $32.4 million (H1 FY2025: $32.2 million), together with net capital expenditure of $21.3 million (H1 FY2025: $26.4 million) and tax and net interest payments of $14.3 million ($14.2 million). Historically, the Group has been more cash generative in the second half of the financial year.

The working capital outflow reflected several factors. It included a $16.9 million investment to support normal business growth in H1 FY2026 and a further $7.8 million relating to certain significant annual payments occurring in the first half. The remainder of the increase in working capital was driven by additional investment in inventory to support customer relocation projects and the growth in data centre sales, which operate through a hub model resulting in longer cash conversion cycles.

Working capital continues to be actively managed at both factory and regional levels, with ongoing initiatives in place to optimise efficiency. Overall, total working capital is expected to remain broadly at current levels for the remainder of the year, supporting improved cash generation in the second half.

Interest payments increased compared to H1 FY2025, reflecting higher debt levels following continued investment to support business growth. The decrease in cash tax payments was mainly due to the jurisdictional mix and timing of tax payments which is expected to normalise during the second half of the year.

Net debt (before operating lease liabilities) rose to $151.2 million (FY2025: $127.4 million), primarily due to investment in capital expenditure and working capital. Operating lease liabilities reduced to $32.9 million (FY2025: $47.4 million) following the purchase of previously leased property in Türkiye. As a result, the Group's statutory net debt position increased to $184.1 million (FY2025: $174.8 million).

Investing in our business

A core element of our strategy is the deployment of capital into organic investments that differentiate and strengthen our business while delivering consistently strong returns. Investment decisions are made with rigorous discipline, placing customer demand, strategic relevance and project payback at the centre of the approval process.

During the first half of the year, we continued to invest in our global manufacturing footprint, with an expansion project in Mexico scheduled for completion in the second half. We build capacity ahead of demand based on conversations with our customers and our knowledge of our end-markets. These investments ensure that we are well positioned to capitalise on customers' localisation strategies and to meet growing demand efficiently and competitively.

We also ensure that we possess the right capabilities in our facilities, often through delivering automation. An increasing number of our new programmes are highly automated, whilst we also retrofit existing lines to improve efficiency.

Net capital expenditure for the first half of the year was $21.3 million (H1 FY2025: $26.4 million), representing approximately 3.6% of revenue (H1 FY2025: 5.1%). In H1 FY2026, we made $3.4 million of incremental operational investment, which encompasses additional facility costs, increased depreciation from incremental capital investment and costs associated with scaling our operations, such as recruiting additional sales and engineering employees. These essential and targeted expenditures position us for sustainable long term success. We also expanded our research and development activities, allowing us to deliver new and innovative products aimed at the Electric Vehicles and Data Centre markets. The investments we make in our business continue to deliver strong returns with return on capital employed of 20.2% (H1 FY2025: 19.6%) in the twelve months to 30 September 2025.

Acquisition strategy

Volex has a disciplined and repeatable M&A playbook, acquiring high-quality businesses at attractive valuations. We focus on identifying targets with strong customer relationships, specialised manufacturing capabilities and expertise in complex, value-added products.

Our rigorously managed acquisition pipeline prioritises opportunities that enhance the Group's value proposition and extend our presence in existing or adjacent markets. In light of shifting global supply chain dynamics, we also assess the strategic geographic positioning of potential targets, favouring those that offer cost competitiveness, operational resilience and low trade barriers. We selectively pursue acquisitions requiring significant integration or restructuring only where we have the managerial capacity and expertise to deliver successful outcomes.

Since restarting our acquisition programme in FY2019, we have completed 12 transactions, representing a total investment of approximately $400 million. This disciplined and structured approach has built a proven track record of effective execution and value creation. In the first half of the year, we carefully considered a number of acquisition opportunities but have decided against progressing with any as they each fell short of our stringent criteria. Although there have been no acquisitions completed during the period, we maintain a pipeline of exciting opportunities at various stages.

Risks and uncertainties

Volex takes a proactive approach to identifying and managing risks, continually strengthening internal controls to mitigate potential impacts. Key risks that could materially affect the Group's financial performance include competitive pressures, legal and regulatory developments, reliance on key suppliers or customers, fluctuations in commodity prices and exchange rates and product quality concerns. Details of these risks, along with the Group's mitigation strategies, are outlined in the FY2025 Annual Report and Accounts (pages 54-61), available at www.volex.com.

Outlook

Trading in the second half-to-date has been solid, with activity levels broadly maintaining the strong performance of the first half, although comparatives are more demanding. The Group expects second-half revenues to be broadly in line with the first half, reflecting stable trading across most end-markets.

The Group's strong balance sheet, significant undrawn facilities and continued access to funding ensure it remains well positioned to continue to invest in the business and pursue value-accretive acquisitions that align with our disciplined investment criteria.

Exposure to diverse end-markets with structural growth characteristics continues to underpin confidence in Volex's ability to deliver sustainable long term growth through the cycle. At the same time, the Group remains well positioned to navigate potential macroeconomic disruption and changes in the global tariff environment.

Supported by structural demand in key markets, a diversified customer base and ongoing investment in capability expansion to support long term growth, the Board remains confident in delivering strong returns for all stakeholders. The Board reaffirms its confidence in meeting full-year market expectations and in achieving the targets set out in the five-year strategic plan.

Nat Rothschild                                                                                       Jon Boaden

Chief Executive Officer                                                                  Chief Financial Officer

11 November 2025                                                                       11 November 2025

Unaudited Consolidated Income Statement                                                                        

For the half year to 30 September 2025 (26 weeks ended 29 September 2024)

Audited Consolidated Income Statement                                                         

For the 52 weeks ended 30 March 2025

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the half year to 30 September 2025 (26 weeks ended 29 September 2024)

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Financial Position                                                  

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the half year to 30 September 2025 (26 weeks ended 29 September 2024)

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (continued)

For the half year to 30 September 2025 (26 weeks ended 29 September 2024)