Senior plc Reports Strong H1 2025 Results with Aerostructures Sale and Dividend Hike

Solid Foundations and Strategic Shifts: Senior’s Strong First Half

Senior plc has kicked off 2025 with a confident stride, delivering interim results that align neatly with expectations while executing a pivotal strategic shift. The headline numbers tell a story of organic growth and operational discipline, but the real narrative lies in the group’s sharpened focus and capital allocation decisions. Let’s unpack the essentials.

Financial Performance: Core Business Flexing Muscle

Senior’s continuing operations (excluding the now-divested Aerostructures unit) demonstrated robust health in H1:

• Revenue: £371.2m, up 5% year-on-year at constant currency.
• Adjusted Operating Profit: £31.2m, a healthy 14% jump (constant currency).
• Adjusted Operating Margin: Expanded 60 basis points to 8.4%.
• Free Cash Flow: Surged 43% to £10.6m, with cash conversion improving to 66%.
• Interim Dividend: Hiked by 13% to 0.85p per share.

This wasn’t just about top-line growth; it was driven by improved pricing, favourable mix, and standout performances in Aerospace and specific Flexonics niches like downstream oil & gas. Even against a £8.5m FX headwind, the underlying momentum was clear.

The Big Pivot: Aerostructures Sale & Capital Deployment

The standout strategic move came in July with the agreed sale of the Aerostructures division to Sullivan Street Partners for up to £200m. This isn’t just tidying up the portfolio – it’s a fundamental repositioning. Senior is now firmly targeting a future as a pure-play fluid conveyance and thermal management (FCTM) specialist. The rationale?

• Focus: Concentrates resources on higher-margin, IP-rich FCTM markets (Aerospace, Defence, Power & Energy, Land Vehicles).
• Financial Uplift: Expect structurally higher margins, stronger cash conversion, lower capex intensity, and improved ROCE post-divestment.
• Balance Sheet Boost: Net proceeds will primarily reduce net debt (H1: £162.4m excluding leases, leverage 1.9x) and fund a significant £40m share buyback programme after completion.

While Aerostructures showed improved H1 performance (adjusted op profit of £0.5m vs. £3.1m loss H1 ’24), its classification as a discontinued operation resulted in a significant non-cash impairment (£39.7m) as assets were remeasured for sale, dragging reported Group PBT to a loss. Look beyond this accounting noise – the strategic clarity is what matters.

Divisional Deep Dive: Where the Growth Happened

Aerospace Division (57% of Group Revenue)

• Revenue: £208.9m (+7.2% constant currency). Driven by defence growth (F-35, Typhoon programmes), strong Spencer Aerospace sales (+66%), and recovery in semiconductor equipment markets.
• Profitability: Adjusted operating profit jumped 13.1% to £21.6m, margin up 50bps to 10.3%. Pricing gains and volume were key.

Civil aerospace demand is recovering, but the real stars were defence and adjacent tech markets. Supply chains are stabilising, though “a few remaining hotspots” are being managed.