Ibstock plc (IBST) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, everyone. Nice to see everybody. Great. So good morning and welcome to IpStock's 2025 full year results presentation. Joining me today is Simon Bedford, our interim CFO. So turning to the agenda, after I provide an overview and market context, Simon will walk us through the financials and cover divisional performance. I'll then focus on how we're thinking about shareholder value creation, specifically through the lens of five strategic drivers. Having covered the summary and outlook, Simon and I will then be very happy to answer your questions. So turning first to the overview. As you'll know, 2025 was a tough year. We started well with strong volume growth in the first half, coming mainly from new build residential demand. Market uncertainty in the second half resulted in progressively tougher conditions. Revenues for the group increased by 2% to £372 million, with EBITDA at £71 million, in line with the guidance issued in Q4-25, but a reduction of around 10% versus 24%. Despite the challenges in the market, this is a business that does not stand still, and I'm proud of the progress our teams have made at our major investment projects at Atlas and Nostal, both of which are now coming to their conclusion. At the same time, we've taken decisive action on costs and flex capacity where needed. We've also remained disciplined in how we allocate capital. In Q4, we made the decision to dispose of our Fortecrete roofing sites, and we've now completed a number of land disposals, releasing about £30 million of capital. With major CapEx programs largely complete, volume recovery and continued opportunities to release capital from our land bank will lead to an acceleration in free cash flow. And this will provide optionality on growth opportunities and shareholder...