IMI plc (LSE:IMI) is looking for acquisitions. During the IMI 2025 Full Year Results Presentation, Luke Grant, CFO, said, "We will also pursue bolt-on acquisitions that enhance our positions in attractive, long-term growth markets. We have deployed over GBP 400 million in bolt-on acquisitions since 2019 while increasing our fully burdened return on invested capital by 260 basis points to 14%.
Our M&A pipeline remains strong, and we will continue to seek attractive bolt-on acquisitions that accelerate organic growth and expand our capabilities while delivering returns in line with our strict financial criteria. Finally, we will look to return surplus capital to our shareholders should net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA fall sustainably below our 1 to 2x target range. By deploying our growing free cash flow into organic growth opportunities, attractive acquisitions and value-enhancing share buybacks, we are confident we can continue our track record of compounding EPS growth".
Roy Twite, said, "So yes, when the Growth Hub team say, here's a customer problem that will be enhanced through a bolt-on, exactly as TWTG was, that was found through the Growth Hub capability, and we can buy at a sensible valuation because remember, we're looking to get above our cost of capital within 3 years, and then we're not looking to be materially dilutive to IMI's underpin, the 12% ROIC, which is a harsh ROIC measure with everything in the denominator within 5 years, right? And that's easy to say. But that's not easy to do, right?
So that's what we're looking for in acquisitions. Last year, we walked away from several. Our acquisition pipeline looks good, and I have to say there's some interesting things in there, but we're not going to overpay to the point that we can't get decent shareholder returns.
We're very proud of our returns track record, and we certainly want to maintain it, Jonathan. So that's where we are on acquisitions".
