London, March 12, 2026, 16:52 GMT
IMI plc hovered near 2,760 pence late Thursday, little moved even as the British engineer flagged fresh repurchases as part of its new £500 million buyback started this week. Shares barely budged in a sluggish London session.
This comes just as IMI kicked off its initial £250 million tranche on Monday, with the buyback programme set to wrap up by Dec. 31, 2026 at the latest. When a company buys back and cancels its own stock, it cuts the number of shares outstanding — typically boosting earnings per share as a result.
IMI picked up 108,100 shares for cancellation on March 11, paying an average 2,755.4744 pence apiece, according to a Thursday filing. The day before, the company snapped up 110,000 shares at 2,794.2728 pence on average. That puts the two-session total at 218,100 shares. After settlement, voting rights will drop to 246,682,376, Thursday’s notice said.
Backing follows IMI’s statement last week: the company is looking for mid-single-digit organic revenue growth in 2026, with automation demand holding up. After-market services—maintenance and replacements after installation—have climbed to about 45% of overall revenue. The group bumped its 2025 total dividend by 10% to 34.2 pence, and posted adjusted pretax profit of 442 million pounds, a 6% increase.
IMI CEO Roy Twite said the company is “compounding earnings growth,” setting an adjusted EPS target for 2026 in the 136p to 142p range. For 2025, revenue landed at £2.304 billion, with an adjusted operating margin of 20.0%. Investegate
Spirax Group, listed in London, saw its shares jump 4% on Tuesday after it projected mid-single-digit organic revenue growth for 2026. Investors appear willing to back UK engineering firms able to demonstrate consistent demand, despite a cloudier macro outlook.
Still, conditions are getting tougher. UK indexes slipped Thursday, oil topping $100 once again, and bets on Bank of England rate cuts faded. AJ Bell’s Danni Hewson flagged the risks: “The longer the disruption goes on, the greater the impact on energy prices and in turn global inflation.” Reuters
For IMI, the buyback may help calm nerves, but it won’t do much if climbing energy bills and tougher financing start to eat into industrial budgets. Still, shares have gained over 40% in the past year and are trading roughly 5% to 6% off their 52-week peak at 2,926 pence.
