Good morning, and welcome to the Diploma Trading Update Conference Call. I will now hand the call over to CEO Johnny Thomson. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us at late notice. I really appreciate that. Wilson and I are here together in our pajamas in the U.S. Hopefully by now you will have seen that we issued an upgrade to our trading expectations for the year. Half one has been very strong, and we're confident in our momentum into the second half too. For the year now, our organic growth guidance has increased from 6% - 9%. Acquisitions for now remain at 3%. Our margins are up from 22.5% - 25% for the year, and this equates broadly to a 13% increase to consensus operating profit. A little bit of color. Peerless continues to trade very well. The positive market dynamics are sustainable, and we're winning share.
Half one is looking incredibly strong again. As we previously said, it will moderate a little in the second half against a strong competitor, but we'll land into very good revenue and profit growth. I'm really pleased with progress elsewhere. The group's growth, excluding Peerless, is running at high single digits, well above our model. Some of the controls businesses, IS Group and Clarendon, don't often get the limelight, but are doing brilliantly in energy, defense, aerospace markets. Both delivering double digit growth and meaningful margin improvement. Windy is also having a great year. Their exposure to data centers and distributed antenna systems supporting strong growth and good momentum into the second half. Seals is running fairly consistent with last year. North America doing well with support from infrastructure and early progress in nuclear.
On the international side, particularly R&G in the U.K., it's still been pretty tough. That will hold the sector growth for half one broadly in line with the full year last year. Finally, Life Sciences is continuing stable at mid-single-digit growth. It is pretty tough in healthcare at the moment, but I'm really pleased with the work the team are doing, and we'll deliver market share gains to sustain decent levels of growth. Overall, across the group, margins are strong, supported by Peerless performance of course, but also by good incremental leverage and performance improvements across the rest of the group. We've had some great new businesses join us over recent quarters. As we talked about in January, 8 acquisitions for a total spend of GBP 130 million. The short-term pipeline looks very healthy.
With these upgraded numbers, we're expecting earnings to be up again this year by over 20%. With strong returns on capital. Another year of sustainable quality compounding. I'll hand over now for your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We pause for a brief moment. Thank you. We'll now take our first question from Annelies Vermeulen of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Morning, Johnny. Morning, Wilson. I have two questions, please. Firstly, on the sort of what sounds like relatively broad-based strength in Controls, beyond the ongoing outstanding performance in Peerless, which parts of Controls have performed particularly stronger than you expected relative to the start of the year? You mentioned, you know, IS, Clarendon, et cetera, and I'd love to hear what's behind that. What's driving that better than expected performance. Secondly, more of a topical question, while we have you. On what's going on in the Middle East. I appreciate you don't have any exposure there, but are you seeing any change in tone of conversations with your customers, at all?
Any signs of, or early signs of your suppliers planning to raise prices as a result of higher energy costs, perhaps? Anything to call out there. Thank you.
Thank you, Annelies. I'll take them in reverse order if I can. Of course, we're conscious obviously of what's going on in the Middle East. I mean, it's worth just underlining that for us, there's no direct impact, if you like. We don't have any business into the Middle East, and we have minimal sourcing out of the Middle East. There's really no direct impact for us. Of course, you know, we're very diversified, as you know, by our kind of end market exposures, which, you know, gives us some protection in these, in these scenarios. At the moment, we don't really see anything particular.
We're obviously keeping our eye out, particularly for us, to make sure that the supply chains and logistics are operating normally, and to see whether there's any, you know, pricing inflation coming through on the back of increased energy costs. We can see the little bits of the latter, but it's very, very patchy at the moment. Of course, we feel well positioned to be able to respond to that. You know, from a pricing perspective, we've been able to pass on prices pretty effectively in the past based on our, you know, customer service model, et cetera. At the moment, there's not a lot to see. Keeping our eyes on it, and expect to be able to manage it. On the first question, yeah, we're, you know, really, really pleased.
I just wanna kind of highlight a bit more the fact that I suppose I feel like it's easy to think that Controls is all about Peerless and Windy City and, of course, they are a big part of it and have done very well. Sometimes some of our other bigger businesses in Controls don't quite get the limelight that they deserve. You know, we've got a big business, interconnect business, IS Group, which has been doing very well actually for a number of years. This year, particularly well with double-digit growth and great margin progress. They've got really good exposure into energy transition, into defense, and a little bit of aerospace, in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, and that's of course helping them.
