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(Sharecast News) - Renew Holdings reported a record first-half performance on Tuesday, with higher revenue, profit and a record order book supporting confidence in its full-year expectations.
The AIM-traded engineering services group, which supports the maintenance and renewal of critical UK infrastructure, said revenue rose 3.5% to 589.0m in the six months ended 31 March, from 569.3m a year earlier.
Adjusted operating profit increased 4.4% to 33.4m, while operating profit rose 3.0% to 26.9m.
Profit before tax was up 8.6% at 25.5m, and adjusted earnings per share increased 9.6% to 30.9p.]
Renew said its adjusted operating margin improved by 10 basis points to 5.7%, reflecting continued demand for its "mission-critical" services and increasingly diversified end-market exposure.
The group declared an interim dividend of 7.0p per share, up 4.9% from 6.7p a year earlier, which it said reflected the board's confidence in trading, cash generation and order book visibility.
Renew reported a record order book of 945m at the end of the period, compared with 908m a year earlier, and moved to a pre-IFRS 16 net cash position of 10.6m from net debt of 11.8m at the same stage last year.
The company said it had continued to benefit from strong activity across its four engineering sectors.
In rail, it said it remained Network Rail's largest supplier of infrastructure services, while in water it had secured its strongest position to date, with record levels of activity across several regions.
Renew said the acquisition of Emerald Power, completed in October 2025, was integrating well and had expanded its capabilities in overhead line maintenance and repair.
After the period ended, the group also completed two further acquisitions.
On 30 April, its Envolve business acquired Edwards Diving Services, a specialist marine and civil engineering services provider to the water industry.
On 7 May, Excalon acquired PWR-X, a high-voltage cable jointing specialist, broadening Renew's offering in electricity transmission and distribution.
Chief executive officer Paul Scott said the first-half performance provided momentum as the group continued to execute its long-term growth strategy.
"The past six months have demonstrated the strength of our increasingly diversified business model which, combined with further intergroup collaboration and innovation, leaves us well placed to capitalise on the significant opportunities available to us across the group," he said.
"We have seen strong demand across our four pureplay engineering sectors, successfully winning a number of new frameworks and further consolidating our leading positions in each of our end markets."
Scott said the post-period acquisitions of EDS and PWR-X broadened Renew's capabilities and opened new routes to market in specialist water and power.
"With a record order book afforded to us by highly visible, committed, long-term spending cycles, we remain confident in continuing on this growth trajectory and we look forward to delivering against our full year expectations," he added.
At 1323 BST, shares in Renew Holdings were up 0.66% at 922p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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