Good morning, everybody, a warm welcome. Thank you very much for taking your time to join us this morning. Welcome also to those of us that are joining online. My name is Iain Percival. I'm the Chief Executive of Trifast plc.
I'm Kate Ferguson, and I'm the CFO.
We're delighted to be able to share with you the results from our FY 2026. Let me talk you through the agenda. I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about the highlights of our results for the year, and I'll also give a flavor of the strategic progress that we're making. I'll then hand over to Kate, who will take us through the financials in more detail, then I'll come back and explain how we're transforming Trifast to be that mission-critical embedded partner for our customers, and how importantly we're investing for growth as we look to deliver on the strategy. Of course, finally, I'll come back with just a few words on the outlook for FY 2027, then we'll open it up for questions. We'll start with questions from the room, then we'll go online and pick up any that have come in online.
Now those that have followed Trifast will know that we set out a strategy that was built on three phases, recover, rebuild, and resilience. We delivered our recover phase in FY 2025, FY 2026 represents the first year of that second phase of rebuild. I'm delighted with the progress that we've been making. On this slide, I'm just showing you some of the strategic shifts and pivots that we're deliberately making as we go through the rebuild phase and execute that strategy. The first message is how we are doubling down on the value propositions of being engineering solution and supply chain simplification led with our customers, and how importantly, that focus of driving value-based relationships with our customers means that today, around 60% of the revenue we have in Trifast is reliant on one or both of those two core value propositions.
Secondly, how we are moving our portfolio into higher growth markets and sectors. Higher growth sectors in the shape of smart infrastructure and in the shape of medical equipment, higher growth markets like North America, India, and parts of Asia. Specifically on smart infrastructure, I'm delighted to see that the execution of that strategy is delivering that deliberate portfolio shift. Now, smart infrastructure represents 17% of our total revenue, almost double from where we started back in 2024. Finally, on the right-hand side of this chart, you can see how the commercial execution of our strategy continues to deliver with momentum and pace. Another 110 basis points of EBIT margin improvement, driven specifically from a focus on getting good value-based pricing with our customers and managing the costs and competitive costs with our suppliers in the supply chain.
I'm going to come back later and talk about how we're investing behind that commercial engine, how we're investing for growth in those core markets and in those core geographies. Let me then spend a minute just on some of the highlights before I don't want to steal all of your thunder, Kate. Look, some real strong takeaways from the delivery of our FY 2026. I think seeing gross margins back at 30% and certainly a significant improvement, you can see there, 170 basis points in the year. Underlying EBIT improved again to GBP 16.3 million, just slightly ahead of market consensus. Again, that EBIT margin showing progression to 7.8%, 110 basis points. Significant progress in all key underlying metrics that we're committed to driving in this business as a result of the efforts and the activities that the team has been making.
It's great to see that looking forward, and again, I'll come back to that later, that we're sitting with the strongest quality and value of pipeline that we've seen since certainly Kate and I started in this business. Now, I wanted to share this chart because it shows how we've been delivering since we set out the progress, how we're delivering on the underlying earnings, the underlying EBIT margin, and generating cash through execution, through that strategic repositioning of our business into those higher growth markets, higher value-based customers, higher growth market segments.
How that is helping us deliver that underlying EBIT margin, and how the commercial execution, the engine that we've built, the engine room of our business that we've built, both in driving profitable top-line growth and driving margin based on value-based pricing using tools like TrueProfit, how that is delivering on the commitment that we made and why we are confident in delivering that double-digit EBIT margin in the medium term. I think I will say with confidence, and I hope you can see, that we have delivered a successful first year of our rebuild phase with more margin progression and definitely through delivering on that strategic execution. I'm going to come back, as I said, later and talk more about how we're investing for growth in our business and how we expect to see that deliver over FY 2027 and beyond.
I wanted to call out one message on this chart. Obviously, as an industry, we've seen that, unfortunately, we've faced into a war in the Middle East, in Iran. From Trifast's point of view, it has not changed our focus on the long-term growth prospects for the Middle East and our customers, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our project that we talked about at the last time that we met is very much on track. We expect to be operational in the Kingdom at the end of this year, servicing our customers in that region with the great quality service and supply chain solutions that we deliver elsewhere around the TR world. No impact. We see it as a profitable, long-term, scalable market.
