Brightsides.uk

Tag: finance

  • Riding the crypto carousel – how to make an exit?

    People keep telling me to create a Tesla Finance trading account using a diversified basket of consumer finance loans to trade with on the understanding these are qualifying structured products. These often rely on algorithmic trading bots to generate value.

    But many crypto exchanges have terms and conditions about lock-ins and min buy-ins, a bit like the Wild West of the internet you can strike gold but mostly you will be panning with dirt. In this post I clear up some of the myths about crypto-denominated money investment products

    VAT prepayment riptides

    Swimming in the sea, you need to be careful of riptides which can pull you under. Similarly with “VAT prepayment” scams, you can get dragged under some hovernet and be locked into a position where you think you have autonomy but that is just an illusion. The merchant promises you a commission for bulking up their order book, and although they promise you a full refund you can lose your initial deposit. 

    No such thing as self-sovereignty

    Self-sovereign wallets, so-called to present the facade of custodianship over your digital wallet, can act to lock you into a crypto trading position where the only option is to keep increasing capital inflow until the investment adviser (not operating under FCA Financial Conduct Authority supervision), opens the gate when they, not you, are able and willing to release your funds. 

    Proof-of-stake is value-at-risk

    You can be put under a lot of pressure to “lock down” your funds but it often feels like depositing into suspect trading platforms, even where you have proof-of-stake in the underlying protocol i.e. your position was purchased and secured by Ether holdings transferred using the Polygon Network, that the system is designed to operate a bit like an online slot machine, where you are conceded a series of small wins, or payouts, until the system wipes out your funds on the grounds you have “insufficient funds” to place the next trade in your order book. 

    And you need to input double the deficit which has been created in order to liquidate your “frozen assets” in USDC and restore your crypto balance. The initial buy-in and exit from the crypto carousel is usually tendered in one of the stablecoins, USDC or other, yielding the perception of stability where a Bitcoin buy-in would be subject to daily volatility rates. 

    “Double your losses to double your profit”

    The “double or nothing” play is a common one used by several red-hat SEO schemes and these so-called “commercial trades” can occur twice or three times in a trading round, and never fail to find an excuse to “freeze” your assets i.e. the capital you have deposited on the platform which require increasingly large amounts of additional capital to “unlock the gate”. 

  • Analyst Note – Renishaw. ‘What cost of insuring against future forex downturns?’

    A financial forecast, like a weather forecast, is not always going to be positive. A business might face significant headwinds including unfavourable foreign exchange rates which affect the purchase price of its exports. Additionally it can have to overcome the hurdle of tariffs from overseas trading partners, in which instance it has either the option of raising the price of goods to reflect the additional cost of selling to that country or absorbing the cost of tariffs and posting it as a business expense.

    Engineering company Renishaw in its Half Year results stated it had addressed US tariffs on imported goods with higher pricing, comprising 1.4% of growth reported – tariff costs of a £15m offset by surcharges and pricing, with only a small decline in profit margin.

    Renishaw’s revenue forecast for the year was for between £740m and £780m, with adjusted profit before tax predicted to fall between £130m and £157m.

    Statutory vs Operational Profit

    While its profit before tax increased 11.5%, a record for the period, statutory profit before tax actually fell 20.0%, representing £18.0m in “redundancy and impairment costs, relating to previously announced restructuring activities, and other one-off costs.” Operating profit grew 11.4% from £51.6m in H12025 to £57.5m in 2026.

    Although operating margin grew just 0.6%, overall revenue grew 7.1% over the figure for the same period in 2025, from £341.4m to £365.6m in H1 2026. Although the cash flow conversion fell 32% from 100% in 2025, to 68%, the business asserted its

    “Strong balance sheet with cash and deposit balances of £249.9m (FY2025: £273.6m), reflecting full-year dividend, working capital investment and restructuring outflows.” 

    Admin expenses over revenue were 2.3% greater yoy and comprise “continuing third-party support and maintenance costs in relation to our ongoing IT transformation, which will lead to productivity benefits in future years.” 

    Distribution expenses grew 6.6% and were attributable to higher pay and benefits. This being said, it posted 4.4% of “organic margin growth” from a combination of fixed cost reduction, productivity initiatives and operational synergies.