They're winning some great market share as well, so very, very pleased with IS Group. Then Clarendon, which is another fasteners business into aerospace. They've been progressing really, really well and growing double-digit for a number of years now. They're principally into aerospace, again into Europe and into the U.S. Great organic growth. We've just done a couple of small bolt-ons in the last year to support their growth as well. That's all going very, very well. They're two pretty big businesses in Controls that are having a great time right now.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Dave Brockton of Deutsche Bank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Morning, look, very impressive update this morning. I'd like to ask a Peerless question, please. Just keen to understand your sense of what the market looks like. I guess it's broader as well for Clarendon as well in terms of outlook and whether this is share gain or market strength and any different trends in contract or spot we should be aware of. Thanks.
Yeah, thank you, Dave. Look, I think from a market perspective, broadly speaking, the themes are very, very consistent from the last few times that we've updated. The demand environment remains very, very consistent and thriving. Of course, as we know, there's a big backlog of new builds, and there is consequently a significant refurbishment market, as well. The supply chain constraints, if you like, haven't really changed. I think we've also been saying to you for some time that we don't expect that to change anytime soon, and that remains the case. We're looking out at one to three years and not really expecting any change in the supply chain. Overall, the market dynamics are very favorable and we believe sustainable.
For us, you know, this isn't just a market story, though. Of course, we've got a great business with a great team and a very good, strong market. That's a great place to be. The team are doing a fantastic job to deliver, you know, market share gains for us as well. There's lots for us to go for, which makes me excited about the sustainability of the Peerless story. You know, for example, there's more market share potential for us in the U.S., and we're investing behind that. The Peerless team already do some business into the aerospace supply chain, but we're looking at how we can invest behind that and do a bit more there.
We're looking also to help them broaden their end markets with defense and space opportunities and even some product expansion as well. There's loads for us to go for, and the team are very focused on that. That will give us not only the favorable market, but even more market share gains in the future too. Doing incredibly well. It's gonna be another fantastic first half of the year from them, and very, very confident that, as it moderates through the second half, that it will moderate into very, very strong, consistent long-term performance.
Thanks.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Virginia Montorsi of Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I actually had two. One is on your exposure to defense. Could you talk, because we always talk a lot about civil aerospace, but could you talk a little bit about how much of the growth we're seeing in your aerospace and defense businesses is actually driven by stronger performance on the defense side? I know you're building a facility in Czech Republic to sustain the demand on the Eastern European side. Could you just give us a sense of how to think about that for the second half of this year? On Life Sciences, could you give us a little bit more color on the markets and how to think about your market share gains potentially and the performance in MedTech?
Thank you.
Yeah. Okay. I'll take those in order. I think a general observation I'd make to you, Virginia, is remember that the group is incredibly diversified. That's one of our strengths, is that while we have really exciting exposures to lots of end markets, there's nothing binary in all of this. You know, the likes of a defense market will only be a few percent of the group's revenue, albeit a big opportunity. One of the exciting things is that we have so many end markets, and that makes our opportunities here to drive into these markets, not binary, but diversified and therefore very, very attractive. On the defense side. You know, we've been in defense for some time, so we have established some expertise, particularly in the U.K.
Over recent times, we've been expanding that. You know, actually I should mention is, you know, the kind of the background to this has really been through the IS Group business that I was talking about earlier, but it's now starting to expand into some of our other businesses, too. As we said, I think at the full year, we've been putting a bit more investment into some of these end markets. David Goode, our CEO of Controls, has been leading the charge on this, and we put some investment behind some qualified expertise in the defense sector that's helping us to access new market share opportunities, which is great. We have, as you said, just opened a new facility in Czech Republic.
I was down there last week having a look at it, and that's really helping us to get into the supply chain into European defense. We're making good ground with that, so I'm excited about the future there. We also bought one of the bolt-on businesses I mentioned. We bought a business called Spring Solutions, which is principally a defense-based business in the U.K., but expanding itself out into the U.S. and Europe too. A small percentage of the group, but a very exciting part of our end market focus and give us great tailwind for the future and a lot of resilience. We're pretty pleased with how we're progressing on defense. Life Sciences, yeah, this is obviously a smaller part of the group.
I'm really, really pleased with the way the Life Sciences has been progressing. You know, three, four, five years ago when post-COVID markets were tough, we put a lot of time and effort, and we developed our management teams and developed our business development capability. I think we're seeing fruits of that. The markets are still quite hard yards. You know, we're having to win quite a lot of market share to remain in that kind of mid-single-digit territory. Some good market share gains in MedTech. Seeing some really good progress in IVD in U.K. and Ireland, particularly in this half. Overall, very, very happy with what the team are doing, the business development that we're working on, and the market share that we're seeing coming through.
You should expect somewhere around 4%-6% for the half year.
Thank you very much. Very helpful.
