Trading Update

21 May 2026 - SDI Group plc, the buy and build group, focused on companies which design and manufacture specialist lab equipment, industrial & scientific sensors and industrial & scientific products, provides a trading update for the year ended 30 April 2026 ("FY26").

The Company expects full year earnings to be in line with current market expectations1, with strong trading over the second half of the year, despite the broader macroeconomic challenges. The year saw an improvement in operating margin delivering in-line earnings, with revenue at the lower end of expectations. The Group generated stronger organic growth in FY26, particularly during the second half of the financial year.

At 30 April 2026, following the acquisition of PRP Optoelectronics, the Group had net debt of £24.0m (excluding deferred consideration of £0.7m) and £4.0m of undrawn bank facility (excluding a £9.0m accordion option).

The Group has a strong order book moving into FY27 and looks forward to providing shareholders with a comprehensive update at the full year results, which are expected to be announced in late July.

Operational Update

The Group strategy is to drive growth by acquiring and developing niche industrial and scientific businesses that address critical customer challenges, whilst supporting organic growth within the portfolio through strategic initiatives, maximising synergies, operational efficiencies and cross-sell opportunities where appropriate.

Organic

During the year, there has been solid order intake from all divisions, with highlights including:

• Sentek securing a significant contract with a multinational industrial manufacturing customer;
• Scientific Vacuum Systems receiving a multimillion-pound contract from one of the world's largest consumer brands;
• Chell building on last year's strong performance, with continued demand for its products from its diverse customer base including gas meter manufacturers, aerospace and Formula 1;
• LTE Scientific and Safelab Systems securing, and in the process of delivering, significant contracts for key customers;
• Severn Thermal Solutions continuing to execute existing significant contracts for nuclear fusion applications; and
• Fraser Anti-Static Techniques and InspecVision seeing sustained demand for their products from international customer bases, including South Korea and North America respectively.

Acquisitions

During the year, the Group completed two acquisitions, with both businesses performing well post-acquisition:

• Severn Thermal Solutions, a designer and manufacturer of high temperature furnace systems and environmental chambers for advanced material processing and testing, acquired in June 2025; and
• PRP Optoelectronics ("PRP"), a designer and manufacturer of custom high performance microLEDs, LED light engines and monolithic LEDs for a range of applications within the avionics, defence and industrial sectors, acquired in February 2026.

Stephen Brown, Chief Executive Officer of SDI, said:

"We are proud to have delivered a strong performance in FY26, against the backdrop of increasing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, further underpinning the value of our portfolio model. New product development, coupled with new client wins both internationally and in the UK, and partnering on pioneering projects remain the mainstay of our business.

Our strategy remains unchanged - to continue to support organic growth across the portfolio whilst exploring opportunities to expand the business through targeted acquisition."

[1] Analysts from SDI's joint corporate brokers Cavendish Capital Markets Limited and Stifel together with Progressive Equity Research regularly provide research on the Company, accessible from SDI's website, and the Group considers the average of their forecasts to represent market expectations, which at 20 May 2026, for FY26 were Sales of £75.4m and Adjusted Profit Before Tax of £9.8m.