    Playing with Financial Instruments

    This organic growth margin was 4.4% higher than the growth at actual exchange rates, mostly thanks to an £8.0m reduction in forward currency income compared to FY 2025.

    It explains, ”The preceding period witnessed significant value-add from contracts which locked in favourable exchange rates” after a period of volatility in currency markets “arising from the September 2022 UK ‘mini-budget’.

    Swaps and futures are financial instruments a business can use to ensure its financial forecast is rosy. Trading these instruments, though, on the secondary market can result in a loss if the mark-to-market value being demand-led can result in a loss where institutional trading levels cause volatility, or price fluctuations, where it is difficult to post a gain relative to the transaction cost and the margin traded against the contract value.

    On the other hand, where constant currency revenues are reported, it is likely that currency futures were used to help protect against unfavourable forex rates. 

    And interest rate swaps (IRS) can help the business to “hedge” against future disadvantageous borrowing rates, which are usually pegged to the Bank of England (BOE) base rate. Where ‘swapping’  a borrowing rate with your financial counterparty offers gains, from a pricing perspective they may benefit from a lower yield that the resale value of its own debt might enjoy an increase – bonds are priced in inverse relation to the yield, which represents the value-at-risk in relation to the repayment of principal.

    Renishaw cites 4 structural growth drivers:

    • increasing precision of manufacturing services.
    • rising industrial automation to address skills deficits
    • electrification and digitalisation of industries
    • decarbonisation of manufacturing.

    Globally, its salesforce utilises new technologies, and customer demand-side targeting, to gain market share, with key business divisions powering growth in the semiconductor, defence and electrification arenas.

    Position encoder products witnessed strong growth over the last reporting period, attributed to nascent metrology and additive manufacturing systems and software. “Pleasing growth” was seen in new sensor product lines, e.g. enclosed optical and inductive position encoders.

    If you break the H1 revenue gains into business segments, Position Measurement orders book grew from Q1 2026 £52.1m to £58.4m for the Q2 reporting period. Forward orders in Industrial Metrology represented a revenue growth from that segment from £102.0m to £110.1m; and from the Specialised Technologies segment from £16.7m to £26.3m.

    The H1 2026 report states “Growth was broadly based, with all three reporting segments delivering growth, and Specialised Technologies performing particularly strongly.

  • Interview with Quilter Financial Planner

    Jagdeep Singh and I had a hugely rewarding chat about their service offering, comprises matching clients with appropriate investment portfolios based on their investment objectives and risk tolerance.

    The first stage of the process is an internally generated questionnaire, assessing how clients feel about risk and looking at their expectations and cash-flow requirements. Are they looking for income, in which case they are chasing dividend yields, or are they seeking value-add to trading stocks commensurate with their long-term growth expectations?

    Establishing the risk-reward ratio

    When assigning clients baskets of investments, the financial planner has to interrogate the overhead of an actively managed fund – transaction fees and management costs, for example. Potential investors have to ask themselves, “What’s the potential growth of that fund, and will be be appropriate for me?”

    Singh stresses that swaps and futures, and other instruments used to hedge against the risk of certain bank holdings on their balance-sheet, are “not financial instruments recommended to retail investors,” that are largely deployed to lock in a more favourable borrowing rate on credit products with counterparties (interest rate swaps or IRS); or trade on growth expectations for commodities and foreign exchange (forex).

    In the context of portfolio allocation, “crudely, up to 60% of the invested sum is in equities, and 40% in bonds. It depends if there’s lifestyling applied – the fund, which reduces the exposure of the portfolio in the 10-15 years pre-retirement, will invert the ratio meaning 40% is applied to equities and 60% to bonds.

    The trade-off is that bonds demonstrate less volatility, but also less growth in their tradable value.”

    This re-allocation of portfolio apportionment is termed the ‘Glidepath to Retirement’.

    Duration of Capital Investment

    When questioned about lock-in clauses, Singh says that a minimum investment period of 5 years should be treated as standard, that clients should not expect to withdraw their capital before the end of that period and that they should not invest more of their income than they can afford, which is why in advance they establish overhead cost of living and allocate a capital buffer to forestall emergency costs and/or financial hardship situations.

