Victrex cautiously upbeat on current trading, shares spike

Shares in Victrex Group rallied in early trading on Tuesday, despite a slide in annual profits, after the polymer specialist said 2025 had got off to a "solid" start.

The FTSE 250 firm said group sales volumes in the year to 30 September rose 4%, largely in line with expectations, to 3,731 tonnes.

Revenues fell 5% to £291m, however, due to de-stocking in its medical division, while underlying pre-tax profits slid 26% to £59.1m.

Victrex, which also supplies the automotive, aerospace, energy and electronics sectors, said the first half had been "soft".

However, it added that trading had improved throughout the second half.

Looking to the current year, chief executive Jakob Sigurdsson also struck a cautiously optimistic tone.

He said: "The group has seen a solid start, ahead of the prior year, despite mixed trading conditions.

"If current demand levels remain on track, with some seasonality in our first quarter, a run-rate across the rest of the year similar to the 2024 exit rate - of around 1,000 tonnes per quarter - offers the potential for at least mid-single digit volume growth.

"We have the opportunity to deliver underlying pre-tax profit growth ahead of volume growth after the impact of currency, which is now a £7m-£8m headwind in 2025.

"For the medium to long term, the board’s confidence in delivering our growth opportunities remains strong."

As at 0900 GMT, shares in Victrex had surged 15% to 1,012p.

Jefferies said: "While improvement in medical volumes is most important - this likely will not occur until much later in the year, in our view - even modest volume growth, in line with guidance, should support some much-needed earnings recovery, given current fixed cost under-absorption.

"There is clear potential for a better 2025 full-year forecast versus 2024 and, given how weak the shares have been this year, we expect this to be taken well."