Welcome to the Volex plc Annual General Meeting. Throughout this recorded meeting, attendees will be in a listening mode. I would now like to hand you over to Dave Webster, Chair. Good afternoon, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Volex plc's 2026 Annual General Meeting. My name is Dave Webster. I am the Chair of the Board. I would now like to introduce the Directors and Officers of the company joining us today, either in person or remotely. Nat Rothschild, our Chief Executive Officer. Jon Boaden, our Chief Financial Officer. Sir Peter Westmacott, our Senior Independent Director. Amelia Murillo, Jeffrey Jackson, and John Wilson, our Independent Non-Executive Directors. Chris Bedford, our Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. I was unable to attend the Annual General Meeting in person today, and therefore, Jon Boaden, who is physically present at the meeting, will be acting as Chair of the Annual General Meeting.
Before we move to the other items of business, I will hand over to Nat Rothschild, Chief Executive Officer, to provide a brief update on trading in the first four months of FY 2027, as announced this morning.
Thank you, Dave. Thank you everyone who is attending this meeting. Volex has made a very strong start to the new financial year, delivering 28% constant currency organic revenue growth year-on-year in the four months to July 2026. Growth was broad-based across all five end markets, led by complex industrial technology, where data center customer demand has been sustained at the elevated exit rate of FY 2026, and by increased demand for EV and electrification products, supported by continued electrification trends and customer focus on energy efficiency. Good growth was also delivered in consumer electricals, off-highway, and medical. The 28% year-on-year rate partly reflects a prior year comparator in which revenue built progressively as new data center programs ramped up, and headline year-on-year growth rates are therefore expected to normalize over the remainder of the year as this effect annualizes.
Sequential trading is the better guide to underlying momentum, with average monthly revenue in the first four months of the year running 8% higher than the monthly average for the second half of FY 2026. Operating expenses continue to be managed closely with efficiency savings and enhanced operating leverage, supporting improved underlying operating margin performance in line with the group's medium-term strategic plan. The acquisition of the remaining interest in Kepler SignalTek completed during the period. Integration is progressing as planned, extending the group's medical offering into patient-to-device applications and enhancing the group's underlying operating margin. On the 24th of July 2026, the group's shares were admitted to the official list and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, completing the move from AIM.
The board believes the move better reflects the group's scale and maturity and will broaden the range of potential investors in the company. As a result of the strength of trading in the opening months and the operating leverage inherent within the business model, the board now expects FY 2027 underlying operating profit to be ahead of current market expectations. The group remains well-positioned to make further progress against the medium-term strategic plan set out at the Capital Markets Day in April. I will now hand over to Jon to proceed with the formal business of the meeting.
Thank you, Nat. Moving on to the formal business of the meeting, I confirm the meeting today is quorate. Today's AGM is an opportunity for shareholders to express their views and to ask questions of the board. We, as your board, are committed to open dialogue with our shareholders and are pleased to have the opportunity during the meeting to engage with you. As mentioned in the notice of meeting, shareholders can submit written questions during the meeting, which the board will endeavor to answer. However, we ask that your questions relate solely to the items of business before the meeting. I will now move on to the formal business of this annual general meeting before we return to any questions. The notice of AGM was sent to you on the 13th of July 2026. I propose to take the notice of annual general meeting as read.
I will move on to the items of business before the annual general meeting, considering, and if thought fit, passing the resolutions, details of which are set out in the notice of meeting. Resolutions 1- 14 are ordinary resolutions and require a simple majority of the votes to be cast in their favor. Resolutions 15- 19 are special resolutions and require at least three-quarters of the votes to be cast in their favor. Today, all of the resolutions set out in the notice of AGM will be taken on a poll. This is in line with current corporate governance guidelines. On a poll, votes may be given by members present in person, by representatives of corporate shareholders who are present, and by persons present as proxy for shareholder.
On a poll, each member present in person, by corporate representative, or by proxy, is entitled to one vote for every share held by them or the shareholder whom they represent, as the case may be. A person entitled to more than one vote need not use all of their votes or cast all votes they use in the same way. Many shareholders have already sent in a proxy appointing me, as chair of the meeting, to vote on their behalf. I will vote as they have instructed me. If they have given me discretion as to how to vote, I shall be voting in favor of the resolution concerned on their behalf. All shareholders, proxies, and corporate representatives here today have received a poll card.
I now propose the resolutions as set out in the notice of meeting, which together with the proxy results received, are shown on the slides. I declare the poll open. The poll count for the resolutions put to the meeting today will be conducted by MUFG Corporate Markets, our registrars, and will be combined with the proxy votes already submitted. When those present in person have completed their poll card, they will find a ballot box at the exit to the room into which they can deposit their completed poll card. The ballot box will remain in place for 5 minutes only after the close of the meeting, upon which the ballot box will be closed in order for the poll count to commence.
The final results of the poll will be announced at the London Stock Exchange as soon as practical following the conclusion of this meeting and will also appear on our website. That concludes the formal business of the meeting. We will now take questions. There are no questions. Okay. Given that we haven't received any questions, that concludes Volex's FY 2026 annual general meeting, and the meeting is now closed. Thank you for joining us, and if you have any feedback on today's meeting, please do let us know.
That's great. Thank you for updating attendees today. Can I please ask attendees not to close this session, as you'll now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete and I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the board, we'd like to thank you for attending today's annual general meeting, and good afternoon to you all.