    Of course, the option still exists of taking your pension fund as one lump sum. Apparently pre-Budget when the Labour Party came in, a lot of people applied to take the cash for fear the Labour Party would revoke the tax-free cash option – which it did not do. But Singh points out that a bank savings account deposit can still be liable for income tax – “Better to stay invested so you can capitalise on growth, where there’s no need to take the money.”

    Different Buckets

    In terms of the service offering, the ‘Model’ portfolio is analysed on a quarterly basis, whereas those with tailored portfolios will predicate return on historic performance of funds contained within it and these are analysed at the year end. You can tender individually to buy into specific funds, and both options have an opt-in for ESG ratings to be incorporated – “We do both scenarios in ESG.”

    When considering apportionment to actively managed funds, obviously they consider the price to equity (P:E) ratio, past performance and management fees. Also factor in the F:E ratio, representing the quality of that fund compared to its peers – what growth level it returns vs the benchmark.

    Core factors determining apportionment are a consistent track record and a favourable comparison with historic volatility – what is the correlation with overall market volatility and does the manager generate a positive gain through trading volatility? How are its holdings marked to market? These so-called beta measures are applied when considering including a fund in one of the investment portfolio options.

    For an initial consultation if you are considering a long-term investment as part of your plan for retirement, contact

    Jagdeep.singh@quilterfa.com

    07342 412630

    or make application via the online portal where you can search for his individual investment advisor profile.

  • Comparing Special VAT Regimes

    VAT Returns – what’s your Flavour? 

    The individual practice may qualify for a flat-rate VAT scheme based on the industry standard rate as a percentage of VAT-inclusive payment receipts to the value of total VAT-inclusive turnover for the first year of registration (a 1% discount is offered for the year of registration).  

    Entry to the flat-rate VAT scheme will be dependent on the business’s VAT-exclusive taxable turnover not being expected to exceed £150,000 in the ensuing 12 months. If a trader has limited costs, the flat rate will be 16.5% of VAT-inclusive turnover. A limited cost trader is one whose purchases of goods are less than either: 2% of turnover, or £1,000 p.a. As regards input VAT, if it is incurred on the acquisition of larger fixed assets (those with a VAT-inclusive cost over £2,000), this can be paid back through the VAT Return. 

    Under the Annual Accounting Scheme, the trader pays 90% of the preceding year’s VAT liability (or of an estimate if this is the business’s first year of trading) in nine equal instalments over months 4 to 12 of the VAT year i.e. per quarter. The residual balance is processed two months after the end of the reporting period. Alternatively, the trader may opt to pay 25% of the preceding year’s liability, with the residual balance due with the return within the same timeframe. 

    Traders only qualify for the Annual Accounting Scheme if all returns and VAT payments are up to date or where instalments have been scheduled with the tax authority. A further condition is that VAT-exclusive taxable turnover is not forecast to exceed £1,350,000 in the ensuing year. One advantage of the scheme is that paying a fixed amount on each instalment helps manage liquidity risks to the business, and reduces admin overheads. 

    The Cash Accounting Scheme enables businesses to override the tax point rules where VAT can become due either on the delivery of goods or services, or at the point the invoice relating to those services is issued. VAT can instead become due only on the basis of tangible payment receipts. As with the Annual Accounting Scheme, future turnover must not exceed £1,350,000 for the next year. 

    Advantages of the Cash Accounting Scheme are that output VAT does not become an HMRC liability until payment has been made, helping scheme members to tie their reporting obligations to cashflow rather than salesbook forward orders, with an inbuilt protection against default or delinquency on outstanding accounts due to the merchant, as the liability does not come into force until payments have actually been received. 

  • “What is the VAT charge on teeth whitening?”

    This would be an excellent example of direct allocation vs indirect allocation of input tax where the operator makes some taxable supplies, but additionally exempt supplies and the input tax allowance for charge-backs is apportioned according to the ratio of taxable supplies over turnover.