Before I hand you over to Kate, I just wanted to take a minute just to recognize the effort that has been made by our teams globally to deliver on that strategy, on the four key strategic initiatives that we set out, margin management, focused growth, operational efficiency, and organization effectiveness. You can see in this chart that we've delivered significantly in each one of those key levers. Yet, we faced into significantly more challenge from a market in terms of economic backdrop, geopolitical challenge, risk, inflation pressures. The efforts from our team has enabled us to overcome that and deliver in line with the progression on EBIT margin that we committed. I want to thank every single member of the Trifast team globally for what they delivered in FY 2026. With that, let me hand you over to Kate.
Thank you, Iain, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to take you through the FY 2026 financial results. The headline for this year is simple. Revenue was lower, the quality of the margins and earnings improved, with the balance sheet becoming stronger. Revenue was GBP 207 million, 7.3% down on last year, that reflects a tougher market, especially in automotive and EV demand. It also reflects the choices we made. We took deliberate action to move away from some lower margin business where the returns were just not good enough. That focus has come through clearly in the numbers. Our gross margin improved 170 basis points to 30%. Our underlying EBIT improved to GBP 16.3 million, our underlying EBIT margin improved to 7.8%. Cash performance was also strong. Net debt reduced to GBP 16 million. Cash conversion remained high, ROCE improved to 8.5%.
Leverage reduced to 0.75x , giving us more flexibility and resilience. Reflecting on that stronger cash generation and confidence in the outlook, we have increased the full-year dividend to GBP 0.019 per share. In short, FY 2026 was a year of lower revenue, stronger margins, stronger cash generation, and a better financial platform for growth. Got it. I'll explain how we delivered that improvement. The important point is that margin progression reflects deliberate actions that we have taken to reshape the business. There are three main drivers. First, the improvement in portfolio and mix. Second, our margin management has become much more disciplined. We have strengthened pricing, delivered procurement savings, we've repriced or exited lower margin business. Third, our transformation actions are reducing cost and simplifying how we operate.
Payroll costs reduced by 6%, headcount by 10%, distribution cost reductions have outpaced the decline in revenue. We have built capability through our shared service center in Hungary. We are becoming leaner, more focused, and more commercially disciplined. Reported profit before tax is impacted by separately disclosed items, the main one being Project Ignite. I'll come onto that in a little bit more detail later in this presentation. The message is clear. The underlying performance of the business is improving. The statutory result reflects the cost of accelerating transformation, that is what we need for the next stage of our growth. Turning to the cash and the balance sheet, the story is that we continue to invest in the business while reducing net debt. Operating cash flow before working capital was GBP 15.9 million, that includes cash investment in Project Ignite.
If we look through that, operating cash flow was GBP 21.4 million, which is ahead of last year. Working capital as a percentage of revenue increased, that is mainly because the inventory and receivables did not reduce as quickly as the revenue decline. Last year also benefited from some higher payables. Our net debt leverage and banking facility headroom continue to give us flexibility to keep investing in transformation, support organic growth, and consider selective acquisitions where they accelerate the strategy. The takeaway is simple. We are investing in the future, but we are doing it with balance sheet discipline. Turning to revenue and EBIT, this slide explains the two sides of our performance. On revenue, the market backdrop remained difficult, with geopolitical uncertainty creating even further cautions towards the end of the year.
We did, however, benefit from some focused growth that you can see there, and the sale of excess and obsolete inventory back to customers, which benefited our profit but also helped us clean up our balance sheet. Also, tariff surcharges, which passed through revenue, but were margin neutral. Turning to EBIT, the story is much more positive. Despite the lower revenue, margins improved because of the way that we are running the business. We are seeing benefits from better pricing, better sourcing, stronger inventory discipline, and lower operating costs. Foreign exchange was a headwind earlier in the year, particularly on U.S. denominated assets in Asia. However, that did not worsen in the second half. The message here is not that the markets have become easier. They have not. The message is that we are becoming more disciplined, more data-led, and more focused on profitable growth.
