UK engineering business Spirax (SPX) is expected to deliver mid-single digit organic revenue growth for 2024 when it announces results on 11 March.

As a reminder, the company (once known as Spirax-Sarco Engineering) is a FTSE 100 constituent focused on steam, thermal electric and niche pumping solutions, across a wide range of end-markets. 

After a period in the doldrums which has seen the shares drop to £72.05 from the £170.45 peak in late 2021, a recently installed management team will be looking to demonstrate they can turn around the company's fortunes. CEO Nimesh Patel took the helm at the beginning of 2024 and was joined by chief financial officer Louisa Burdett in July of last year.

Spirax has undergone a material shift through acquisitions to position itself for long-term drivers such as the energy transition but this, in turn, has arguably increased the complexity and risk around the business.

Berenberg analyst Andrew Simms comments: 'Spirax had a whirlwind 2024. Rising optimism for a 2024 recovery sent the shares up by 10% in Q1 but the extended Biopharma destocking, slower semiconductor market and cyclical weakness resulted in a 40% peak-to-trough fall.

'With markets that deteriorated rather than improved, H1 organic growth in the Steam segment was -1%, while further internal and external headwinds became apparent with declining margins exacerbating a lower-than-expected top line.

'The company’s capital markets day in October 2024 provided some incremental information regarding the scale of the growth opportunity and showcased the new management set-up while highlighting increasing investment requirements. We remain unconvinced that the event achieved what the company envisaged.'

Simms notes an expected fourth-quarter weighting to the company's full-year numbers so the upcoming release could be key in showing if Patel and Burdett are making any tangible progress with their recovery strategy. 

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