    Many dentists offer standard-rated cosmetic procedures (e.g. teeth whitening, veneers for purely aesthetic reasons, dermal fillers), as well as exempt services (routine check-ups, fillings, restorative work, and dentures designed to protect, maintain, or restore health). As a partially exempt trader, VAT filing returns need to correctly attribute allocations of cost vs output on billable services, and they may qualify to recover some of their input tax although their primary service offering is exempt for VAT purposes.

    Let’s look at the Legislative Requirements

    The standard method described in this scenario could be applied to dentistry where there are aspects of public and private practice, where a proportion of indirectly allocated (residual) revenue comprising taxable supplies can be reclaimed on the input tax on the dentistry practice.

    Additionally, there are special methods where different outputs are used as proxies for standard-rated supplies which apply in situations where, for example, high value transactions are undertaken which consume inputs to an extent significantly greater than transactions of a lower value; or where payment receipts on costs recorded in the cashbook lag the invoice due date distorting the level of output tax logged at the tax point of the invoice. Alternative apportionment methods might utilise output values and/or number of transactions to determine the taxable threshold on residual allocation of taxable vs exempt supplies. Other proxy values might comprise cost allocations, to determine which business divisions are predominantly taxable or exempt; or management accounts, to drill down into admin overheads on managing concurrent business divisions.

    All charge-backs claimable on residual or unallocated input tax allocations are subject to the de minimis threshold, which is set at £625 per month and where the value of exempt supplies is no more than 50% of the value of all supplies. A regular ‘historic test’ must be conducted where the monthly value of supplies is subjected to the de minimis requirement backdated twelve months i.e. over the last tax year, and an annual adjustment must be made based on use of taxable supplies and how it has changed in the context of cost allocations.

    Partly exempt businesses can seek approval of a special method, during:

    1. Your ‘registration period’, the period ranging from the date you were first registered for VAT to the day before the start of your first tax year (normally 31 March, 30 April or 31 May depending on the periods covered in your VAT Returns.
    2. Your first tax year (normally the first period of 12 months commencing on 1 April, 1 May or 1 June following the end of your registration period), provided you did not incur input tax relating to exempt supplies during your registration period.
    3. Any tax year, provided you did not incur input tax relating to exempt supplies in your previous tax years.

    Once this period has expired, you must revert to using the normal “standard” method calculation based on the values of your supplies, and may still recover input tax using the standard method, or seek approval for a special method if you prefer. 

    Where the standard method does not produce a fair and reasonable deduction of input tax, you may be subject to a standard method override where the use or intended use of taxable supplies differs substantially from the deduction made using the standard method to these supplies. A difference is classed as substantial if it exceeds £50,000 annually and/or exceeds 50% of the residual tax incurred and £25,000 per year if the group undertakings are not part of the same VAT group.

    The override does not apply:

    1.  If you carried out your annual adjustment on the basis of use.
    2. To any input tax you were required to attribute on the basis of use.

    To apply the override you need to compute the difference between the input tax deductible under the standard method and that deductible according to use. Any costs which are not incurred in the same relationship between values of supplies may be addressed separately from the principal calculation.

  • Making Tax Digital – Your SME Opportunity

    You can put off filing your digital tax return until tomorrow, but if you defer it indefinitely you could face a punitive fine from HMRC.

    The Making Tax Digital initiative doesn’t have to mean you need to hire a professional accountant, but if fees upfront are transparent and enable you to pick and choose your service offerings, this can be an opportunity to streamline and assess the profitability of discrete business divisions.

    Looking at your different categories of expense as a percentage of revenue will help you to identify an increase or decrease in distinct overheads and determine how effectively your capital is allocated. Return on capital employed is a ratio of net profit over capital tied up in the business, plus any non-current liabilities i.e. sources of finance – bridging, mezzanine and other loans with a duration, or tenor, of more than a year.

    Using profitability ratios to compare business performance to industry benchmarks, and/or successive reporting periods, enables you to quantify efficiency – unit turn on equipment, offset in acquisition cost by depreciation charges, with accumulated depreciation recorded as an outstanding liability in the Statement of Financial Position. You can also offset employee productivity as a percentage of revenue.