Thank you. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Jane Sparrow of J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Morning. Two questions, please. Just first one on organic growth, that the three percentage point increase in your guidance there. Can you just confirm that is primarily coming from a better volume environment, or is there a bit of pricing in there as well? Then the second one on M&A. You obviously feel fairly optimistic about that this year. Can I just ask what is driving that optimism? Is this people who deferred decisions last year deciding they just need to get on with it? Or is that your own actions to fill the pipeline with more opportunities paying off a bit?
Yeah. I'll answer the question on M&A and I'll let Wilson answer on the organic growth point. Look, yeah, we're feeling pretty good about the momentum on acquisitions. I suppose, a bit of a general comment, but, I suppose we felt the market conditions over the last 12 months or so have been better suited to the small kind of bilateral, you know, Diploma style deals that we've always done. We've seen very good momentum on that. As I mentioned earlier, we did eight at the back end of last year and into quarter one of this year. That was a good start into the year. We're feeling very confident about that, you know, short-term pipeline ahead of us as well.
We've got very, very good momentum on that smaller stuff, and it just really, really helps us, you know, accelerate the growth potential in and around all of our businesses as they get into, you know, the right end markets or penetrate geographically or expand their product capability. We're excited that there's more of that to come ahead of us. I suppose on the slightly bigger stuff, it has been a quieter time for the last, whatever, year, 18 months, perhaps. Maybe some signs that that's easing a little bit. So we'll see if that turns into anything more tangible. I'm always very conscious of making sure that we evolve the way that we do things in a competitive environment. You know, we do have well-established team processes, capabilities, et cetera.
We're working very, very hard, particularly around the origination, to make sure that we've got a very, very big pipeline, lots of optionality. Ability therefore to be discerning and do high quality, not just high volume of deals. You know, over the months ahead, I feel pretty confident about it. Over the longer term, we've still got the fragmented markets and a good pipeline. The processes, as I say, we're constantly sharpening. I feel we've got a good competitive advantage as a home of choice. Our prospects, I think short-term, long-term on the acquisition side are pretty encouraging. Wilson?
Yeah. Thank you, Jane. On the organic growth, absolutely. Diploma, as you know, is a volume story. The organic growth that we've seen so far and will continue to drive will be volume led. Just an example, even on Peerless we said that, you know, we would moderate the prices of spot volumes, and that has generated a lot of volume for us as well to make it into a sustainable business going forward. Yes, it's a volume story.
Thanks.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Colin Grant of Davy. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks very much. Good morning, everybody. I just have one question to do with, it's probably one more for Wilson to do with the shape of organic growth as we work our way through the year. You've obviously moved from a 6% guidance on a full year basis to 9%. I'm just wondering about the shape of that in H1 and H2. If you give us a kind of sense of what's moving. Is it moved from, you know, 9% - 11% in H1? Or are you leaving your kind of H1 assumptions unchanged, and the upgrade effectively relates greater optimism for H2? If you could just give us some color on that, it'd be really helpful. Thanks very much.
Yeah, that'll be helpful here. Obviously we're still in the process of you know, going to H1, but all I can say is the momentum that we've seen from Q1 has continued into Q2. When we originally guided, we said that, you know, this year, because of the tougher compares in H2 last year, that H2 this year would mathematically moderate. That will be sort of the same shape of the year. Just everything being raised effectively.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Charlie Williams of Stifel. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Morning, guys. Congratulations on the update. Just one question from me, please. On the operating margin increase to 25%, if we assume no more M&A, is that a sustainable level going forward, or is the Peerless momentum means that's slightly higher than you'd expect over the medium term? Thank you.
Right. I'll take that question. Maybe just to put it into context. I understand why you're asking that question. In the last few years we've seen quite a significant step up in our margins, and that's driven by very good operating leverage as we continue to scale the group. We've also acquired a few very good quality companies that's been accretive to margin. That's established us a very good margin that we're guiding to today. Going forward, I think the algorithm continues with regard to the operating leverage. We will sort of see a bit of moderation from the Peerless margins, albeit just to qualify that absolute profit will still continue to grow.
Specifically to your question, you know, we can't be expected to continue to only acquire companies that are over 25% margin. We would expect, you know, some dilution from future acquisitions going forward. Overall, you know, what do I think? I feel like the margin is at the top end at the moment. Regardless, you know, going forward, we are a sustainable quality compounder, and we do expect absolute profit to continue to grow in the future regardless of the margin.
Thank you.
Thank you. With no further questions on the line, I will now hand it back to Johnny for closing remarks.
Just thanks again everyone for joining at short notice. The group's in very good shape. It's looking like a fantastic year. The prospects ahead for sustainable quality compounding are very encouraging. Thank you again. Have a good day.
Thank you. This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.