James Cropper (CRPR) H1 2026 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Revenue grew 3.7% year-over-year to £51.8m in H1 FY26, with significant improvement in profitability and cash generation.

• Two main divisions: Paper and Packaging (70% of revenue) and Advanced Materials (30%).

• Strategic priorities include growing Advanced Materials, returning Paper and Packaging to profitability, and reducing debt.

• Significant progress made on all three priorities in the first half.

• No interim dividend is proposed, with capital allocation focused on long-term value creation.

Financial highlights

• Adjusted EBITDA rose 51.9% to £4.1m, and statutory profit before tax reached £2.7m, up from a £0.6m loss in H1 FY25.

• Group revenue just over £50 million, similar to previous year.

• Adjusted profit before tax improved by £2.3 million year-over-year.

• Net debt reduced to £10.5m from £13.1m year-over-year, and net debt to adjusted EBITDA improved to 1.3x from 3.3x.

• Earnings per share increased to 21.4p from a loss of 5.1p per share in H1 FY25.

Outlook and guidance

• Trading remains robust post-period in both business units.

• Full-year revenue expected to be similar to FY25, with significant growth in adjusted EBITDA versus prior year.

• Paper & Packaging targets break-even run-rate adjusted EBITDA in the final quarter of FY26.

• Advanced Materials aims for underlying double-digit revenue growth over the longer term.

• Market forecast for EBITDA to increase by 20% to £8 million for the year.