    To meet reporting deadlines on accruals, which need to be reversed at the beginning of the succeeding financial year, it helps to be linked in to an accounting practice which is committed to accurate and timely reports. Accrued income is an asset of the business; accrued expenses are classed as a current liability and should be recorded within the accounting period to which they refer, regardless of whether payment has yet been received. This enables a more accurate understanding of the business’s financial posiiton.

    Prepaid expenses are also an asset recorded as such on the SFP. Income which was pre-payed before an invoice was posted can be entered as such in the relevant daybooks until it is due, but to reconcile cash book statements showing the payment as made, prepaid income is classed as a liability until receipt can be recorded during the reporting period to which the prepayment applies.

    People with an active subscription to an accounting software programme might be tempted to use a D-I-Y approach to managing their cash book, but for peace of mind, and to ensure an accurate snapshot of your business’s profitability and financial position, you may be better off out-sourcing the technical aspects of financial reporting, and most accountants and/or bookkeepers will work in a collaborative process with you to guarantee completeness and relevance of documented business processes.

  • Getting Value for Money on Storage Space with Accountancy SaaS 

     

    An accountancy firm without clients is like an empty suitcase – just dead weight. 

    First you need to cost in the transportation cost – how much your logistics provider will charge to migrate data and integrate it across relevant platforms.  

    Then there is a value-add charge encapsulating your weighted load. If you’re carrying excess baggage, redundant or missing data – what will be the cost and how can it be redistributed? 

    The workload at an accountancy practice can be divided among relevant stakeholders, with clients connected via an online system with priority tasks, and those clients who pay for more of your itemised services, assigned in a workflow allocation process which takes full account of upcoming deadlines based on the business’s reporting date.  

    Managing Accruals and Prepayments 

    Accruals must be fully addressed in a timely manner, that they are registered within the accounting period they relate to, and so that deferred income is carried over once payments have been processed in the cash book and bank account. 

    Another core component of bookkeeping practice is prepayments – classed as an asset when the business has prepaid the expense; and a liability where the prepaid income has been received but cannot be recorded in the ledger as such until such payment is timetabled based on its relevance to the current reporting period; that the payment can be reversed from an outstanding liability, and logged in the normal way at the commencement of the next reporting period. 

    Returning to our suitcase analogy, items are weighted based on the cost, in the context of turn on an asset. Are you getting value for money from your service providers on items assessed in terms of the cost of processing them? If you switch provider, can you guarantee a more cost-effective result? 

    Weighted Packet Margins May Surprise 

    Prior expectations of profitability are another example of excess baggage. While profitability ratios can be used to inform stakeholders of the efficiency with which a client business deploys its capital and accumulated credit owed to major debt holders, and the net vs gross profit ratios can indicate how a business is able to manage the costing on its current liabilities, – or expenses – financial reporting always logs the result at a time lag relative to the Statement of Financial Position (SFP) and the Profit and Loss Account (PLA). 

    And for this reason it is vital to keep updated accounts which are regularly refreshed, to ensure a snapshot of the business’s profitability, assets balance sheet and expenses management (itemised as fractions of net sales revenue), can be taken which reflects the payables and receivables control accounts in that forward orders, and credit purchases, are factored into the sales conversion pipeline. 

    Human Capital 

    Employees are a vital part of the business’s intangible capital assets. Skilled workers can mean the difference between returning and non-returning customers. So whatever the percentage increase in sales revenue attributable to marketing campaigns at cost, maintaining your brand identity and integrity requires re-investment, in relevant skills training and offering a sufficient reward – whether in the form of a commission, a bonus, or simply a competitive salary. 

    Matching pensions contributions, whether from salary sacrifice schemes or fixed-percentage contributions rate, is an important component of being able to invest in employee retention and ensure employee loyalty to the organisation, where they may  be transposed “sideways” to other internal roles, predicated on expertise and continuing relevance of their accumulated skills set, to the retainer organisation. 

    How to Meet Your Payroll Obligations 

    I am comfortable processing payroll and handling HMRC liabilities based on income bands and National Insurance categorisation. The new secondary threshold, over which a 15% NI contribution is mandated (up from 13.8%), of £5000 rather than £9,100, is especially onerous for managing the workforce in hospitality and can eat into marginal profits. Thereafter the Secondary Threshold will be increased in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). 

