Shares in Strix (KETL) flashed green after the kettle safety controls maker reported a recovery in volumes in both divisions despite ‘challenging’ market conditions.
The Isle of Man-based company also confirmed the results of its £10 million tender offer at 43p per share. This capital was returned to shareholders as a way of distributing a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Australian filtered water business, Billi.
Post-disposal, AIM-listed Strix is focused on its core kettle controls business. Here, a recovery from the tariff-driven order hiatus continues to build, albeit from a low base.
Return to growth
In today’s trading update, Strix reiterated that it expects to report FY26 revenue of around £150 million and adjusted pre-tax profits in the £9.8 million to £10.2 million range. That is in line with the group’s early March 2026 profit warning.
Strix said the controls arm’s post-tariff volume recovery has continued into the first three months of 2026. Encouragingly, volumes outside of China are ‘now consistently ahead’ of the comparable period in 2025, insisted the company.
In addition, the restructured consumer goods division has returned to growth off the back of product improvement initiatives and a UK marketing campaign.
CEO search ‘progressing well’
Strix said the process to recruit a new CEO, which is being led by chairman Gary Lamb, is ‘progressing well’. Mark Bartlett will be stepping down as planned at the end of May 2026.
Lamb will support an orderly transition covering the period between Bartlett stepping down and the new broom joining the board.
Strix shares have lost the best part of 90% of their value over the past five years and are down 10.5% year-to-date. Despite the company seeing the green shoots of recovery, we would still avoid the stock for several reasons.
Elevated copper and silver prices remain a headwind for the company. As does the impact of the Middle East conflict, which is sending oil prices higher. In turn, this could drive up plastic costs, squeezing margins in both the controls and consumer divisions.
We also note Zeus Capital’s ‘conservative stance on the near-term outlook, particularly with regards to the consumer outlook in Western Europe’. The broker’s forecasts point to a drop in pre-tax profits to £6.1 million on £90.7 million of sales for FY27, ahead of £6.4 million on £91.7 million revenue in FY28.
Read the press release here: https://strix.com/investors.html
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