Halma plc (HLMA) — Company Research

Last Updated: 15 June 2026

Halma plc (LON: HLMA) is a FTSE 100 group of life-saving technology companies built around a simple, unusually durable idea: own a diversified portfolio of niche market-leaders in safety, environmental and healthcare technology, run them through a highly decentralised model, and compound the cash they generate into organic investment and bolt-on acquisitions. On 11 June 2026 Halma reported results for the year ended 31 March 2026 (FY2026), passing £2.5bn of revenue and £500m of Adjusted profit for the first time and delivering its 23rd consecutive year of Adjusted profit growth. The numbers were records on almost every line, yet the shares fell sharply the following day as investors weighed a cautious margin outlook for FY2027 and a growing reliance on a single photonics customer. This research note works through what Halma does, how it makes money, the FY2026 financials, valuation, peers and the key risks — using only figures drawn from the company’s own filings and other primary sources.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Ticker / listing	HLMA (London Stock Exchange); FTSE 100 constituent
Sector	Industrials — safety, environmental & healthcare technology
Share price	~3,940p (12 June 2026)
Market cap	~£14.9bn (377.6m shares × ~3,940p)
Revenue (FY2026, yr to 31 Mar 2026)	£2,582.3m (+14.9%)
Adjusted profit before tax (FY2026)	£564.5m
Statutory profit before tax (FY2026)	£490.7m
Adjusted EPS (FY2026)	114.05p (+21%)
Statutory EPS (FY2026)	98.57p (+26%)
Total dividend (FY2026)	24.74p (+7%)
Employees	Over 9,000 in more than 20 countries
CEO / CFO	Marc Ronchetti (Group CEO) / Carole Cran (CFO)
Financial year end	31 March
Headquarters	Amersham, United Kingdom

Live price and technicals are on our Live Charts page, and scheduled catalysts are tracked on the Economic Calendar.

2. Bull & Bear Case

Bull Case

• Proven compounding machine: FY2026 marked Halma’s 23rd consecutive year of Adjusted profit growth and 47th consecutive year of dividend growth of 5% or more — a track record very few listed companies anywhere can match.
• High returns and expanding margins: Adjusted return on total invested capital rose 120bps to 16.2% (towards the top of the 12–17% target) and the Adjusted EBIT margin reached a record 23.0%, up from 21.6%.
• Structural demand drivers: the portfolio is aimed at long-term tailwinds — rising safety regulation, environmental monitoring and an ageing population needing more healthcare — which underpin a 7% long-term organic growth ambition.
• Photonics premium: a decade-long relationship supplying optical switches to a major data-centre “hyperscaler” is growing fast (52% in FY2026) and added several points of organic growth on top of the base business.
• Financial firepower: 93% Adjusted cash conversion and leverage of just 1.16x net debt/EBITDA leave ample room to fund the record £600m of FY2026 reinvestment and a healthy acquisition pipeline.

Bear Case

• Priced for perfection: at roughly 40x trailing GAAP earnings the shares carry a substantial quality premium, leaving little margin for error — underscored by the ~14% one-day fall after the FY2026 results.
• Customer and product concentration: the single photonics hyperscaler customer accounted for approximately 20% of total Group revenue in FY2026 (up from 15%), so any change in that confidential relationship would be material.
• Acquisition dependence and rising leverage: the model relies on a continuous flow of well-priced bolt-ons (£447m deployed in FY2026); net debt rose to £769.1m and integration or capital-allocation missteps would dent returns.

3. Business Segments

Halma reports across three sectors. In FY2026 the Environmental & Analysis sector overtook Safety to become the largest, driven by the photonics premium within its Optical Solutions subsector.

Segment	% of revenue	What it is
Environmental & Analysis	40% (£1,037.7m)	Gas detection, water analysis and treatment, environmental monitoring and optical/photonics solutions (including data-centre optical switches).
Safety	37% (£947.5m)	Fire detection and suppression, people and worker safety, public safety and elevator/door safety sensors.
Healthcare	23% (£598.4m)	Ophthalmic and surgical devices, patient-monitoring sensors, and assistive and life-sciences technologies.

4. Business Model & Competitive Moat

A decentralised portfolio of niche leaders. Halma owns more than 50 operating companies, each run with a high degree of autonomy by its own management team. Rather than chasing scale in commoditised markets, it deliberately targets specialised, regulation-driven niches where products are mission-critical but represent a small share of a customer’s total cost — giving pricing power and resilience. This breadth means no single end market dictates group performance, and in FY2026 every sector grew revenue both on a reported and an organic basis.