Now turning to regional performance, the picture is mixed on revenue, but much clearer on margin quality. The key message is that where we have taken decisive action, EBIT is recovering. The U.K. and Ireland revenue was down around 11%, but with EBIT margin improvement of 290 basis points to 7%. Europe showed a similar pattern, with revenue down 7.5%, but with a 230 basis point improvement in EBIT margin to 11%. Asia was the main point of pressure. Revenue was down around 10%, and margins reduced to 11%. The issue here is not only volume, it is also the ability to flex the cost base quickly enough, especially with the competitive pressure from China Auto. We are actively reviewing the footprint and the cost structure in Asia while continuing to build on those resilient segments such as medical equipment. The regional story is clear.
U.K. and Ireland and Europe are recovering margin, North America is delivering targeted growth, Asia is where we are focused on structural improvement. Turning to end markets, this slide shows one of the most important strategic shifts in the business. Our revenue mix is improving. Automotive is still our largest end market, but it remains under pressure, and we are becoming less reliant on it. Smart infrastructure here is the standout. It now represents 17% of group revenue, supported by demand in data centers and infrastructure applications. This is exactly where we want to grow. Medical equipment also grew strongly, although from a smaller base. It is an attractive priority market because it diversifies our portfolio and plays to our engineering and quality strengths.
Distributors returned to growth. That reflected some recovery in one of our U.K. transactional distributor businesses following last year's warehouse move, as well as support from more stable stainless steel pricing. In other markets, the decline reflects both external pressure and our own choices. We have reduced our exposure to lower margin business, including white goods. The point is not just that the mix has changed, it is that the mix has become more balanced. It's less cyclical and more focused on markets that create end value. This slide here bridges the movement in the profit before tax. I only really want to draw out one point on this slide, that is the impact of Project Ignite on our reported profit before tax, which I touched on right at the beginning.
Our spend on Project Ignite was around GBP 6 million, as you can see there. This has been expensed, not capitalized, as we would have done in the past. This is because of the accounting treatment for cloud-based and SaaS implementation costs. That affects our reported profit, but it does not change the strategic value of the program. Ignite is a critical investment in better data, better controls, and stronger pricing and improved productivity. The key message is that underlying profitability is improving, but reported profit before tax reflects the cost of accelerating transformation. Our actions reduce the reported profit in the short term, but they support a cleaner and a more efficient platform for future margin progression. The cash bridge here is important because it shows how we funded the transformation while still reducing net debt.
We said last year that we would use improvements in working capital to fund Project Ignite. We have done that. Working capital regenerated a strong cash inflow, including a GBP 6.4 million reduction in inventory and a GBP 1.8 million from receivables. This, though, was offset by higher FY 2025 closing payables. Operating cash flow on a like-for-like basis, if you exclude Ignite, has improved too. Even after this transformation spend and also the FX headwinds that you can see on the bridge, we reduced our net debt to GBP 16 million and maintained our leverage below one. The message is clear. We are investing in transformation, funding it through internally generated cash, maintaining that balance sheet discipline. Stepping back, the final finance slide, this brings the story together. The business is becoming more disciplined, more cash generative, and better positioned for sustainable growth.
That gives us confidence that our progress towards our 10%+ margin target is not dependent on cyclical recovery, but driven by how we run the business. We have used self-help levers to manage the difficult market, but the bigger point is that we have made structural improvements. We have improved the cost base, strengthened commercial discipline, and we have simplified parts of the operating model. Those actions are already coming through in the stronger margins. At the same time, we have strengthened the balance sheet, we are generating cash, managing working capital carefully and keeping leverage low. We still have transformation work to complete, especially around systems, process efficiency and scaling the platform. That work will further support our margin journey. The stronger cash position also gives us choices.
It supports that progressive dividend, continued improvement in organic growth, and the ability to consider selective bolt-on acquisitions where they strengthen the business. The closing message is simple. Trifast is becoming leaner, more focused and more resilient, with a stronger platform for profitable growth and better returns over time. Thank you. I'll pass back to Iain.
Great. Thanks, Kate. Trifast has a long history of servicing the world's leading engineered products and assemblers. We're very proud of that heritage that we have. We service those customers and have a reputation in the market for great quality, great service and great support, great customer focus. What we've been doing is building on that foundation and moving higher up the value chain by using our engineering solutions-led capability, and increasingly focusing on how we drive and work with our customers on removing the complexity out of the fastener and C-class component supply chain. Why is that important? Well, I think this graphic is quite nice to illustrate what's going on in the world of fasteners and C-class component supply chain.
