RS Group shares jump as half-year profit and sales beat consensus

RS Group PLC on Thursday reported half-year results ahead of forecast and said it was "well positioned" as it enters the second half of the financial year.

The London-based industrial and electronics products distributor said pretax profit rose 8.0% to £121 million in the half-year ended September 30 from £112 million the year prior.

Adjusted operating profit increased 17% to £142 million from £122 million, beating Visible Alpha consensus of £136 million cited by RBC Capital Markets.

Revenue grew 10% to £1.54 billion from £1.40 billion, ahead of consensus of £1.48 billion. On a like-for-like basis, sales climbed 7%.

Basic earnings per share rose 7.3% to 19.0 pence from 17.7p, or by 19% to 20.9p from 17.6p on an adjusted basis.

The interim dividend was boosted 2.3% to 8.9p per share from 8.7p.

"We have had a good start to 2026/27," said Chief Executive Simon Pryce.

"Manufacturing sentiment remained in positive territory across our major markets. This, together with our customer facing investments that are driving accelerated share gains, contributed to building momentum across all three regions. As a result, our performance was ahead of our expectations and well ahead of the prior period, in part due to easier comparatives."

Pryce said trading momentum remains "encouraging" and RS enters the second half "well positioned".

"This gives us continued confidence in our ability to deliver on our medium-term financial targets of growing revenue at twice the market, achieving mid-teen adjusted operating margins, cash conversion of over 80%, and return on capital employed in excess of 20%," he added.

Shares in RS Group rose 5.3% to 800.50p each in London on Thursday.

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