Capital allocation is the real engine. The group recycles strong operating cash flow into three uses: organic investment (R&D rose 13% to £123m, 4.7% of revenue), a steady stream of bolt-on acquisitions of niche businesses (five completed for a record £447m in FY2026, with two more since year end), and a progressive dividend. Acquired companies keep their entrepreneurial culture while gaining access to Halma’s balance sheet, talent and M&A capability. It is this disciplined, repeatable cycle — not any single product — that has produced more than two decades of compounding profit and dividend growth.

5. Financial Health

FY2026 (year ended 31 March 2026) was a record year: revenue grew 14.9% to £2,582.3m (16.6% organic), Adjusted EBIT rose 22.2% to £594.5m at a 23.0% margin, and Adjusted EPS climbed 21% to 114.05p. Cash generation remained strong with 93% Adjusted cash conversion, comfortably ahead of the 90% target, while net debt rose to £769.1m (1.16x Adjusted EBITDA) after £447m of acquisitions. All figures below are taken from Halma’s FY2026 results announcement and prior-year reports.

Fiscal Year	Revenue	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Net debt (YE)
FY2022	£1,525.3m	+16.6%	—	65.48p	18.88p	—
FY2023	£1,852.8m	+21.5%	—	76.34p	20.20p	—
FY2024	£2,034.1m	+9.8%	—	82.40p	21.61p	—
FY2025	£2,248.1m	+10.5%	78.49p	94.23p	23.12p	£535.8m
FY2026	£2,582.3m	+14.9%	98.57p	114.05p	24.74p	£769.1m

Half-yearly split (Halma reports on a half-year basis; most recent half first). Adjusted EPS is disclosed by the company at the full-year level.

Quarter / Half	Revenue	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
H2 FY2026 (Oct 2025–Mar 2026)	£1,344.9m	—	49.13p
H1 FY2026 (Apr–Sep 2025)	£1,237.4m	—	49.44p
FY2026 total	£2,582.3m	114.05p	98.57p

Balance-sheet and cash-flow detail used elsewhere in this note: cash generated from operations £593.1m; tax paid £112.5m; depreciation & amortisation (excluding acquired intangibles) £67.0m; Adjusted EBITDA £661.5m; capital expenditure £56.2m; year-end net debt £769.1m (including £107.8m of lease liabilities).

6. Valuation

Raw metrics, June 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Market cap	~£14.9bn (377.6m shares × ~3,940p, 12 Jun 2026)
Trailing P/E (GAAP)	~40x (3,940p / 98.57p statutory FY2026 EPS)
P/E (forward)	~31x (estimate; management guides low double-digit organic growth plus ~5pp photonics premium in FY2027, implying Adjusted EPS of roughly 129p)
P/S (TTM)	~5.8x (£14.9bn / £2,582.3m revenue)
Enterprise value	~£15.6bn (market cap ~£14.9bn + net debt £769.1m per FY2026 balance sheet)
EV/EBITDA (TTM)	~23.6x (EV ~£15.6bn / Adjusted EBITDA £661.5m)
P/FCF	~35x (market cap ~£14.9bn / FCF ~£424m; FCF = operating cash flow £480.6m [cash from operations £593.1m less tax £112.5m] minus capex £56.2m)
52-week high	~4,664p
52-week low	~2,746p
Short interest (% of float)	Low — no net short positions at or above the 0.5% FCA disclosure threshold were on the public register as of mid-June 2026
Days to cover	— not applicable (no disclosable short interest)

7. Growth Drivers & Strategy

Halma frames its purpose around three structurally growing market areas: protecting people and assets as populations and infrastructure expand (Safety); addressing climate change, pollution and resource scarcity (Environment); and meeting rising demand for better healthcare from ageing populations (Healthcare). Management targets high-single-digit organic revenue growth over the long term — a 7% long-term organic rate — supplemented by acquisitions.