Actually, when you look at the costs involved, only around 15% of the total cost of ownership for a customer is related to the component cost itself. The vast majority of the cost is actually associated with managing the complexity of the supply chain. Often fasteners and C-class components can represent 40%, 50%, 60% of the SKU count in an engineered assembly, but of course, only represent a few percent of the total value. Our customers want to use their engineering, their supply chain, their procurement time on managing the higher value-added parts within their assembly. That's why they turn to trusted partners like Trifast to be that mission-critical embedded supply chain solutions partner. Now that we've explained a little bit about the supply chain solutions, let's turn our attention to how we've been investing in this business for growth.
I've got a few examples that I wanted to talk through. The first one plays very much to that core value proposition of being that integrated supply chain solutions partner. We've been investing in both technology and in capability as we seek to help our customers use different solutions. We work really closely with our customers to define what their specific needs are and how we can best service those needs with the right supply chain solution. Again, moving further up the value chain, creating an embedded relationship, a trusted relationship where we can deliver value for our customers. We're one of only very few global partners that our customers can turn to, and when it comes to having engineering and manufacturing capability, there are even fewer. This is a critical differentiator in our world.
The next area that we've been investing for growth that I wanted to stress is this pivot that we're actively making away from being an auto components type supplier into this solutions partner with a much broader portfolio, and in this case, in smart infrastructure. I used this slide at the last meeting, but I thought it's important to remind us because we read it every day, don't we? That AI and data center growth is booming. That's what we're playing into. It's not only about data centers, it's about the wider infrastructure investment that our customers are making into power, water, lighting, data connectivity, HVAC solutions. We know only that too well, don't we here in the U.K. How we wish some of us had HVAC at home, and we don't. This is a significant growth sector for us, driven by some pretty strong fundamental underlying drivers.
As I mentioned earlier, it's great to see that our business has been able to grow almost twice since we set out this strategy, and this part represents 17% now of our total portfolio. We expect to drive this portfolio share further as we look out to the mid to long term with an ambition of reaching 30% of our total portfolio. I wanted to share this quote because I think it plays very much to that supply chain and engineering solution value that we bring. This is a quote from a chief engineer of one of our North American smart infrastructure customers who had participated, along with all of his engineering, procurement and supply chain team, in a tech day that we ran at their facility with our engineering and supply chain teams. What he said is, "Look." This was to his team.
For anything fastener or C-part related, you need to use these guys in TR. They're the specialists. We haven't got time to be focused on that part of our bill of materials. We need to be focused on supporting our growth." Just like many customers that we talk to, that is exactly their focus. They've got significant order backlogs and order books that they need to focus on how to convert and deliver. We are their trusted partner to be able to support them deliver that focus and take that complexity out of their bill of materials, out of their supply chain. Very exciting. Good example of how we're driving and delivering value for customers in smart infrastructure. The next example is about how we're investing in growth markets. In this case, I choose India as a great example. I was there a few months ago.
We have been investing heavily into India. We started with implementing, as Kate was talking about, Project Ignite, our Microsoft D365 platform. Giving the team in India, for the first time, a scalable, capable, data-driven platform with standardized processes, access to the group support structure that allows them as a team to have confidence to scale their business. We invested in the sales team in India to be able to go out and then start to sell our capability in engineering and supply chain solutions. What we're seeing is really encouraging. In the first quarter of this year alone, 90% growth. Yes, it's from a low base, but it's a good signal when we look at that growth already and the pipeline of great opportunities in smart infrastructure, in medical equipment with both multinational MNCs that are embedded in India and growing, also with Indian MNCs.
That market, as we all I think know, is the world's fastest growing industrial market. A very exciting opportunity. We're making further investment into this market. We'll be moving to a larger distribution center to be able to support our customers with growth. That center will also house an innovation and customer experience center because we want to engage with our customers and bring the value propositions of Trifast into that market. Beyond our own organic growth, we see opportunity for bolt-on acquisitions to give us geographic or capability expansion within India. As I said, it's a huge market, huge opportunity. We're only just getting going, but we can see the excitement and the opportunity for us. Both Kate and I have talked about Project Ignite.
