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3,500-strong flow control and instrumentation group posts "robust" interim results amid proposed £4.14bn buyout. 4 Aug 2026, 07:57 A South West-headquartered provider of mission-critical flow control and instrumentation systems, which is set to be acquired by global electrical engineering group ABB after a £4.14bn deal was agreed, has hailed a "robust" first half performance. Subject to shareholder and court approval, the acquisition is expected to complete in H1 2027. In its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026, Rotork reported revenue of £367.2m which is unchanged from the previous year. Pre-tax profit was £71.4m, up from £65.1m in 2025. Kiet Huynh, chief executive, said: "Rotork delivered a robust first half performance, demonstrating the strength of our portfolio and the continued benefits of the Growth+ strategy. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their hard work and dedication in driving continued progress across the group. "Strong growth in Chemical, Process & Industrial (CPI) and Water & Power helped offset the impact of the Middle East conflict and ongoing customer capex discipline in Oil & Gas. Group profitability continued to improve and ROCE remained at a high level despite the mixed operating environment. "This performance reflects our greater exposure to faster growing Target Segments, our mission-critical product positions, asset-light business model and growth of Service in our revenue mix. We continued to deploy capital in line with our disciplined allocation framework, investing organically to support future growth while returning a further £40m to shareholders through share buybacks." He added: "Looking ahead, we continue to expect further progress on an OCC basis for the group in 2026. Our expectations for Water & Power remain unchanged, with strong order momentum expected to underpin performance in H2. While recovery in Oil & Gas is now expected to be more gradual, with full year divisional revenue expected to be slightly lower year-on-year, we now anticipate stronger growth in CPI. "We remain focused on attractive end markets supported by structural tailwinds including automation, electrification and digitalisation. Combined with the benefits of our Growth+ strategy, this gives us confidence in our ability to deliver mid to high single-digit revenue growth and adjusted operating profit margins in the mid-twenties over time."

Rotork H1 earnings call highlights. August 4, 2026 Key points. * Rotork delivered resilient first-half results: Organic constant-currency revenue rose 1.3% to £367 million, while adjusted operating profit increased 4.1% to £82 million and the margin expanded to 22.4%, despite oil and gas disruption. * CPI and service operations drove growth. CPI revenue increased 16%, supported by specialty chemicals, marine, critical HVAC and data-center demand, while Service grew its share of group sales to 24%. Rotork raised its full-year CPI outlook. * ABB's proposed acquisition remains on track: The £5.06-per-share cash offer represents a 73% premium to Rotork's undisturbed share price, with completion expected in the first half of 2027 subject to approvals. Rotork maintained its overall 2026 outlook and raised its interim dividend 1.7%. * Interested in Rotork? Here are five stocks we like better. Rotork LON: ROR reported first-half growth in revenue and operating margin despite disruptions in oil and gas markets, with strength in its CPI division, water infrastructure and service operations helping offset weaker energy-related activity. The company said orders received totaled £372 million, down 4% from the prior-year period, while revenue rose 1.3% on an organic constant-currency basis to £367 million. Reported revenue was flat, reflecting the impact of disposals and a modest foreign-exchange headwind. Adjusted operating profit increased 4.1% to £82 million. Adjusted operating margin reached 22.4%, up 40 basis points on a reported basis and 60 basis points excluding currency and merger-and-acquisition effects. Rotork attributed the improvement to operating leverage, cost discipline and a favorable sales mix. "Growth+ strategy continued to underpin strong financial performance in the first half of the year," CFO Ben Peacock said, citing margin expansion, a 37% return on capital and shareholder distributions. CPI and service drive growth. CPI was the company's strongest division, reporting 16% revenue growth and a 24.4% increase in adjusted operating profit to £28 million. Its adjusted operating margin rose 170 basis points to 24.7%, primarily due to higher volumes. Management said growth in CPI was driven by target segments including specialty chemicals, marine and critical HVAC. Demand from data centers was particularly strong in the U.S. and Asia. During the question-and-answer session, Rotork said critical HVAC revenue doubled in the first half and now represents about 6% of group revenue. Data-center business within critical HVAC also doubled, although management said critical HVAC growth excluding data centers was also close to doubling. Management said data-center activity exceeded its earlier expectations, contributing to the company's improved full-year outlook for CPI. The company cited products and capabilities acquired through Hanbay and Noah as important contributors to growth in liquid-cooling and server-room applications. Rotork Service continued to outgrow the wider group, increasing its share of group sales to 24% from 23% a year earlier. The business has been expanding its field and reliability service offerings, which management said can help customers improve asset performance while providing Rotork with recurring revenue opportunities. Oil and gas disruption offsets other gains. Oil and gas divisional sales declined 8.4% in the first half, largely due to the impact of conflict in the Middle East. Adjusted operating profit in the division fell 13.8% to £37 million as lower volumes affected profitability, though disciplined cost management partially mitigated the decline. Discover more MarketBeat Research Tools Cryptocurrency News Rotork said activity softened in upstream and midstream markets as customers maintained capital discipline and as spending patterns and supply chains were disrupted. Downstream markets were comparatively stable, helped by the division's service exposure. Sales in the Americas grew, driven by downstream activity and performance across Latin America. However, EMEA