Friday Takeaway—delving a little deeper into UK small caps
This will delve a little deeper on individual companies and focus on non-house stocks under £200m market capitalisation to raise awareness
Alphabetically arranged
Share prices and market capitalisations taken from Alpha Terminal from the current price on the day of publication.
Top three shareholders are taken from the websites of the companies that we are writing about, unless there is a more up to date TR-1 notification RNS announcement.
Navigating Strategy: Execution and Review
FLO Controlling the flow
OMG Smarter Strategy
Flowtech Fluidpower 56.00p £45.60m (FLO.L)
Financial Calendar:
Year End 31 December, reported 24 March, Interims to 30 June, Reported 9 September 2025
Top Three Shareholders:
Odyssean Capital (London) 12.89%, Harwood Capital (London) 10.13%, River Global 6.28% (London)
Key Investment Points:
Grow & Build Phase, Astute Acquisitions, Earnings Growth
Moving from transformation to expansion, the Company demonstrated its strategic agility this week with the acquisition of Helipebs Controls Ltd. Flowtech is a specialist Hydraulics, Pneumatics and Process engineering solutions provider across the UK, Ireland and the Benelux. Flowtech is an amalgamation of 17 trading brands under a single banner and has 180,000 products in stock with a value of £50m. For over 40 years, Flowtech has worked with many private and public sector customers and been involved in major engineering projects, from helping to maintain the famous Tower Bridge in London, to designing and installing hydraulic legs on the Halley VI research station in the Antarctic.
On 12 February, the Company acquired Q Plus BV in the Netherlands for a total of £8m and raised c.£9.6m at 53p. This funded the c. £3.5m cash consideration of the Q Plus acquisition, and reduced debt from FY 31 December 2025 c. £15m. Q Plus is one of the largest independent pneumatic and compressed air specialists in the Netherlands, with a diversified, customer base across different industries and a strong foothold in the OEM and machine building sector. Q Plus has complementary knowledge, engineering and design expertise. The total consideration is EUR 9.25m (c.£8m) of which cash of EUR 4.1m. (c.£3.5m) was paid on completion. There are numerous synergy opportunities across the cost base, gross margin and growth initiatives, which are expected to significantly contribute to EBITDA and improve the strong cash generation.
Yesterday, Flowtech acquired Helipebs Controls Ltd, an established business specialising in the design and manufacture of hydraulic cylinder and systems. Alongside its UK-based manufacturing capabilities, Helipebs has significant engineering expertise in delivering high-quality engineered solutions to customers globally across sectors including oil & gas, sub-sea, marine, research, green energy, and defence. The £0.4m consideration has been financed from the Group's own cash resources and it is expected to be fully recouped before the end of FY 31 December 2026. The acquisition is likely to lead to a bargain purchase gain (negative goodwill).
Before this latest add on acquisition the 31 December 2026 forecast on Alpha Terminal is for a 26% increase in turnover to £135.3m, a PBT of £3.8m against a loss of £3.0m in the prior period and an EPS of 3.8p. We calculate that this would put the Company on a prospective P/E of 14.5x. The EBITDA on Alpha Terminal is forecast at £10.2m for FY 31 December 2026 and we calculate this makes an EV/ EBITDA of 5x.
Hybridan Comment: The latest acquisition suggests the grow and build strategy is being successfully executed making the rating look modest.
Oxford Metrics 46.0 £51.52m (OMG.L)
Last Reported in Friday Takeaway, 17 October 2025 at 42.1op
Financial Calendar:
Year End 30 September, Reported 9 December 2025, Interims to 31 March, Due to be reported on 17 June and last year reported on 18 June 2025
Three Main Shareholders:
Charles Stanley 12.56%, Aviva plc 11.00%, Hargreaves Lansdown AM 9.01%
Key Investment Points:
Cash is 60% of Market Capitalisation, Product Launch, Strategic Update with Interims
OMG’s smart sensing and software technology creates an interface between the real world and its virtual twin and trades through two divisions. The H1 March 2026 results are expected to be reported on 17 June, and the management team will present an update on corporate strategy. In 2022, the Yotta division was sold for £52m which had been established in 2006. Net cash at 31 March 2026 was £31.7m which provides flexibility for organic and M&A growth initiatives as the strategic review focuses on building a more predictable and profitable business.
The Vicon Motion Systems division provides motion measurement and analysis to thousands of customers worldwide in healthcare, entertainment, and engineering markets. In 1997, the Company’s technology was used in the film Titanic. The other division is in manufacturing, Industrial Vision and Metrology Systems (IVMS), a specialist in machine vision software and measurement technology for high precision, automated quality control systems used by blue-chip, manufacturing companies in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, performance engineering, advanced semiconductors, automotive and aerospace.
Vicon Markerless went live in March 2025 andthere have been several significant contract wins in Eastern Europe, Japan and India. The Markerless system comprises a new motion-tracking camera and new software incorporating advanced computer vision, machine learning and proven algorithms to capture human performance without the need for body markers. The growth focus is on improving conversion rates, supported by planned product updates that are intended to broaden use case such as into Life Sciences which is set to generate software-based, recurring revenue opportunities.
In IVMS, a dedicated smart manufacturing Managing Director was appointed to drive growth initiatives. Through partnerships with blue-chip manufacturers like Boeing, Ford, and BMW, the smart manufacturing products are used for high precision, automated quality control to ensure “right first time” products. The immediate focus is on integrating the distribution capabilities, to capture a greater share of this growth market.
US academic and entertainment markets remained broadly unchanged, but there is encouraging demand across core industries in other territories and emerging geographies.
The H1 trading update to 31 March 2026 was reported 0n the 23 April anticipating revenue of £20.7m compared £20.1m in the prior period, with a modestly improved adjusted loss before interest and tax*. Cash conversion remains strong, with a net cash position of £31.7m after the payment of the dividend and paying for share buybacks. The buyback programme was completed on 21 May after 14.83% of the share capital was bought at an average price of 51.37p.
The management team will present an update on strategy, including its approach to capital allocation and its three-year framework along with the interims. The EBITDA forecast on Alpha Terminal for FY 30 September 2026 is £7.31m on revenue of £49.1m which, we calculate, gives an EV/ EBITDA ratio of just 3.0x.
Hybridan Comment: The deep cash pile should open a wide range of strategic options, and the shares seem ‘over’ cautiously valued.
* On 16 December 2025, Oxford Metrics changed its accounting reference date to 31 December, from 30 September. FY26 is therefore an extended 15-month period running from 1 October 2025 to 31 December 2026. The trading update on 23 April covers the first six months of FY26 ended 31 March 2026. Under the Group's previous reporting calendar, this would have been the half-year reporting period. It is reported against the equivalent prior-year period.
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