Headline
Johnson Matthey reshapes itself with a £1bn return to shareholders alongside a $360m Cormetech buy, as HMT formalises the National Wealth Fund framework.
What UK Plc said today
No profit warnings landed today. The most material signal is from JMAT: FY25/26 revenue £12,573m (+14%), underlying operating profit £340m, free cash flow more than doubled to £168m, and a reshaping completed via the £1,325m Catalyst Technologies sale to Honeywell and the $360m Cormetech acquisition. Proceeds fund an £800m special dividend (with consolidation) plus £200m buyback; FY26/27 guidance reaffirmed at low-to-mid single-digit underlying operating profit growth, H2-weighted. ASC separately confirmed completion of the Lichfield fulfilment centre sale to M&S for £67.5m, flagging a c.£85m one-off pre-tax profit.
Trading updates were uniformly "in line". TPFG reaffirmed against "Board expectations" on recurring revenue strength. ULTP held Q3 revenue flat at £34.8m, with proprietary brands +9% offsetting soft UK general merchandise; guidance is now for flat trading to persist all year, sales marginally ahead of expectations, profit in consensus. VSVS reaffirmed FY26 guidance with H2 stronger than H1, noting ex-China steel production +2.5% in Q1 but soft foundry markets.
Smaller results were mixed. DPP delivered 15% revenue growth to £61.7m and guided to double-digit system sales growth in 2026. HVPE reported NAV per share return +9.7% and committed to distribute at least $500m (c.12% of NAV) in 2026, while pausing new commitments. SALT cut FY26 guidance to US$4.5m on production timing (not demand), but reaffirmed FY27 at US$15m. OPTI revenue +34% to £1.17m, gross margin to 53% from 38%. NFX and PXEN remain loss-making development-stage stories.
Statistical releases
- ONS Subnational gross disposable household income (2010–2023) — lower-geography breakdown, useful for regional consumer-exposure read-across.
- ONS Household Costs Indices, Jan–Mar 2026 — cost-of-living gauge across household groups; the freshest distributional inflation print.
- ONS Quarterly personal well-being statistics, May 2026 — household sentiment proxy.
- ONS NEET (Young people not in education, employment or training), May 2026 — youth labour-market slack indicator.
Policy / monetary
Nothing from [BoE]. HMT published four items, two of them substantive: the National Wealth Fund Framework Document and the NWF/HMT "Keep Well" Agreement, formalising the NWF's accountabilities to Treasury and UKGI. Also released: a Financial Transaction Control Framework policy paper and the 2026 COVID-19 Cost Tracker update.
Themes
Portfolio reshaping over organic growth. The day's biggest capital flows are corporate-action driven: JMAT divesting Catalyst Technologies and buying Cormetech (data-centre power exposure), ROSE closing the $950m MW Components deal, CCC buying GAI for up to $92m to enter US federal, ASC offloading Lichfield, SRE adding a defence-tenant business park for €49.8m. Capital is being repositioned toward data centres, defence and US end-markets.
Cash returns running hot. JMAT £1bn return, HVPE $500m+ via tender and buybacks, CFX up to £2.5m reverse bookbuild. Boards are leaning on distributions where free cash is available.
Consumer remains soft, no panic. ULTP's "flat trading to continue all year" and VSVS's soft foundry markets read consistently. No tier-A profit warnings today, but the tone is defensive rather than improving.
Watch
- JMAT Catalyst Technologies sale completion targeted August 2026; Cormetech close June/July 2026.
- CCC GAI acquisition expected to close 1 June 2026; IQE £81m placing admission c.1 June; CFX buyback bookbuild closes 1 June.
- DUKE FY26 results 22 June 2026; OBI FY results 4 June 2026; WJG H1 results presentation upcoming.
- HVPE Continuation Vote at AGM July 2026.
- JMAT AGM 16 July 2026 — board succession (Southern as SID, Lynch chairing RemCo).