    It is important to factor in that the Employment Allowance has been increased from £5000 to £10,500 to help eligible businesses offset costs. And additionally that the previous restriction that prevented businesses with a Secondary Class 1 NICs liability of over £100,000 p.a. from claiming the allowance has been removed. 

    I am also qualified to manage expenses with reference to VAT, particularly on charge-backs from capital expenditure on non-current assets. VAT owed from sales is straightforward to calculate, and liabilities can be matched relative to cash received back from HMRC on applicable purchases. 

  • Barratt Redrow analyst note

    Following its financial update for the 17-week period from 30 June 2025 to 26 October 2025 (the ‘period’), issued on 5 November 2025, the stock is down -4.70% over the week commencing Monday 8th December.

    With a strong forward orders book and integrated sales divisions, thanks to the Barratt-Redrow merger completed last year, the company has a clear blueprint for future expansion and is targeting an ambitious number of 22,000 home completions per year.

    All comparatives are to the 17-week period from 1 July 2024 to 27 October 2024 unless otherwise stated.

    Trading performance 

    The forward order book, including joint ventures, totalled at 10,669 as of 27 October 2025, compared to 10,706 homes over the equivalent period of 2024; net value of £3,281.4m for 2025, vs a comparable figure of £3,206.0m in 2024. This indicates that new homes sold have a higher realised value, although the company iterates its commitment to affordable housing, stressing the important role of the government in providing growth-enabling decisions and in timely consideration of planning permission on undeveloped sites.

    The company said in a statement coinciding with the earnings report said,

    “Based on unchanged guidance for FY26, at 26 October 2025 the Group was 60%3 forward sold with respect to FY26 private home completions (FY25: 62%4 forward sold), of which 64% are either completed or exchanged (FY25: 65%). “

    Its land bank is comprised of 87,000 owned plots with an additional 12,300 plots contracted or controlled. It stated its expectation that land acquisition to be in line with replacement levels, alongside a growing ratio of the current level.

    As of June 2025, a further additional c.145,000 strategic plots are available for development, “complemented by Gladman’s promotional land portfolio of c. 114,000 plots.”

    Including Joint Ventures (JVs), the group posted 228 net private reservations per week, (FY25: 225), with a net private reservation per week of 0.572 (FY24:0.59). operating from a mean of 402 sales outlets (FY 25: 443). Streamlining its operations has been a positive consequence of operational synergies between wholly owned business divisions.

    In a forward-looking statement, the group emphasised, “We remain on track to deliver £100m of cost synergies with confirmed synergies now at £80m, an increase of £11m from the £69m confirmed at 29 June 2025. An incremental £45m of cost synergies will be delivered in FY26.”

    . 

  • High Rise on the FTSE100 20/09/25

    Centrica rose 6% over the week, Babcock International 6.2%. Let’s have a look at what’s driving these high equity returns.

    Centrica plans to bump investment in green activities by 50% from 2023-28, including energy security of supply and flexbility, renewable and low carbon generation, as well as customer offerings that support the transition to net zero, said the CEO in the annual report statement.

    They highlighted the net cash position vs free cash flow as supportive of growth positions in LNG storage and carbon capture technologies. The adjusted net cash position is £2858m up slightly yoy from £2744m in 2023. This reflects the contribution of expanding its operating base. The company describes itself as a “conduit” for energy security policy, with a key example being the February 2024 LNG supply deal with Repsol, also with the two natural gas purchase and sale agreements with Coterra Energy announced October 2024.

    As regards regulatory financial reporting standards under GAAPs, the company was forced to acknowledge a decline in free cash flow of £989m compared to £2207m in 2023, with also a decline in adjusted operating profit – £1.6bn vs £2.8bn in 2023. However its sustainability record indicates a long-term growth prospect. Centrica has already attained 30% green investment based on the EU’s Sustainable Taxonomy and publishes any deviations from official reporting guidance whilst remaining engaged with stakeholders’ policy feedback. It cites the installation of 1million smart meters in 2024 as part of a new Meter Asset Provider sideline, “providing the group with a steady source of income in years to come while still helping customers decarbonise.”

