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UK-based global distributor of industrial and electronic components and MRO products for engineers and businesses.
UK-based global distributor of industrial and electronic components and MRO products for engineers and businesses.
Earns the markup on a very large catalogue of items, mostly ordered online and shipped the same day, so small orders from many customers matter more than a few big contracts. It adds its own RS PRO brand, which carries higher margin than the brands it resells. It was renamed from Electrocomponents in 2021.
In one line: The UK's Grainger/Fastenal, for electronic/industrial components.
Moat: narrow (scale, distribution, switching costs). Global logistics scale and vast catalog breadth create high switching costs for engineers.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1937 · Employees: 8,500
Size RS Group PLC (RS1.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Wholesale Distributors) with a market value of $4.85B, the 96th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £789.50 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 32.8%, against +0.1% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 0.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +7.5%); the operating margin is 8.3% (peer median 7.6%).
Valuation It trades at 18.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.6× (9th most expensive of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 15% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is +8 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 1.7 points below its cost of capital (12.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 25 May 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £2.88B | £2.88B | £2.90B | £2.94B | £2.98B |
| Revenue growth | — | -1% | -1% | -1% | — |
| Gross profit | £1.25B | £1.25B | £1.24B | £1.26B | £1.32B |
| EBITDA | £319M | £320M | £318M | £359M | £463M |
| Net income | £162M | £162M | £153M | £179M | £285M |
| Free cash flow | £245M | £245M | £243M | £181M | £288M |
| Capital expenditure | £52.9M | £52.9M | £49.3M | £51.6M | £46.1M |
| Total debt | n/a | £495M | £512M | £677M | £373M |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS Group PLC RS1.L | $4.85B | +33% | -1% | 8% | 18.6× | 15.1% |
| W. W. Grainger GWW | $67.9B | +17% | +9% | 17% | 28.2× | 11.9% |
| Avnet AVT | $6.52B | -3% | +44% | 4% | 5.5× | n/a |
| MISUMI 9962.T | $6.25B | +3% | +24% | 13% | 17.9× | 9.3% |
| MSC Industrial Direct MSM | $6.33B | +9% | +6% | 9% | 20.1× | 9.0% |
| Fastenal FAST | $60.8B | +20% | +14% | 21% | 38.3× | 14.2% |
| Arrow Electronics ARW | $9.22B | -7% | +26% | 4% | 7.4× | 0.1% |
| Rexel RXL.PA | $11.9B | -10% | +1% | 6% | 13.5× | 7.7% |
| Bossard BOSN.SW | $2.42B | +55% | +7% | 11% | 20.1× | 5.9% |
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 | RS1.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +5.3% | +0.2% | 6th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +32.8% | +0.1% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -5.5% | -19.4% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -0.8% | +7.5% | 2nd lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 8.3% | 7.6% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 18.6× | 17.6× | 9th most expensive of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 15.1% | 8.9% | 4th most demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.5% | +11.3% | 6th lowest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +7.5 pp | -1.9 pp | 2nd most demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -1.7 pp | +0.8 pp | 4th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.4× | 12.5× | 7th cheapest of 15 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0× | 2.0× | 8th least indebted of 17 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS Group PLC RS1.L | United Kingdom | $4.85B | +33% | -1% | 8% | 18.6× | 15.1% | +7.5% |
| SiteOne Landscape Supply SITE | United States | $4.86B | -7% | +3% | 5% | 24.4× | 18.4% | +11.7% |
| Groupe Dynamite GRGD.TO | Canada | $4.79B | -33% | +37% | 32% | 17.6× | 22.8% | n/a |
| Hdhms 443060.KS | South Korea | $5.28B | -39% | +20% | 16% | 23.0× | 3.0% | +14.5% |
| Rubis SCA RUI.PA | France | $4.10B | 0% | +11% | 7% | 10.3× | 3.1% | +10.9% |
| Gibson Energy GEI.TO | Canada | $3.87B | +13% | +26% | 3% | 19.5× | 6.4% | +16.7% |
| Wuchan Zhongda 600704.SS | China | $3.86B | 0% | +3% | 1% | 7.2× | -2.5% | +8.1% |
| Farsoon Technologies 688433.SS | China | $3.76B | -24% | +52% | 5% | 234.8× | n/a | n/a |
| MSC Industrial Direct MSM | United States | $6.33B | +9% | +6% | 9% | 20.1× | 9.0% | +4.3% |
| Royal Vopak VPK.AS | Netherlands | $6.51B | +14% | +1% | 29% | 15.5× | 8.8% | +1.8% |
| Imcd IMCD.AS | Netherlands | $6.80B | +7% | +3% | 8% | 18.2× | 10.9% | +11.5% |
| MonotaRO 3064.T | Japan | $7.04B | +22% | +19% | 14% | 29.6× | 9.7% | +16.2% |
| Macnica 3132.T | Japan | $3.23B | +8% | +35% | 4% | 11.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Reece REH.AX | Australia | $7.83B | +44% | +4% | 6% | 35.5× | 24.2% | +8.4% |
| Russel Metals RUS.TO | Canada | $2.98B | +36% | +18% | 5% | 14.4× | 8.7% | +11.5% |
| Nagase & 8012.T | Japan | $2.96B | -9% | +8% | 5% | 10.9× | 3.5% | +3.2% |
| Beijer Ref BEIJ-B.ST | Sweden | $8.09B | +27% | +4% | 10% | 28.0× | 14.0% | +21.4% |
| Finning International FTT.TO | Canada | $8.20B | -9% | 0% | 8% | 17.5× | 10.1% | +11.3% |
| Inchcape INCH.L | United Kingdom | $2.87B | -21% | +7% | 6% | 7.5× | -6.0% | +5.9% |
| Jiangsu Azure 002245.SZ | China | $2.82B | -21% | +27% | 12% | 14.6× | 11.8% | +13.8% |
| Marco Polo 001386.SZ | China | $2.80B | -15% | -12% | 21% | n/a | -7.2% | -5.5% |