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Spirax Backs Guidance as Growth Beats First Half

Spirax says organic growth and margin for the ten months to the 31st of October beat the first half and met expectations, and it reiterated full-year guidance as its net borrowings fell.

Spirax Group (LSE: SPX) said organic sales growth and adjusted operating profit margin for the ten months to the 31st of October were ahead of the first half and in line with expectations. The steam, electric heating and fluid technology engineer left full-year guidance unchanged, and its shares were higher this morning.

At 08:27 today the delayed quote was 7630p, up 3.7% on the previous close of 7355p and level with the day’s high. The trading update was released at 7am, before the London open.

SPX.LSE

Organic growth strips out currency moves and acquisitions, and adjusted operating profit margin is operating profit as a share of sales before one-offs. Steam Thermal Solutions (STS) and the Biopharm business, which serves pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, within Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS) grew faster over the last four months than in the first half. Electric Thermal Solutions (ETS) kept up its strong growth.

All three divisions are guided to a higher second-half margin. At STS the drivers are shipments from a larger orderbook and China stabilising, with China about 15% of STS sales in 2025. At ETS, higher Semicon (semiconductor equipment maker) demand helps, and Semicon customers were about 13% of ETS sales in 2025. At WMFTS, Biopharm orders remain ahead of sales.

Net borrowings excluding leases were £541.6m at the 31st of October, against £618.2m at the 30th of June, a fall of £76.6m. Net debt to EBITDA, which measures debt against annual operating earnings, eased to 1.3x from 1.6x.

Bar chart showing Spirax Group net borrowings lower at the end of October than at the end of June
Spirax net borrowings excluding leases, £ million, 30 June and 31 October 2026. Source: Spirax Group

Guidance is reiterated, not raised: mid-single-digit organic revenue growth, a Group margin above the 2025 level of 20.0%, and cash conversion, the share of profit turned into cash, of around 90%. The company said:

Sales and margin momentum reinforce our confidence in delivering full year guidance.

Spirax Group

The promised step-up in second-half margin, and the Semicon and China exposure the company spelled out, are the points to watch from here.

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