    Additionally the company highlighted acquisitions in “proven renewable technology generation”, namely wind and solar generators and acknowledged its loss-making Rough natural gas carbon-recapture project would need a costing review due to the exorbitant overheads in 2025 estimated at between £50m and £100m. They have already sunk £2bn into preparing the site for development but concede that “While the site plays an important part in the UK’s energy and price security, and can be a crucial part of the future hydrogen economy, making material losses is not sustainable on an open-ended basis,” and they promise investors to review their financial exposure with this in mind.

    Other more profitable expansions of its energy service offerings include a £70m investment in Highview Power’s Liquid Air Energy Storage in June, an the 20MW hydrogen peaker in Redditch.

    Its services offering has demonstrated an increasing level of customer satisfaction, the Chair highlighted in his statement that “Over the course of 2024, we’ve seen further progress in improving customer service in British Gas Services and Solutions. We’re also delivering an improved NPS, a key metric of customer satisfaction, in British Gas Energy.” NPS signifies a customer’s willingness to refer an engineer on the basis of home visit, assessed through individual questionnaires.

    He explained that in 2023 the installment of prepaid meters under warrant was paused on the grounds of affordability for customers, citing a “material risk of financial hardship,” although Centrica ried to mitigate the affordability barrier by investing in “a number of changes to our systems, processes, training oversight arrangements, and we remain committed to supporting our customers, particularly the most vulnerable.”

    In the context of debt relief, they spearheaded the “You Pay: We Pay” flagship scheme which 100% matches payments that eligible British Gas customers are finding difficult to pay into their account to decrease the outstanding balance. He points to the suggestion of a social tariff underpinned by data sharing as an alternative way of monetising delinquency or default in debt accounts.

    However, he also claims the company has voluntarily given £140m to support affordable energy initiatives since the beginning of the energy crisis, to beneficiaries including £20m in January 2024 to the British Gas Energy Trust.

    The financial year 2024/5 saw three phases of a share buyback program, starting with a £200m tranche in July 2024, then a £300m tranche in December 2024, culminating in a £500m repurchase of its own equity in February 2025, with the total value of share capital held by the company finalised at 25% of its total equity level.

    “Additionally, we returned share capital to investors in the form of dividends, which came to 4.5p at the end of 2024, inclusive of a 1.5p interim dividend outlined in July”.

    Babcock’s Annual Report for FY 2025 represents its first FTSE100 index listing after over 7 years absence. The company was pleased to announce revenue of £4,831m, of which underlying operating profit represented £363m, up from £238m in 2024, with underlying operating profit margin of 7.5%. It notes that Statutory Cash from Operations was £357m, down from £374m in 2024, but that the organisation found non-GAAP reporting standards to more accurately represent its financial position.

    Around 74% of Babcock’s revenue is from defence contracts, with 5% from civil nuclear. It points to a £10.4bn “contract backlog” of forward orders yet to be delivered. Its underlying free cash flow was £153m, with net debt levels excluding leases standing at £(101)m.

    The company’s key business divisions as follows:

    1. Marine – design, build and through-life support for warships and submarines, and associated weapons handling and launch systems; creation of secure military communications systems; and what is claims are “world-leading commercial liquid gas equipment systems.
    2. Nuclear – through-life complex engineering support to the entire UK submarine fleet; owner-management of infrastrcture including Devonport dockyard; UK civil nuclear new build, generation support and de-commissioning projects; other international contracts in civil and defence markets.
    3. Land – asset management and through-life support for complex military equipment as well as ongoing skills training for ground deployment; systems integration and engineering services in power gen, transport networks, and mining equipment.
    4. Aviation – flying training for UK’s Royal Airforce, French Airforce and French navy; through-life support of military flying assets and other air operation support “for government programmes, saving lives and protecting communities”

    The company says the average underlying operating cash conversion is higher than or equal to 80%, and highlights a number of innovations as follow:

    i) better alignment between project management, engineering and commercial functions to mobilise pipeline contracts, as part of Global Business Management System to ensure continuity and identify risk factors.

    ii) improved governance controls for bidding, strengthening the legal review process on tenders.

    iii) FY25 published first Supplier Assurance Handbook to mitigate procurement risk, “enhancing transparency by detailing our sustainability considerations, audit and development process.”

    iv) new AI functionality with capex developing Athena – “As we look to FY 2026, the program will focus on large-scale integration across the business, supporting our governance of costs and efficiencies.”

    v) In employee management, it has rolled out an Engineering Role Framework with on-the-job training in key competencies, developing a Production Support operative scheme to access a wider talent pool; apprenticeships in space systems and cyber security; and taking a leading role in the UK’s National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills.

