Light Science FY2025 results: lower revenue, better margins, but a bigger loss
Light Science Technologies Holdings plc has reported a mixed set of FY2025 results. Revenue fell to £8.6 million from £12.0 million, but gross margin – the percentage left after direct costs – improved to 33.8% from 30.3%.
That tells you management is trying to reshape the business away from lower-quality sales and towards higher-value work. In plain English, the Group sold less, but made more profit on each pound of revenue. The problem is that the drop in sales was still large enough to push loss before tax out to £0.89 million, versus just £0.03 million the year before.
| Key FY2025 numbers | FY2025 | FY2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £8.6 million | £12.0 million |
| Gross margin | 33.8% | 30.3% |
| Loss before tax | £0.89 million | £0.03 million |
| Cash at year end | £0.7 million | £1.2 million |
| Net debt | £0.95 million | £0.71 million |
The broad investment case is still about growth markets – fire remediation, AgTech and specialist electronics. But FY2025 itself was clearly a transition year, not a breakthrough year.
Passive fire protection and Injectaclad: this is where the big upside sits
The Passive Fire Protection, or PFP, division remains the headline story. Revenue here fell to £1.38 million from £1.78 million, mainly because projects were delayed by slow approvals at the Building Safety Regulator, or BSR.
That is frustrating, but the more interesting point is what sits behind it. The quoted pipeline in PFP has grown from around £9 million at the start of the financial year to around £20 million currently. Management is effectively saying demand is there, but conversion has been jammed up by regulation.
The product at the centre of this is Injectaclad, a cavity fire barrier remediation system. The appeal is that it can be installed without ripping off the whole façade, which should mean less disruption and lower cost than traditional methods. That matters because Light Science says there are over 40,000 UK buildings potentially needing remediation, with an addressable market of more than £4 billion.
My view: this division looks strategically strong, but still execution-dependent. If BSR delays genuinely ease and the pipeline starts converting, the second half of FY2026 could look very different. If not, investors may have to keep waiting.
£6.6 million fundraising and RLUK Injection acquisition: why this could reshape Light Science
The biggest development actually came after the year end. Light Science raised £6.6 million and used it to acquire RLUK Injection Ltd, the remaining minority interest in UK Circuits, and the remaining units of the Manchester property.
RLUK Injection matters most because it includes Injectaclad Ltd, the patented system behind the PFP proposition. That brings more of the value chain under Group control – product, intellectual property, materials supply and installation support. Management believes that should help scalability and improve margins further.
That logic stacks up. Owning the key asset rather than relying on third parties usually gives a business better control over delivery, pricing and growth. If PFP becomes the engine management hopes for, this acquisition could look very smart.
The UK Circuits and property deals are more practical, but still useful. Full ownership of the CEM business removes minority leakage, while the property acquisition eliminates rental costs and creates a northern base for PFP distribution and training.
AgTech and CEM performance: one grew nicely, the other is being rebuilt
AgTech, or AGT, had a decent year in relative terms. Revenue rose 24.4% to £0.97 million from £0.78 million, although gross margin slipped to 43.0% from 49.9%.
The business upgraded systems in more than 30 UK commercial glasshouses, hired a new sales executive for sensorGROW, and strengthened its intellectual property with a patent grant for its environmental sensor. It has also secured new work post period end, including an additional university contract in Wales and an extension with Nottingham Trent University, adding £0.44 million in new revenues for the current period.
That said, AGT is still small and still waiting for larger orders to land. Management says the quoted pipeline is worth more than £34 million, which sounds exciting, but pipelines are not revenue. Retail investors should keep that distinction front and centre.
CEM, or Contract Electronics Manufacturing, had the toughest revenue hit. Sales dropped to £6.31 million from £9.51 million after its biggest pest control customer took one product to end-of-life, as expected. The good news is margin improved sharply to 28.4% from 24.3%, and customer concentration fell to 30.4% of Group revenue from 49.2%.
That de-risking matters. A business that relies too heavily on one customer can be knocked sideways very quickly, and Light Science has just shown exactly why. The next step is winning accreditations to enter defence, medical and healthcare markets, where management hopes for higher-margin and longer-term contracts.
Cash, debt and going concern risk: the important warning in the numbers
This is the part investors should read carefully. At 30 November 2025, Group cash was £0.72 million, down from £1.21 million, and working capital facilities were fully utilised. Net debt rose to £0.95 million from £0.71 million.
On top of that, the going concern note includes a material uncertainty. Directors say the Group has sufficient financing for at least 12 months, but they also acknowledge uncertainty over the level and timing of revenues in PFP and AGT, and note that borrowing terms may need to be renegotiated or temporarily waived if revenue generation does not arrive as expected.
That is not a throwaway line. It means management believes the business can continue, but there is still real sensitivity to delivery and cash flow timing. The post-period fundraising helps a lot, but the year-end balance sheet was not especially comfortable.
One technical point worth noting: a £2.59 million impairment was recognised in the Company-only accounts relating to historic AGT support, but the consolidated Group accounts were unaffected. So it is not a hit to the headline Group result investors are looking at here.
What Light Science investors should watch in FY2026
- Whether the PFP pipeline of approximately £20 million starts converting faster in the second half of FY2026.
- How quickly the RLUK Injection acquisition feeds into revenue growth and gross margin.
- Whether AGT turns its pipeline and university wins into meaningful recurring revenues.
- Progress on defence, medical and healthcare accreditations in CEM.
- Cash generation, debt levels and any future pressure around banking facilities or covenants.
My take on the Light Science FY2025 RNS
This is not a clean, easy set of results. Revenue was weak, losses widened, cash fell, and the going concern wording deserves respect. On those points alone, there is clear risk.
But there is also a credible strategic story here. Margins improved, customer concentration reduced, AGT added new contracts, and the post-year-end acquisitions look genuinely important – especially bringing Injectaclad in-house.
So the bull case is straightforward: FY2025 was the messy set-up year, and FY2026 becomes the conversion year. The bear case is just as clear: the Group is still relying on delayed pipeline delivery and regulatory improvement to unlock the growth story.
For retail investors, that means this is now largely a proof point share. If PFP momentum shows up in hard numbers in H2 FY2026, sentiment could improve sharply. If not, the market may decide the promise is still doing too much of the work.
