
increased during the year as a result of the
acquisitions of Vulcanic and Durex Industries,
prior to considering one-off returns of capital
to shareholders.
The fundamentals of our
financial resilience
The strong operational and financial
performance of the Group during 2022
continues to reflect the resilience of our
business model. Alongside completing
the acquisitions of Vulcanic and Durex
Industries, we have continued to focus
on organic opportunities with significant
investments made in new manufacturing
capacity, sustainability initiatives and building
additional digital capability. The Group’s
longstanding track record of increasing
returns to shareholders has continued with
a proposed year-on-year increase of 12% in
ordinary dividends.
Our products and solutions support critical
industrial processes across a broad range
of industries and geographical markets,
which links our business performance to
movements in global IP. As in previous
years, our business model supported our
outperformance against global IP due to our
ability to self-generate sales (accounting for
40% of sales) and a significant base business
in maintenance and repair sales (accounting
for 45% of sales). These sales are funded
from our customers’ operating budgets.
The remaining 15% of sales are related
to large projects, funded from customers’
capital expenditure budgets, which are
more heavily influenced by economic cycles.
Over 60% of our sales are to defensive,
less cyclical sectors and no single customer
accounts for more than 1.5% of Group sales.
Resilience over the short, medium and
long term
Our business model and the investments
we have continued to make in our business,
combined with our strong cash generation,
position us well to adapt to economic cycles.
Our Going Concern and Viability analysis
gives us confidence in the robust nature
of our business and our capital structure,
even when analysed under a number of
downside scenarios.
We have undertaken scenario-based
modelling of our key risks, the results of
which underpin our confidence in our short
and medium-term resilience. The continued
implementation of our strategy supports our
longer-term resilience and we continue to
closely monitor and respond to the changing
external economic, environmental and social
factors that will impact our Businesses in
the future.
Going Concern statement
The Group’s principal objective when
managing liquidity is to safeguard the Group’s
ability to continue as a going concern for
at least 12 months from the date of signing
the 2022 Annual Report. The Group retains
sufficient resources to remain in compliance
with all the required terms and conditions
within its borrowing facilities with material
headroom and no material uncertainties
have been identified. The Group continues
to conduct ongoing risk assessments
on its business operations and liquidity.
Consideration has also been given to reverse
stress tests, which seek to identify factors
that might cause the Group to require
additional liquidity and form a view as to the
probability of these occurring.
Our financial position remains robust, with the
next maturity of our committed debt facilities
being €225 million of Private Placement notes
which mature in September 2023 and which
are included within the cashflow forecast
that underpins our scenario modelling.
The Group’s debt facilities contain a leverage
ratio (net debt/EBITDA) covenant with a
limit of up to 3.5x. Certain debt facilities
also contain an interest cover (EBITDA/net
finance expense) covenant of a minimum
of 3.0x. The Group closely monitors its
financial position to ensure that it remains
within the terms of these debt covenants.
At 31st December 2022 the Group’s reported
leverage ratio was 1.7x (31st December
2021: 0.4x), the year-on-year increase
resulting from the debt-financed acquisitions
of Vulcanic and Durex Industries. It should be
noted that including a full year of EBITDA for
acquired businesses results in a pro-forma
leverage ratio of 1.5x. Interest cover on a pro-
forma basis was 62x at 31st December 2022
(31st December 2021: 93x).
Reverse ‘stress testing’ was also performed
to assess what level of business under-
performance would be required for a breach
of the financial covenants to occur, the results
of which evidenced that no reasonably
possible change in future forecast cash
flows would cause a breach of the Group’s
covenants. In addition, the reverse stress
tests undertaken did not require us to take
into account any mitigating actions which
the Group would implement in the event of a
severe and extended revenue and profitability
decline. Such actions would serve to further
increase covenant headroom.
Having assessed the relevant business
risks as discussed in our Principal Risks on
pages 95 to 99 and considered the liquidity
and covenant headroom available under
several alternative scenarios as set out in
Dividend payments, including payments
to minorities, were £103.6 million
(2021: £91.0 million), and reflect the final
dividend for 2021, as well as the interim
dividend for 2022. Share purchases net of
new shares issued for the Group’s various
employee share schemes resulted in a cash
outflow of £19.0 million (2021: £24.6 million).
Acquisitions (net of disposals) during the
year amounted to £538.3 million (2021: £nil),
primarily driven by the purchase consideration
for Vulcanic and Durex Industries.
Restructuring spend during the year was
£3.2 million due to the closure of Chromalox’s
manufacturing operations in Soissons
(France).
Financing and liquidity
Net debt at the end of the year was
£690.4 million (2021: £130.5 million),
including debt raised to finance the
acquisitions of Vulcanic and Durex Industries,
with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.7 times
(2021: 0.35 times). On a pro-forma basis,
including a full-year of EBITDA for companies
acquired during the year, the net debt to
EBITDA ratio is 1.5 times. At the end of the
year total committed and undrawn debt
facilities amounted to £285.3 million alongside
a net cash balance of £243.8 million.
The average tenor of our debt is over four
years with the next contractual repayment
maturity in September 2023. Since the end of
the year the Group has successfully exercised
the first of two options to extend the maturity
of our £400 million revolving credit facility by
an additional year to April 2028.
Capital structure
The Board keeps the capital requirements of
the Group under regular review, maintaining
a strong financial position to protect the
business against risks that could impact
trading while providing flexibility to invest for
future growth. The Group earns a high return
on capital, which is reflected in strong cash
generation over time. Our capital allocation
policy remains unchanged. Our first priority
is to maximise organic investment in the
business to drive future growth. Next, we
prioritise investing in acquisitions that can
expand our addressable market through
increasing our geographic reach, deepening
our market penetration, or broadening
our product range. Acquisition targets are
required to exhibit a strong strategic fit whilst
meeting strict commercial, economic and
return on investment criteria. When cash
resources significantly exceed expected
future requirements, we would look to return
capital to shareholders, as evidenced by
special dividends declared in respect of 2010,
2012 and 2014. In the near term, we will
look to reduce our financial leverage, which
Strategic Report
Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc Annual Report 2022
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