Pre-close call

Jan 28, 2026

Summary

2025 sales rose 8.6%, with the flooring division up 13.3% and a positive start to 2026. Growth beyond £200m will require further capacity investment, while organic expansion remains the priority.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Likewise Group PLC 2025 pre-close update and outlook for 2026 presentation. Throughout today's recorded meeting, investors will be in listen-only mode. Questions are encouraged as usual. Please supply them at any time just using the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Just simply type in your question and press send. Company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during today's meeting. The company can review all questions submitted today and will publish those responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll, and I'm sure the company will be grateful for your participation. I'd now like to hand over to CEO Tony Brewer. Tony, good afternoon. Many thanks, Mark, and thanks everybody for joining this afternoon. You'll know that we had a pre-close statement a couple of weeks ago, which confirmed the top-line numbers for 2025. But I think the key for this afternoon's meeting really is demonstrating we are building a very good business with strong foundations and an excellent team of people. Across those 12 distribution and logistics centers, we have been pulling extra capacity, which I'll go through in the course of the presentation, with fantastic support from our suppliers in those key product areas of carpet, residential vinyl, laminate, luxury vinyl tile, artificial grass, underlayments, flooring accessories and commercial products. We've now extended the sales team to total 102 people who are focused on looking after our customers, putting new point of sale into retail and contractors, and generally developing the business. To support that, we've increased the delivery fleet, and that will total at least 160 during the course of 2026. Throughout the businesses, we have excellent staff who understand and have been brought up in the flooring industry, and that's whether that's in our management, our sales teams, our internal sales, warehouse staff, and delivery drivers. We believe there's fantastic opportunity to develop the business further and get more and more point of sale into the market through our 7,000 independent customers, which are flooring retailers and flooring contractors. Whilst we set out a goal in the early days of getting to GBP 200 million sales revenue, we can see opportunities now to take the business some way beyond that number. This just demonstrates the consistency and evolution of the business over a number of years with that seasonality, and you can see that top-line growth. 2025 overall up by 8.6%, and Likewise Floors actually ahead by 13.3%. You see a very consistent seasonal trend. The spring was very positive for us. Probably some challenges, but we still exceeded the previous years during those summer months when it was particularly hot, and that crescendo then towards the end of the year, October, November and December being the busiest trading periods. Whilst we're very early into the year, January is a lower trading month, and that seasonality, but it's fair to say we've made a particularly positive start to this year, and that I think gives us confidence for the year as a whole. I mentioned the management team. They've really got some excellent people there who have learnt the business, understand the IT and the logistics, the product, have great customer and supplier relationships. I think what is further encouraging is that we have a number of younger people coming into the business that no doubt will be on that page in the not-too-distant future. It gives us, again, confidence in the development of the business for the future. Those sales teams across the country in the various locations, as I said, a total of 102, 21 additional in the last year or so. Again, that is further investment and commitment in the business. In terms of market presence and displays, you see array of products there from the left-hand side, luxury vinyl tile from Karndean, the Cotswold engineered wood collection, the Vitality laminate in the foreground, various derivatives of luxury vinyl tile across the back wall with residential vinyl in the far right-hand corner, an array of carpet products, including our premium Lewis Abbott product, where again, we have invested in three additional salespeople dedicated to that particular product category. In Valley, again, we have increased their market presence through various types of display stands. The carpet stands in the center you can see. The laminate, which was launched in the back end of 2024, and we did really well with that product during 2025. The vinyl stands on the left-hand side just about to go into the marketplace. Furthermore, with the success of the laminate, we will be launching a luxury vinyl tile into Valley in the spring. In terms of the infrastructure, the business started when we acquired a business in Sudbury in 2018. We can see thereafter everything on that page, those additional 11 sites have all been established, albeit some through acquisition, of course, in Valley, but all been established in the last four years. That infrastructure, if we take Likewise Floors to begin with, the three main hubs in Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow, where anything wide width, that is carpet, residential vinyl, and artificial grass is stored, processed, cut, and then shipped out to the logistics centers overnight. Each of those lines on that map represent overnight movement of goods from the three hubs to the logistics centers. Furthermore, with the development in Newport, which is currently under construction and will be completed by the middle of the year, that will create a fourth hub and increase the capacity significantly within Likewise Floors and Valley. Then the Valley network, which the main center is in Erith, in southeast London. We have now got the cutting table in Derby operational, so that increases Valley's capacity and allows them to develop the business for the future, and with their additional sites in Newport and Plymouth. This just shows the overall infrastructure of the business with comprehensive coverage of the U.K. At some point, and the board is considering various options, we will need to invest further in capacity to push us well through the 200. I think it's fair to say the infrastructure that we have, particularly with the benefits of Newport, could certainly go well through 200, but if we have aspirations to be at 250, 300, and beyond, then we will need to invest in the infrastructure further. This just demonstrates the cutting capacity, where we've invested in additional capacity in Glasgow during the course of last year. We've actually installed, between Christmas and New Year, a new cutting machine into Leeds, which increased our capacity and reliability there. Erith and Derby, I've mentioned where we're now cutting in Derby, and of course, that facility expanded in Newport to be operational during the course of the second half of the year. That just demonstrates really the Newport extension, which actually increases or doubles our capacity that we currently have in Newport. It's intended to be a fairly brief meeting, just to update you and answer any questions. We've made further significant progress in the last 12 months. We've put extra capacity in and have opportunities to further increase that. Newport is quite an important step for us to increase that capacity and those excellent management and sales teams with the support of our suppliers and our customers. There are lots of opportunities in the flooring industry in the U.K., and we see going through that GBP 200 million, and well into GBP 250 million and beyond. Thank you. That's very kind of you, Tony. Thank you very much indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions, which