declined due to Middle East-related disruption, while Asia-Pacific experienced a modest decline in downstream business as India and China faced feedstock shortages. Management said liquefied natural gas remained a strong area for the division. It also said order trends improved through the second quarter, with three-month rolling orders rising month by month from April through June. Rotork expects a gradual recovery in the second half, but now anticipates full-year oil and gas revenue will be slightly lower than the prior year. Water, power and cash flow. Water and power revenue increased 3.4%, supported by water infrastructure and treatment projects. Adjusted operating profit rose 15.1% to £28 million, while adjusted operating margin increased to 28.1%, aided by operating leverage, product mix and tariff effects. The company said order intake in water and power remained robust, providing visibility for stronger activity in the second half. Power revenue was lower because of a higher prior-year comparison and expected project phasing, although Rotork said gas-related power and alternative-energy markets showed growth. Cash conversion was 79%, affected by temporary working-capital pressure from oil and gas market volatility. Rotork generated £22 million of free cash flow and spent £7.3 million on research and development. The company ended the period with net cash of £25 million after returning £44 million through dividends and £40 million through share buybacks. The interim dividend was increased 1.7% to £0.03 per share. ABB offer and outlook. Rotork also reiterated the terms of ABB's proposed cash acquisition of the company, announced July 16. The offer values Rotork at £5.06 per share, comprising £5.03 in cash plus the declared £0.03 interim dividend. The company said the offer represents approximately 19.5 times enterprise value to adjusted EBITDA and a 73% premium to the undisturbed share price on July 15. The scheme document is expected within 28 days of the original announcement, with completion anticipated in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. Management said operations remain business as usual until the transaction is completed. For 2026, Rotork maintained its group outlook and expects further progress on an organic constant-currency basis. It raised its expectations for CPI, while leaving its water and power outlook unchanged. Over time, the company said it remains focused on delivering mid- to high-single-digit revenue growth and adjusted operating margins in the mid-20% range. About Rotork (LON:ROR). Rotork is a market-leading global provider of mission-critical intelligent flow control solutions for oil & gas, water and wastewater, power, chemical process and industrial applications. We help customers around the world to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, minimise their environmental impact and assure safety. Rotork employs about 3,200 people, has manufacturing facilities in more than 17 locations and serves 170 countries through a global service network. Its shares have a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange symbol: ROR and are a constituent of the FTSE 250 index. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Before you consider Rotork, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Rotork wasn't on the list. While Rotork currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. With the proliferation of data centers and electric vehicles, the electric grid will only get more strained. Download this report to learn how energy stocks can play a role in your portfolio as the global demand for energy continues to grow.

Switzerland's ABB to buy Rotork in £4.1bn deal, shares rocket. Rotork shares rocketed on Thursday after it agreed to be bought by Swiss engineering firm ABB in a £4.1bn deal. 23,511.81. 5,700.19. 5,638.47. 13,151.56. 484.80p. 10:54 16/07/26. Under the terms of the acquisition announced on Thursday, ABB will pay 506p per share in cash. This comprises 503p and a dividend of up to 3p. This represents a premium of 73% to the closing Rotork share price on Wednesday. Rotork is expected to operate as a separate division within ABB's Automation business under a strategic growth mandate. ABB said the acquisition would add 3% to group revenue and 12% to the revenues of its Automation business for the financial year ended 31 December 2025. ABB said Rotork's mission-critical flow control and instrumentation solutions are highly complementary to its automation portfolio, strengthening the company's position at the field-device layer and enhancing the "sense-control-act" automation loop. It also said that Rotork would expand ABB's automation offering for large and complex industrial and infrastructure applications, while increasing exposure to "attractive" end markets and improving the mix of ABB's Automation business area through higher-margin products, services and lifecycle revenues. Rotork chair Dorothy Thompson said: "The combination brings together two companies whose purposes are closely aligned, with a shared focus on automation and electrification to enable more sustainable and efficient operations. "The Rotork board believes that ABB's decentralised operating model and commitment to run Rotork as a separate division will benefit the Rotork Group's business, employees and wider stakeholders. As a result, the Rotork board has unanimously agreed to recommend the offer to Rotork shareholders." At 1040 BST, Rotork shares were up 66.9% at 485.21p. Broker Shore Capital, which rates Rotork at 'hold' with a 320p price target, said; "The cash consideration implies an enterprise value of £4.1bn (19.5x both trailing and, on its forecast, forward EBITDA, and 5.3x trailing sales). "Sharecast see this valuation as being favourable for Rotork shareholders and Sharecast would be surprised if they did not support the takeover. Rotork briefly traded around the 385p level in February 2026 but has otherwise rarely trade above 350p since 2021. "Rotork has long been well regarded as a high-quality business with strong returns. Uncertainty in the Middle East, which drives circa 10% of group revenue, along with general macroeconomic uncertainty, has weighed on the share price since the end of February, despite the company reporting what Sharecast considered to be reassuring updates. "ABB expects synergies from the acquisition to drive the EBITDA multiple down from 19.5x to the mid-teens level with Rotork being complementary to ABB's automation profile."