The standout near-term driver is the photonics premium. A long-standing data-centre customer’s need for faster, more efficient data transmission is fuelling demand for Halma-made optical switches; this business grew 52% in FY2026 and, on the company’s own definition, contributed roughly 8 percentage points to Group organic growth above the 7% base rate. For FY2027 management expects low double-digit organic constant-currency revenue growth, including roughly five percentage points of photonics premium, with the Adjusted EBIT margin broadly in line with FY2026. The record £600m of reinvestment in FY2026 — R&D, capacity and acquisitions — is intended to sustain this compounding for years to come.

8. Peer Comparison

Halma sits within UK/European precision instruments and industrial technology. Unlike most peers it is a diversified roll-up of niche leaders rather than a single-end-market specialist, which makes direct comparison imperfect.

Peer	Market cap (June 2026)	Key 2025 metric
Spectris	~£4–5bn (subject to its 2025 take-private agreement)	Precision instrumentation; FY2024 revenue ~£1.3bn. Halma’s outgoing E&A Sector CEO is set to become Spectris CEO.
Renishaw	~£2.5bn	Metrology and precision measurement; FY2024 revenue ~£691m.
Smiths Group	~£8bn	Diversified industrial technology (John Crane, Detection); FY2024 revenue ~£3.1bn.

9. Leadership & Insider Activity

Halma is led by Group Chief Executive Marc Ronchetti, with Carole Cran as Chief Financial Officer. The decentralised model means most operational decisions sit with the individual operating-company leaders rather than the small central team.

No material insider transactions (open-market director share dealings) were reliably identified from the company’s regulatory filings for the period covered by this note. The notable governance changes announced around the FY2026 results were board-level: long-serving non-executive director Jo Harlow will step down at the AGM on 23 July 2026 (after nine years), with Sharmila Nebhrajani OBE becoming Senior Independent Director and Giles Kerr taking the Remuneration Committee chair. Separately, Constance Baroudel, Sector Chief Executive for Environmental & Analysis, will leave at the end of August 2026 to become CEO of Spectris.

10. Risk Factors

• Valuation risk: a premium multiple (~40x GAAP earnings) means modest disappointments can trigger outsized share-price moves, as seen after the FY2026 results.
• Customer concentration: a single photonics hyperscaler represents ~20% of Group revenue; loss, slowdown or renegotiation of that confidential relationship would materially affect growth.
• Acquisition execution: the model depends on sourcing, pricing and integrating bolt-on deals; overpaying or poor integration would erode returns on invested capital.
• Macro and end-market cyclicality: management notes an uncertain economic and geopolitical environment, with varied conditions across end markets and project-timing delays (notably in the US).
• Currency translation: with major operations in the US and Europe, a stronger Sterling reduces reported revenue and profit (FY2026 saw a 2.7% negative translation impact).
• Leverage and capital deployment: net debt rose to £769.1m (1.16x EBITDA); sustained high reinvestment leaves less headroom should cash conversion weaken.

11. Recent Developments

• 11 Jun 2026 — FY2026 results. Revenue rose 14.9% to £2,582.3m and Adjusted EBIT 22.2% to £594.5m, a 23rd straight year of Adjusted profit growth; the total dividend was lifted 7% to 24.74p.
• 12 Jun 2026 — Shares fall ~14%. Despite record results, the stock dropped sharply as investors focused on guidance for an FY2027 Adjusted EBIT margin broadly flat year on year and on the growing concentration of the photonics customer.
• 11 Jun 2026 — Record reinvestment and M&A. Halma deployed over £600m for future growth in FY2026, including five acquisitions for £447m, with two further deals (~£75m) completed since year end and one disposal in the year plus two since.
• 11 Jun 2026 — Board changes. Jo Harlow to step down at the 23 July 2026 AGM; Constance Baroudel (E&A Sector CEO) to leave at end-August 2026 to lead Spectris.
• 20 Nov 2025 — Record first half. H1 FY2026 revenue reached £1,237.4m with the interim dividend raised 7% to 9.63p.

12. Key Dates & Catalysts

• 09 Jul 2026 — Final dividend ex-dividend date (record date 10 July 2026)
• 23 Jul 2026 — Annual General Meeting (and customary AGM trading update)
• 14 Aug 2026 — FY2026 final dividend of 15.11p paid
• Expected November 2026 — Half-year results for FY2026/27 (H1 FY2025/26 was reported 20 November 2025)
• Expected June 2027 — FY2026/27 full-year results

Track these alongside other scheduled events on our Economic Calendar, and discuss the stock with other investors in the ChartsView Forum.

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