is why Tony takes a couple of moments to review the questions submitted already. Just like to remind you, a recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published Q&A can be accessed via your Investor Meet Company dashboard. Tony, thank you very much indeed for the update. I know you've touched on a number of points, but we did receive a number of questions ahead of today's meeting, as well as you've received a number throughout. Thank you, to everybody for your engagement. First question, and I guess, ties in around M&A. Mark has asked the question, last year, you were relatively neutral on possible acquisition activity. What is your view on this? If I maybe combine that with one of the pre-submitted is, would the company look at buying a business with a turnover that would propel it forward if it was to surpass its short-term target of GBP 200 million? I guess maybe a little bit of color around thoughts around M&A. Sure. Absolutely. I think obviously we always consider opportunities as they present themselves, and they do periodically. I think it's fair to say our strategy is not to just buy turnover and pay goodwill just to enlarge the top line. That's not our strategy, but strategic acquisitions, certainly. I guess we're a bit mean when it comes to paying goodwill, so we'd be very cautious with that. But yeah, we'd consider it, but we equally see lots of opportunities to grow the business organically, and that's where our main focus is, and investing in salespeople to help to achieve that. That's great. Thank you. Question here. Please could you outline what you consider as your competitive advantage in the domestic floor covering market, and maybe some examples of how you are aiming to strengthen these. I think it's our people, as I've said at the outset of the presentation. It's our speed to market, our decision making. Adrian Laffey, who leads the residential side of the business. We're constantly looking at product and developing product with our suppliers, making quick decisions on what we need to do, getting that product into the marketplace, having attractive point of sale, product that's well-priced and competitive. I think we are leading the market in that way. Great. Thank you. Do you consider that the recent price rises may provide some respite for the weaker players that have been losing market share? I think the industry probably needs some price increases. I think we all know our costs are going up, our people costs are going up, the well-publicized NI cost, the business rates going up, our delivery trucks. We have got to be able to cover those costs, and importantly, the business needs to make an improved return to be able to further invest, and then give increased and improved service to our customers. Where that helps weaker competitors, I am not so sure. But it is important that we have, I think, a little bit of price inflation while still keeping floor covering affordable for the consumer. Thank you, Tony. Couple of questions around, I guess the momentum that you guys are seeing operationally. What do you see as the main constraints on investing in further growth? Is it purely financing or are there perhaps other operational considerations? I think we have great support from our principal banks. We have obviously talked to them about what we need to do for the future. We could be making some fairly significant investments at the right time, and the board is considering the options on what we should do there. We realize we need to put some further capacity into the business over the next one or two years, to take advantage of market opportunities. I do not think there is particularly a constraint on that, and it is fair to say our shareholders have been very supportive, and I think will continue to do so if we have the right investment opportunities. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Tony. A question from Mark. Mark, thank you very much indeed for your question. Can you say more on this statement? The board is now considering various investment options to materially exceed that figure. Is there any color or clarity you can give on that for Mark? I think that's covered by the last answer, really. Perfect. Lovely. We've put a lot into the sites we've developed over the last four years, from 2021, when we had a sea change when we moved into the Leeds distribution center, from what we previously had, and then built those other centers around that across the country. We will be prepared to make further steps in investment to give us more capacity at the appropriate time. Just turning back to one of the previous questions around price increases that you maybe suggested are coming in Q1. What's the general customer reaction been to this? That's from Mark. Thank you, Mark. I think it's understanding. It comes back to we're all experiencing higher operating costs, whether that be manufacturers, whether it be distributional or retailers. I think there's been a clear understanding that some price increases are necessary. Thank you. I guess a question here around some diversification. Do you have any dependencies on any one particular supplier or customer? No, certainly not. Our customer base is very widespread. The suppliers, I think it's fair to say, and people in the flooring industry know that the manufacturing in Western Europe, particularly in carpet, has reduced over the last 10, 15 years. We do also buy carpet from Turkey and have good partners there. We have a very strong relationship with our largest suppliers, so we're very comfortable with our position there. Thank you. A question from Donald. Donald, thank you very much indeed. What's your aspiration for the commercial floor coverings go forward, as you barely mentioned this segment? It represents pretty much a third of Likewise Floors business, so we are very active in commercial. I think it's fair to say that the dynamic is very different in commercial because the leading players are getting their product specified typically or creating demand for their products, and we're supplying that demand. Whereas in residential, we're probably more so creating the demand. But we are also developing, particularly in carpet and carpet tiles, our own range of products under the Guardian label. So we'll be further developing that over the course of this year. Lovely. I think this is the last question unless any more come in, so please do submit them if you would be so kind. It comes from Keith as well, Tony. It says, "Tony, what keeps you going? You obviously don't need to be doing this, but appear to want to be doing it. I think we've, as I said at the outset, we've got a great team of people. We're building a very good business, and I think we've got a really exciting future. Well, look, that's great. As I say, that was the last question that we had. Tony, I'm shortly going to redirect everybody on the call to perhaps give you their thoughts, their expectations, and so on. But before doing so, I just wondered if you just wanted to have a couple of closing comments, and then I'll send investors to give you their feedback. Sure. Thank you, Mark. Well, as I said, I think, we've developed the business over the last few years. We've got very strong foundations with the strength and the balance sheet that we've developed. We've invested, hopefully, very wisely in the business, and I think we've got a really good future, and there are so many opportunities in the floor covering market for us to continue to take share. That's great, Tony. Thank you once again for your time this afternoon. If I could please ask investors not to close this session as we'll now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the company can better understand your views and expectations. It does only take a couple of moments to complete, but it's incredibly useful for the company. On behalf of the management team of Likewise Group PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation and wish you all a good week.