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UK distributor of specialized technical products (seals, controls, life-sciences consumables) across niche B2B markets.
UK distributor of specialized technical products (seals, controls, life-sciences consumables) across niche B2B markets.
Buys components and consumables from manufacturers and resells them with technical advice and stock holding, so customers pay for service and reliability as much as for the part. Life Sciences, Seals and Controls are its three operating divisions, and it grows largely by buying small niche distributors.
In one line: A UK diversified technical distributor, like a smaller Fastenal for niche industrial/medic.
Moat: narrow (distribution, customer qualification, switching costs). Deep technical know-how and long-standing supplier/customer relationships in fragmented niche markets support margins.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1959 · Employees: 3,390
Size Diploma (DPLM.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Wholesale Distributors) with a market value of $12.6B, the 46th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £6,990 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 4.5%, against -6.8% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 8th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 13.3% over the last twelve months (peer median +4.3%); the operating margin is 21.6% (peer median 8.9%).
Valuation It trades at 27.5× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.8× (7th most expensive of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 24% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +23%, so the hurdle is +1 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 6.3 points above its cost of capital (11.6% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 17 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £1.65B | £1.52B | £1.36B | £1.20B | £1.01B |
| Revenue growth | — | +12% | +14% | +19% | — |
| Gross profit | £426M | £378M | £307M | £261M | £335M |
| EBITDA | £450M | £403M | £317M | £265M | £211M |
| Net income | £189M | £185M | £129M | £118M | £94.7M |
| Free cash flow | £268M | £254M | £179M | £168M | £111M |
| Capital expenditure | £17.4M | £14.4M | £19.7M | £23.1M | £15.4M |
| Total debt | n/a | £465M | £552M | £397M | £440M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diploma DPLM.L | $12.6B | +4% | +13% | 22% | 27.5× | 23.9% |
| Fastenal FAST | $60.8B | +20% | +14% | 21% | 38.3× | 14.2% |
| W. W. Grainger GWW | $67.9B | +17% | +9% | 17% | 28.2× | 11.9% |
| Bunzl BNZL.L | $12.0B | +22% | +2% | 7% | 15.3× | 2.3% |
| Addtech ADDT-B.ST | $8.66B | -2% | +4% | 13% | 30.7× | 19.3% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | DPLM.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -9.8% | +3.4% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +4.5% | -6.8% | 8th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -12.4% | -20.6% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +13.3% | +4.3% | 6th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 21.6% | 8.9% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 27.5× | 17.8× | 7th most expensive of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 23.9% | 9.7% | 4th most demanding of 20 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +23.1% | +11.3% | 2nd highest of 20 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +0.8 pp | -2.4 pp | 4th most demanding of 20 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +6.3 pp | +2.3 pp | 7th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 21.8× | 12.6× | 3rd most expensive of 17 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0× | 2.4× | 5th least indebted of 18 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diploma DPLM.L | United Kingdom | $12.6B | +4% | +13% | 22% | 27.5× | 23.9% | +23.1% |
| Bunzl BNZL.L | United Kingdom | $12.0B | +22% | +2% | 7% | 15.3× | 2.3% | +3.2% |
| QXO QXO | United States | $12.0B | -38% | +408% | -1% | 29.2× | 52.0% | +178.0% |
| Rexel RXL.PA | France | $11.9B | -10% | +1% | 6% | 13.5× | 7.7% | +9.0% |
| SGH SGH.AX | Australia | $11.9B | +7% | -1% | 13% | 18.1× | 11.4% | +17.0% |
| Bollore BOL.PA | France | $11.8B | -28% | -83% | -7% | 36.9× | 37.0% | -29.4% |
| WESCO International WCC | United States | $14.2B | -18% | +14% | 6% | 14.1× | 10.4% | +13.8% |
| Toromont Industries TIH.TO | Canada | $10.7B | -15% | +16% | 15% | 20.2× | 7.6% | +8.4% |
| Applied Industrial Technologies AIT | United States | $10.3B | -8% | +8% | 11% | 23.0× | 8.6% | +8.9% |
| Zhejiang China Commodities City 600415.SS | China | $10.0B | -7% | +22% | 22% | 14.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Brenntag BNR.DE | Germany | $10.0B | 0% | -5% | 5% | 14.5× | 1.9% | +5.2% |
| Hotai Motor 2207.TW | Taiwan | $8.90B | +10% | +8% | 11% | 13.2× | 1.5% | +3.9% |
| Rongsheng Petrochemical 002493.SZ | China | $17.9B | -14% | -11% | 8% | 12.2× | -4.4% | +22.1% |
| Core & Main CNM | United States | $8.76B | -6% | -1% | 10% | 14.3× | 5.3% | +16.0% |
| Addtech ADDT-B.ST | Sweden | $8.66B | -2% | +4% | 13% | 30.7× | 19.3% | +14.9% |
| Finning International FTT.TO | Canada | $8.20B | -9% | 0% | 8% | 17.5× | 10.1% | +11.3% |
| Beijer Ref BEIJ-B.ST | Sweden | $8.09B | +27% | +4% | 10% | 28.0× | 14.0% | +21.4% |
| Reece REH.AX | Australia | $7.83B | +44% | +4% | 6% | 35.5× | 24.2% | +8.4% |
| Aluminum Corporation of China 601600.SS | China | $20.7B | -26% | +5% | 18% | 6.7× | -16.2% | +5.3% |
| MonotaRO 3064.T | Japan | $7.04B | +22% | +19% | 14% | 29.6× | 9.7% | +16.2% |
| Imcd IMCD.AS | Netherlands | $6.80B | +7% | +3% | 8% | 18.2× | 10.9% | +11.5% |