This is our investment in technology, in digital, in us becoming a more digitally enabled business. It's already, as I just shared with the example in India, we're seeing the benefits from Project Ignite. Historically, of course, we have invested in Microsoft D365. I wanted to remind us of why this technology platform is helping us deliver the EBIT margin, the earnings growth, the cash generation that we're delivering year after year after year. It helped us consolidate our U.K. operations and deliver operational savings as a result. It's helped us create that commercial engine with data that we can use tools like TrueProfit to understand the total cost to serve, to pinpoint specific underperforming contracts or underperforming components and address them with a laser focus with customers to drive margin management.
It's allowed us to drive inventory improvement, working capital improvement that we've seen every year- after- year, reducing the amount of inventory that we hold, generating cash that, as Kate said, we're using to reinvest into the business. Part of our digital investment strategy will go beyond D365. Lots of opportunity as we seek to become a digitally enabled, a digitally connected business across the supply chain. Let me then move to the outlook. I think to start with, just to reiterate that FY 2027 as we enter this year, is carrying the momentum that we've been building over the last two years. I showed you earlier the benefits that we're getting in all four strategic levers. We're confident that the strategy that we've put in place and that we've been executing is going to continue to deliver further progress in FY 2027.
We see further opportunity for earnings growth, margin improvement, cash generation, but importantly, building on the pipeline of profitable growth that we're now seeing in higher and more scalable markets, both geographic and end market sectors like smart infrastructure, medical equipment, a return to profitable top line growth. We're very excited about what FY 2027 can bring. I can say that our start of the year is in line with the board's expectations, and I wanted, before we move to Q&A, to leave you with three key messages. Firstly, we've delivered a successful FY 2026, generating further earnings, margins, and cash generation. Secondly, the strategic pivots and the strategic execution that we're making is driving us into higher growth market, higher growth sectors, and we're investing into that as part of our business strategy.
Third, and perhaps most important, we're on track and confident to hit the double-digit margin commitment that we made for the medium term.
Thank you to Iain and Kate for the presentation. We will now be taking questions from the webcast. If you would like to ask a question, please type them into the Q&A box situated on the right-hand side of your screen. Our first question for today is: You've reiterated your ambition to achieve EBIT margins above 10%. What do you see as the biggest milestones that need to be achieved before that target becomes a reality?
Thanks very much for the question. Hello there, everybody. Thanks very much for taking the time to join the webcast. Before I answer the question, probably just to point out for those eagle-eyed among us, that unfortunately, Kate's overlay was one slide out of sync with the slides. We'll fix that on the version that's on the website. Apologies for that. To the question, what are the milestones that we expect have to be achieved to deliver the double-digit margin? I think a couple of key points I'd call out. First of all, in our planning, we're not forecasting and not expecting for the market, the industrial markets, to return to any strong sort of tailwind of growth.
Industrial PMIs have been below 50 in most markets for the period that we've been executing the strategy, and we're very much of a forecasting view that says we don't want to be reliant on that changing. Importantly, the delivery of double-digit margins needs to be, and we believe is, within our control and our hands. We have further scope and further runway, and as I talked in the presentation, we have momentum across all four of our strategic initiatives: margin management, operational efficiency, Organization Effectiveness. When it comes to focused growth, I think the key change, and probably we may dig into that later as well, I think the key change is to be demonstrating and delivering profitable top line and mix-accretive growth to really generate that additional fourth significant improvement in the margin.
I think that's probably, to my mind, our mind at least, what we need to drive and demonstrate and deliver in FY 2027 and beyond. I think the message is, look, we've got a very strong pipeline, high quality, the right kind of mix of portfolio, and it's very much now in terms of our ability to execute and go deliver that.
Thank you. Next we have: Given today's valuation, how do you think about the relative attractiveness of investing in the business versus returning more capital to shareholders? What do you think the market is currently overlooking about Trifast?
Do you want to take the first part of that?
I'll take that one. First of all, I do think that started with, given today's valuation, what do you think about the attractiveness about the investment in the business? I do think that we're an undervalued stock. For that reason, I'm going to say that we're a growth stock primarily. We have got a strategy which is focused on achieving double-digit margins, and we're executing on that. The potential for the improvement in shareholder value is quite immense. Having said that, we also did pay a progressive dividend this year. We increased the full-year dividend to GBP 0.019 from GBP 0.018 last year. That just shows that whilst we see ourselves as a growth stock, we also see the benefit in rewarding our shareholders and our investors, especially when we've got confidence in the outlook and confidence in our cash generation.
