Hello, I'm Andy Thomis, Chief Executive at Cohort plc, and I'm here to present Cohort's financial results for the year ending 30th of April 2026. 2026 marks Cohort's 20th anniversary as a listed company. As background to the results, I thought it would be helpful to show you Cohort's total shareholder return since our launch, benchmarked against both the AIM All-Share Index and our peer group of U.K. public defense companies. Over the period, Cohort has significantly outperformed the broader AIM market and delivered returns ahead of our peer group. While there has naturally been some share price volatility during the period, the overall trend reflects the sustained growth in our business, underpinned by strong operational performance, increasing order intake, and since 2022, a favorable defense spending environment. The sharp acceleration from 2024 onwards reflects growing investor recognition of Cohort's market position and the opportunities arising from increased defense and security investment across the U.K. and allied nations. What this shows is that we've been able to create value consistently for shareholders over a long period through the successful execution of our strategy. It was another outstanding year for Cohort, delivering record revenue and record adjusted operating profit. Our revenue has continued to increase to GBP 306.4 million, and our operating profit has grown by 32% to GBP 36.3 million. Demand for our products and services remained robust throughout the year, and I'm pleased to report an order intake of GBP 314.2 million, exceeding our revenue, which now takes us to a total order book of GBP 618.8 million. This provides excellent visibility of future revenues, with contracted work extending out to 2037. As expected, operating cash flow and net funds were lower than the exceptionally strong levels reported last year, primarily reflecting working capital movements and investments associated with the growth of the business. Nevertheless, the group remains in a positive net funds position and continues to maintain a strong balance sheet. We're pleased to recommend a full-year dividend of GBP 0.179 per share, once again representing an increase of 10% on last year's. That reflects the board's confidence in the group's continued success. Looking forward, we continue to see a strong demand picture in response to the deteriorating security environment and ongoing conflicts we see across the world. None of us should welcome that, and the risks that we now see are real and have the potential to affect us here in the U.K. In regions where threats are most pressing, governments are under pressure to upgrade and modernize their defense capabilities at speed, and this is where mid-tier businesses, like those within the Cohort group, have the agility and expertise to provide innovative solutions to their defense challenges. In 2025, global defense spending reached $2.63 trillion. This growth reflects an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment and a widespread reassessment of national security priorities by governments around the world. The chart shows defense expenditure since 2021 across the world, excluding Russia and China. It's clear that the United States remains the largest defense spender, but the fastest growth has come in Europe and Asia. In Europe, the driver is clearly the continuing intense and bloody conflict in Ukraine. As well as driving increased defense spending, the conflict has highlighted the importance of sea, air, and land drones for a range of tasks, including reconnaissance, strike, and logistics. It has also highlighted the importance of air and missile defense systems. The U.K.'s recent defense investment plan includes a strong focus on maritime capability to protect the North Atlantic region from Russian submarine incursion and interference with underwater infrastructure. In Asia, Chinese investment in its armed forces, together with its increasingly aggressive use of its navy and air force, have catalyzed strong growth in defense spending, notably in Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and the ASEAN nations. Although China is increasing spending in all areas of defense, its threat to its neighbors is significantly maritime in nature, both on and below the sea surface. The continued instability in the Middle East, including the conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, and the consequent regional security concerns, is also driving increased demand for defense technology, in particular, Communications and Intelligence solutions. These trends align closely with the capabilities across the Cohort Group in communications, intelligence, cyber, electronic warfare, sonar, maritime systems, and counter-drone technologies. That provides a supportive backdrop for long-term growth. One result of that supportive backdrop is the growth in our order book. That remains one of the key strengths of the group and provides a high degree of visibility over future revenues. At the 30th of April this year, our order book stood at over GBP 618 million, representing a substantial base of contracted work that will support revenue generation out to 2037. Of that total order book, approximately GBP 264 million is scheduled for delivery during the current year, providing strong revenue visibility. Importantly, this is broadly balanced across our two operating segments, with Communications and Intelligence contributing GBP 128 million and Sensors and Effectors contributing GBP 136 million. Looking further ahead, a substantial proportion of the order book extends into later years, reflecting the long-term nature of many of the programs on which we work. This includes around GBP 132 million scheduled for delivery beyond the 2028-2029 financial year. Overall, this run-off profile highlights both the quality and the longevity of our order book. It provides strong revenue visibility, supports confidence in our medium-term outlook, and gives us a solid platform from which to pursue further organic growth and new contract wins. Across both divisions, demand remains strong and is being driven by the same geopolitical and defense spending trends I've spoken about. Within Communications and Intelligence, we continue to see significant opportunities for electronic warfare and secure communications, particularly in Europe, where lessons from the conflict in Ukraine continue to shape procurement priorities. We're also pursuing major naval satellite communications opportunities in both the U.K. and Japan, while our electronic warfare and operational support capabilities are gaining increasing traction in export markets, including the Middle East. The Portuguese Navy programs provide an excellent example of how multiple Cohort businesses can work together to deliver integrated solutions, combining communications, networking, and satellite communications technologies. Within Sensors and Effectors, we see a substantial pipeline of opportunities for counter-drone systems through established partnerships. Demand is also growing for technologies that can detect, monitor, and protect critical underwater infrastructure, reflecting increased concern around maritime security and seabed protection. We continue to see strong opportunities for our sonar and sensor technologies as submarine and surface fleet modernization programs progress across a number of international markets. Programs such as the Thai Navy Frigate demonstrate the benefits of collaboration across the group, bringing together complementary technologies and expertise. We also expect to benefit from investment associated with the U.K.'s Atlantic Bastion initiative and wider NATO efforts to strengthen anti-submarine warfare and underwater infrastructure protection capabilities. Overall, the pipeline of opportunities is strong, reflecting the patterns of growing global expenditure and the market relevance of our products and technologies. As a final point, I wanted to summarize how we aim to generate value for our shareholders. First, we benefit from robust financials underpinned by strong cash generation and a healthy balance sheet. We remain focused on investing in areas that generate sustainable returns, prioritizing expenditure on research and development and expanding capacity. Across the group, we maintain and invest in innovations that address mission-critical customer requirements and reflect the security challenges they face in today's world. We're also well-positioned through our access to growth markets and have demonstrated our agility and responsiveness to geographical market trends. Our acquisition strategy has also been an important contributor to shareholder value creation. We have a proven track record of acquiring high-quality businesses and integrating them successfully, identifying opportunities to collaborate across the group where appropriate. Finally, we have a consistent dividend track record, having increased the dividend every year since our IPO. This reflects both the strength of the business and the board's confidence in the group's long-term prospects. Before closing, I want to take the opportunity to mention the great contribution to our success made by our management teams and employees across the group. I'm grateful to all of them for the part they've played in helping us achieve these good results. It's been a successful first 20 years, and we look towards the future with confidence. Thank you for your attention.
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