CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
The Group continues to demonstrate the resilience and quality of its business model, underpinned by a clear strategy, consistent capital allocation, and strong execution. This provides a strong foundation for delivering sustainable long-term value for shareholders.”
Bruce Thompson Chairman
This year’s results reflect a robust performance despite market challenges. A return to organic sales growth together with acquisition contributions have helped deliver further growth in operating profits and earnings per share. Once again, the high quality, resilient nature of the Group’s earnings, along with its capital-light model, has delivered excellent cash flow.
equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”). Last year, security and defence markets, where demand is accelerating globally, were added to the Group’s target markets. This has increased the Group’s total addressable market to over $30bn, providing significant opportunities for growth. Acquisitions are a key element of the Group’s compounding growth strategy. Since 2011, the Group has acquired 30 specialised electronic design and manufacturing businesses which have enhanced value and operating margins and have been integrated to achieve efficiencies and drive growth. discoverIE has a disciplined approach to acquisitions and has many opportunities to grow inorganically in a highly fragmented market. The Group’s capital-light model generates strong cash flows which management reinvests into accelerating the strategy and delivering further value creation for Shareholders. Acquisitions In the last six months, the Group completed two acquisitions and announced a third, for a total consideration of £95m, all of which are accretive to both adjusted earnings and operating margins. Trival Antene d.o.o. (“Trival”), a Slovenian-based designer and manufacturer of communication antennae and masts for defence applications was acquired in April 2026 and Keymat Technology Ltd trading under the name Storm Interface (“Storm”), was acquired in December 2025. The businesses and ongoing management teams are settling into the Group operating clusters as integration takes place and we expect to generate new commercial opportunities for growth as part of the larger Group. We welcome the employees of these businesses into the Group and look forward to working with them.
Additionally, in May we announced the acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, of 3Gmetalworx (“3G”), a North American designer and manufacturer of electromagnetic shielding and thermal management products, further strengthening the Group’s presence in the region and the aerospace & defence market. Dividend and capital allocation The Board is recommending a 4% (0.35 pence) increase in the final dividend to 8.95 pence per share, giving a 4% increase in the full year dividend per share to 13.0 pence (FY 2024/25: 12.5 pence) and an adjusted earnings cover of 3.1 times (FY 2024/25: 3.1 times). The final dividend is payable on 31 July 2026 to Shareholders registered on 26 June 2026 and the final date for Dividend Reinvestment Plan (“DRIP”) elections will be 10 July 2026. The Board believes in maintaining a progressive dividend policy along with a long-term dividend cover of over three times earnings on an adjusted basis. This approach, along with the continued development of the Group, will enable funding of both dividend growth and a higher level of investment in acquisitions from internally generated resources. Share buybacks will be considered if the Group has surplus cash. Currently, the fragmented international market, in which we operate, provides ample opportunity for accretive acquisitions with excellent growth prospects and the potential for high returns, as our recent acquisitions illustrate. As such, our capital is currently deployed in this direction. It is reviewed periodically.
The Group has seen a return to organic sales and orders growth with an improving trend through the year. In response to this positive momentum, the Group has invested in additional operating, sales and engineering capacity, building additional agility and supporting future growth. The Group continued to make excellent progress operationally, generating efficiencies that partly come from organising the businesses into clusters, thereby sharing resources and know-how. These productivity gains have been supplemented with further good progress on the acquisition front. Strategy The Group’s strategy remains consistent and underpins a track record of delivering compounding growth for more than fifteen years. The strategy delivers very resilient and growing profitability, avoiding sharp cyclical movements and maintaining earnings growth by virtue of its flexible production cost base. The Group designs and manufactures high-quality components, created to meet customers’ unique requirements, which generate secure, long-term revenues. Our international, decentralised business model retains an entrepreneurial mindset close to its customers, reacting quickly to their needs with an efficient supply chain. Manufacturing is localised in response to opportunities and trading conditions. To deliver consistent, long-term growth, the Group focuses on structurally growing markets where there is an essential need for our products from major international original
Group revenue £443.3m (FY 2024/25: £422.9m)
Adjusted operating profit £61.0m (FY 2024/25: £60.5m)
Adjusted EPS 40.3p (FY 2024/25: 38.7p)
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discoverIE Group plc Innovative Electronics
Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026
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