I think what might we think the market is overlooking about Trifast. Look, I think we're focused on executing the strategy and delivering on what we've committed, and I think we've demonstrated really strong progress on both the P&L and in terms of the balance sheet. I think that will continue, and that's the momentum. I would suggest our view on perhaps what's holding the market view back a little bit is the fact that we haven't demonstrated the profitable top-line growth. We are growing. We showed that in the presentation in core markets, core sectors. Overall, as a business, I think the market wants to see the business delivering a year-on-year revenue growth, profitable revenue growth. That's why I said to us, that's the key build that we need to demonstrate in FY 2027 and beyond.
Thank you. Next we have, "Revenue is down nearly 7%, profits up nicely. Is this just cost-cutting or are you actually winning better quality business?
I can answer that. It's a factor of three different things. First of all, it's the improvement in portfolio and mix. We are investing more into our commercial teams to deliver on smart infrastructure and medical equipment. As sectors, they have higher margins, if we get a better mix, which we are, then that will improve the margins, including the gross margin and the EBIT margin. Secondly, we have got the margin management, which is the improvements we're making in pricing, in sourcing. We've also got some operational improvements that we're seeing as well, and that's coming through because we've got much better data from the D365 system that we have. The third one is the transformational changes that we've made. We have made transformation changes in the business. It's not just about cost-cutting.
It is about making sure that we're set up more efficiently. An example of that is the shared service center in Hungary, where we're now collecting on debt a lot faster and being a lot more effective at collecting aged debt. It has also helped us, of course, in terms of self-help and being able to reduce slightly our aged debt provision on the balance sheet. It's not all about cost-cutting. It's doing what we can to become more efficient. Another example is we can see our distribution costs coming down faster than the decline in revenue. Again, that is attributable to the efficiencies that we're achieving working as a more disciplined organization with a leaner structure. Anything you'd like to add to that?
No, I think that's a really good summary.
Thank you, Kate. Next we have, "Cash generation looked a bit tighter. Should we be concerned about balance sheet strength? Also, are you holding more stock than usual, or have you managed to bring inventory back under control?
I can answer that. First of all, cash generation is actually stronger. If you look at our operating cash flow, and this is before the impact of Project Ignite. Project Ignite is our investment in D365 system. We are treating that as a separately disclosed item this year instead of CapEx. That is coming into a different part of our profit before tax bridge. My point is, if you excluded that, you could compare it to last year on a like-for-like basis, you'll see that our operating cash flow is actually improving. That's my first point. The second point was on working capital. We have brought inventory down quite materially. If you have a look at our balance sheet, it's come down nicely.
We've done a lot of work in terms of managing the turnover of inventory and a lot of work selling excess and obsolete inventory back to customers. I would say that actually we've actioned really well on both of those points, both cash flow and the reduction in inventory.
Thank you.
I think just to add, because I think part of the question was, are we overstocked or do we have too much inventory? I think what we would say is we still see opportunity to generate cash from reducing the amount of inventory that we hold. If we compare ourselves and contrast our business to the very best in our market, it's clear there's still opportunity for us to reduce the amount of inventory we hold. We need to do that in a smart way, because maintaining service and making sure we deliver on the reputation that we have for customers, not letting them down, is also a balancing. It's a case of continuing what we've been doing, improving year-over-year in inventory, using that cash generation to reinvest in the business. Yes, there is certainly further scope for inventory reduction in the business.
Thank you both. "Are you starting to see meaningful demand from AI and data center investment? Also, how far through are you in the shedding of unprofitable low-margin business?
In terms of the data center AI boom, and I did talk about that in the presentation, I would say that's one of the key drivers. It's not the only one, but it's one of the key drivers underneath the growth that we've seen in smart infrastructure and indeed, as we project out in the pipeline of new business opportunities. Certainly, one of the key supports for that, and underlying supports, not just for this year, but for several years, will be the growth and the investments that are being made in data center as a result of all of our appetite for AI and data around us.
