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UK engineering group making industrial steam systems, electric heating (Chromalox) and peristaltic pumps (Watson-Marlow).
UK engineering group making industrial steam systems, electric heating (Chromalox) and peristaltic pumps (Watson-Marlow).
Sells largely direct through its own engineers rather than through distributors, advising on steam and fluid systems and then supplying the replacement parts and consumables they keep needing, such as the tubing in its peristaltic pumps. Most customers run continuous processes where downtime is costly. The acquisition of Chromalox, a US electric-heating maker, brought electric heat into the group.
In one line: A niche thermal/fluid-engineering group, like a smaller Watts Water Technologies plus a he.
Moat: narrow (process know-how, IP, customer qualification). Engineered thermal/fluid systems designed into customer processes create switching costs and service-revenue stickiness.
Headquarters: Cheltenham, UK · Founded: 1888 · Employees: 10,072
Size Spirax (SPX.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Industrial Machinery) with a market value of $7.24B, the 68th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £7,300 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 1.9%, against -13.2% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 5th highest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 5.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +20.2%); the operating margin is 18.2% (peer median 12.8%).
Valuation It trades at 22.7× forward earnings against a peer median of 22.4× (11th cheapest of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 21% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +7%, so the hurdle is +13 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 0.4 points below its cost of capital (12.6% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 11 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £1.74B | £1.70B | £1.67B | £1.68B | £1.61B |
| Revenue growth | — | +2% | -1% | +4% | — |
| Gross profit | £318M | £540M | £530M | £553M | £577M |
| EBITDA | £417M | £399M | £403M | £395M | £393M |
| Net income | £198M | £163M | £191M | £184M | £225M |
| Free cash flow | £217M | £215M | £197M | £177M | £127M |
| Capital expenditure | £57.5M | £68.0M | £92.8M | £105M | £118M |
| Total debt | n/a | £1.02B | £1.03B | £1.12B | £1.08B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirax SPX.L | $7.24B | +2% | +5% | 18% | 22.7× | 20.5% |
| Watts Water Technologies WTS | $11.6B | +17% | +17% | 19% | 24.6× | 15.8% |
| Xylem XYL | $22.4B | -14% | +2% | 16% | 17.4× | 12.1% |
| IMI IMI.L | $8.81B | +3% | +8% | 21% | 19.9× | 14.3% |
| Flowserve FLS | $10.2B | +13% | 0% | 14% | 17.8× | 15.0% |
| Ingersoll Rand IR | $31.9B | +10% | +8% | 19% | 21.8× | 17.3% |
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 | SPX.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +4.1% | -10.5% | 8th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +1.9% | -13.2% | 5th highest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -9.3% | -40.9% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +5.1% | +20.2% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 18.2% | 12.8% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 22.7× | 22.4× | 11th cheapest of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 20.5% | 13.7% | 6th most demanding of 17 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.4% | +11.8% | 8th lowest of 17 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +13.1 pp | +4.6 pp | 7th most demanding of 17 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -0.4 pp | -0.7 pp | 11th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 14.6× | 12.2× | 5th most expensive of 10 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.7× | 0.6× | 4th most indebted of 11 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirax SPX.L | United Kingdom | $7.24B | +2% | +5% | 18% | 22.7× | 20.5% | +7.4% |
| Zurn Elkay Water Solutions ZWS | United States | $7.18B | -15% | +10% | 23% | 21.8× | 10.9% | -2.4% |
| Shenzhen Envicool Technology 002837.SZ | China | $7.13B | -49% | +22% | 9% | 53.5× | 56.2% | +29.0% |
| Robotechnik Intelligent Technology 300757.SZ | China | $7.37B | -42% | +203% | 9% | 219.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Sulzer SUN.SW | Switzerland | $7.39B | +23% | -3% | 13% | 17.9× | -1.4% | +3.7% |
| Timken TKR | United States | $7.07B | -14% | +6% | 15% | 14.5× | 3.7% | +5.5% |
| Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology 000157.SZ | China | $7.61B | -22% | +14% | 7% | 11.2× | 2.8% | -4.3% |
| Kokusai Electric 6525.T | Japan | $7.62B | -21% | +15% | 19% | 20.0× | 30.9% | -1.5% |
| Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology 688200.SS | China | $6.87B | -4% | +44% | 36% | 50.0× | 47.7% | +27.6% |
| Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical 300316.SZ | China | $7.69B | -13% | -25% | 0% | 74.3× | 39.6% | +24.6% |
| Leader Harmonious Drive Systems 688017.SS | China | $7.84B | +27% | +46% | 15% | 283.8× | n/a | n/a |
| JBT Marel JBTM | United States | $6.66B | -8% | +20% | 10% | 14.2× | 12.7% | +17.0% |
| Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment 300450.SZ | China | $7.88B | -41% | +28% | 10% | 22.9× | 10.4% | +19.9% |
| Rational Aktiengesellschaft RAA.DE | Germany | $7.95B | -4% | +6% | 27% | 26.1× | 14.8% | +14.2% |
| Han's Laser Technology Industry 002008.SZ | China | $7.97B | -48% | +59% | 12% | 19.1× | 19.6% | +9.5% |
| KINGSEMI 688037.SS | China | $6.56B | -7% | +41% | -5% | 264.1× | n/a | n/a |
| GlobalWafers 6488.TWO | Taiwan | $8.15B | -23% | -6% | 11% | 21.4× | n/a | n/a |
| INDO-MIM INDOMIM.NS | India | $6.39B | n/a | +26% | 20% | 60.8× | 30.3% | +15.8% |
| MISUMI 9962.T | Japan | $6.25B | +3% | +24% | 13% | 17.9× | 9.3% | +7.3% |
| Middleby MIDD | United States | $6.17B | +3% | -7% | 17% | 18.5× | 6.9% | +5.0% |
| Shanghai BOCHU Electronic Technology 688188.SS | China | $6.16B | 0% | +20% | 44% | 29.6× | 18.0% | +30.9% |