    Wide Moats – the Investment Prospect

    • own initial assets, with long lifecycle
    • operational asset knowledge and capability transfer
    • strategic partnerships with high barriers to entry

    Looking ahead, FY25 saw a refocusing of the technology team, “establishing cross sector and country working groups for each of our strategic technology capability teams… These themes drive innovation, ensure our technology relevance and empower us to deliver cutting-edge, practical solutions.”

    Babcock CEO trumpeted an upgrade in the company’s medium-term guidance, and a 30% increase in full-year ordinary dividend as well as revealing a £200m share buyback program which will be rounded off in FY26.

  • Analyst note Costain

    Costain Group Annual Report states they “received prestigious recognition for our approach when we obtained the London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy mark.

    “This identifies companies that generate at least half of their revenue from products and services that contribute to the green economy. The mark is only held by around 6% of companies on the LSE.”

    Note that a £10million share buyback program concluded in November 2024. Over the previous financial year, cash from operations FY24 was £42.7m (FY23: £69.6m), “resulting from increased operating profits offset by year-end timings of certain cash receipts at the end of FY23 and FY24, together with some end of contract outflows in FY24.”

    The adjusted free cash flow in FY24 of £27.1m (FY23: £70.2m) was lower than the same period last year largely “due to the timing of year-end working capital and higher tax and expenditure payments” with internal adjustments as funding was diverted into updating infrastructure, requirements for new business systems; and increased cash flows on adjusting items, with turn on non-current assets offset against “reduced pension fund deficit contributions.”

    Liquidity considerations aside, the adjusted operating profit margin was 3.4% compared to 3.0% FY23 yoy, with 4.4% growth in H2 as Costain states it saw greater operating efficiency and productivity in the Natural Resources division, with higher marginal profits.

    Total revenue from transport fell from 943.1m in 2023 to 845.8m in 2024, at a higher operating margin of 3.5% from 3.0%. Road and rail takings fell, although integrated transport projects experienced expansion of 92.7% The net business forecast is for an optimistic 5% growth rate for FY 2025 after an initial target of 4.5% over the course of 2025.

    As regards sustainability targets, their Scope 1 emissions reported 4,772 down from 4,875 (-2.1%) and Scope 2 (-3..16%) was 888 down from 1,299. Scope 3 emissions saw just a 1% increase from 281,765 FY23 to 278,248 FY24. In terms of accountability, Costain reports that 100% of relevant contracts were working in accordance with PAS 2080.

    Its ambitious target is for a 6% yoy reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, the same percentage for the absolute emissions value. In some ways accepting the limitations of its capacity to cap emissions is preferable to mis-reporting it, which happened recently with UK energy company Drax, whose share price fell over 10% in a day immediately after regulators signalled an investigation into whether the provenance of wood chips for biomass pellets was actually sustainable, and the emissions reporting for the diesel ships transporting wood chips from the US did not comprise a Scope 2 or 3 emissions estimate.

    Costain is targeting a dividend payout of 3x adjusted earnings. Payments were resumed in FY23 with a full-year dividend of 1.2p per share for the year, in line with the pension payments required for the year under the “dividend parity arrangement.” The board has approved a final dividend of 2.0p per share.

    The company is transparent about its desire to capitalise on the problems caused by climate change, and highlights the risk-based opportunities for its diverse business lines –

    “There is a high potential in the water sector – the capacity of sewage needs to be increased to deal with additional strains placed on it by rainfall intensity coupled with increased demand,” and considering the enhanced “maintenance and modification to improve the drainage capacity or resilience of its assets.”

    It highlights the initiative of a carbon tracker which will provide unified measures of resource usage across different project lines, and demonstrate areas of improvement relative to industry benchmarking.