I think that's one of the reasons that we're seeing strong growth, and certainly the pipeline that I've referred to several times in smart infrastructure, which today, if we look at the pipeline, 80% of that is smart infrastructure and medical equipment. If you'd have asked me that question two years ago, probably 90% of it would have been auto. That's a good indication of the shift that we've made, and one of the drivers is data center AI. It's not the only one because Again, everybody will be aware of, in every market that we're operating in, there are significant infrastructure investments being made. All of those investments require power, water, lighting. Not necessarily every one requires data, but will require some form of data connectivity, and the increasing investment in HVAC that goes along with climate change.
All of those things are driving the smart infrastructure growth that we're seeing. Second part of the question, which is where are we on the journey of exiting or managing underperforming contracts, underperforming accounts, et cetera? Look, I said it, a lot of the heavy lifting is done. That's why now our commercial focus and our commercial teams are increasingly focused on driving that profitable pipeline of new business growth. However, we use the data that we have around us, and TrueProfit is our tool, which allows us to look at the total cost to serve. Remember that graphic of the fastener, and we look at the total cost to serve any one of our customers. We can drill right down into component level and understand where do we have underperforming parts of our business that still need to be addressed.
It's an engine, and I use that word deliberately because it's part of creating a much stronger business, a more capable business that has process, discipline, and rigor. One of those areas of discipline and rigor needs to be and will continue to be around are we earning the right margin for the business, reflecting the value of what we do for our customers each and every day.
Thank you, Iain. Our next question is, "Would bolt-on acquisitions become a priority once leverage is lower, or is reducing debt now the main priority over things like acquisitions?
I can answer that one. Acquisitions are a priority for us at the moment. We've already reached a level of net debt and leverage where we're comfortable to pursue potential acquisitions. We will only pursue acquisitions where they're going to be accretive to the margin strategy that we've got. We'll give us double-digit EBIT margins. We'll also apply strict price discipline to make sure we're paying the right price. We'd also want to make sure that they are in the right segments or sectors, and also the regions that we are targeting. We already do have a strategy in place. It's part of our capital allocation framework, and we're very much prioritizing. We'd like ideally to have an acquisition done before the end of FY 2027. It is just dependent on finding the right fit.
Thank you. We are now moving on to our final question for today. If you have any further questions, please email the team who will respond to any questions that were not covered this afternoon. Our final question is, "Thanks to Iain and Kate for the presentation. For you personally, what's the most exciting prospect in your strategy execution for the year ahead?
For me personally, it's seeing the talent in our business flourish. We've got incredible people in TR who do amazing things for our customers each and every day. Part of the job I enjoy the most is watching, supporting, coaching, mentoring, and helping our people be the best that they can be. That's what I get a kick out of, and I'm sure we're going to see a lot of that in FY 2027.
Yep. From my point of view, of course, I'm going to agree with Iain. It's always great to see our staff perform well and really achieve alignment with our goals as well. Being the finance person and big on numbers, I do like to get a big tick in the box when we have said that we're going to do something and we've achieved it. I'm really looking forward to seeing our achievement, particularly on revenue growth this year.
Thank you both. That's all the questions for today, so I'll hand back over to the management team for any closing remarks.
Thanks. Well, again, first of all, thank you very much for taking the time to dial into the webcast. Really appreciate you taking time out of your days to do that. Thank you for the questions that you submitted. I hope we answered those fully. I think I would leave the session with the three key messages that I gave through the presentation. Look, we delivered a successful FY 2026. We've demonstrated a second year of earnings growth, margin improvement, and cash generation. That's the first point. Second point, we have momentum as we enter FY 2027. We should expect, as Kate said, to deliver on what we've committed in earnings, margin improvement, cash generation, but importantly, to also see that we deliver on the top-line revenue growth through FY 2027 and beyond.
Finally, given what we've been doing, what we are doing, and our confidence in the future, we remain on track and committed and confident of delivering that double-digit EBIT margin by the medium term. Before I think I will close, just let me finally say a big thank you again to everybody at Trifast across all of our locations for everything they did during FY 2026 and everything they continue to do for our customers and the teams globally each and every day. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a good rest of your day.
Thank you to Iain and Kate for joining us today. That concludes the Trifast Retail and Private Results Presentation. Please take a moment to complete a short survey following this event. The recording of this presentation will be made available on Engage Investor. I hope you enjoyed today's webinar