William Lee
Right. I have the thumbs up from the back.
So, we're good to go. So, welcome, everyone, to our full year results presentation for 2026.
I am going to go through on strategy and outlook after John, our Chief Financial Officer, has given an update on the financial results for the year. Clearly, it's been an excellent year for us.
And I just wanted to go through some of the highlights though, before handing over to John. So great progress, revenue and profit growth in all areas.
Now clearly, the headline driver and star there has been the investment triggered by AI going into semicon investment. For me, most pleasing though is the progress that we've made in our portfolio of emerging businesses, and we'll touch more on that later.
We remain very well positioned in a range of attractive markets. And I really think we're making the most of that opportunity with our innovation-led strategy, important new products that we've released that are really going well and more coming through.
And again, I will touch more on this later. We are investing.
We have been investing in capacity. This is targeted to meet the needs and the demands that we are seeing.
We are doing this very cognizant of the fact that we operate in cyclical industries, particularly that semiconductor one, of making sure that we invest in the right way to support our customers there. We are doing this also making sure that we're focusing on the underlying productivity of the group, making sure that we're really well positioned there for the future.
So, an exciting time, and John is going to talk through now the financial performance.
John Shipsey
Thanks, Will, and good morning, everyone. It's a great pleasure to present my first Renishaw results.
And I do so very much on behalf of the wider team who delivered the successful year. So, let's start with the headlines.
Revenue increased by 14% to GBP 816 million or 17% at constant FX. Adjusted operating profit grew by 36% to GBP 153 million, lifting margin by 3 percentage points to 18.7% and earnings per share grew 30%.
Reflecting this performance and our strong balance sheet, we're proposing a 5% increase in the regular dividend for the year plus a special dividend of GBP 0.70 per share. These results demonstrate positive progress against our medium-term financial targets.
We're delivering high single-digit through-cycle revenue growth. Operating margin is moving closer to the 20% threshold and indeed surpassed it in the second half.
Cash conversion fell year-on-year, but remained above our 70% target. And return on invested capital broke back above 15%.
Undoubtedly, our performance was boosted by positive cyclical trends that will reverse at some point. We acknowledge that, and we're focused on driving sustainable through-cycle improvement in all 4 metrics.
Let's now look at revenue and profit by segment, starting with Industrial Metrology. Industrial Metrology, which accounts for more than half of the business, delivered steady progress.
Revenue grew by 4% or 7% at constant FX, supported by rising demand for 5-axis coordinate measuring machines and Equator gauges. Metrology sensors were flat with higher demand from consumer electronics customers, offset by weaker sales to machine builders in Europe.
Operating margin was broadly stable at just over 17%, with currency headwinds offsetting the benefits of cost reduction. Position Measurement delivered an excellent performance.
Revenue increased by 26% or 29% at constant FX. Growth was led by optical encoders for semiconductor equipment and magnetic encoders for automation and robotics.
Laser encoders were lower, but started to recover in the second half, and the order book is in growth. And we also secured early production orders for ASTRiA inductive encoders for aerospace and defense applications.
That top line growth converted to even stronger profit growth. Operating profit was up more than 50% and operating margins jumped by 5 percentage points to 27.4%.
Specialized Technologies achieved the strongest revenue growth of all 3 segments. It was up 43% or 46% at constant FX.
Additive manufacturing was the engine of this growth with strong demand from aerospace and defense customers. Spectroscopy dipped slightly.
But overall, operating margin for Specialized Technologies grew by almost 18 percentage points to 4.4%, driven by the operating leverage in additive manufacturing. It's also pleasing to note that all product lines in this segment are now profitable.
Turning back to the group as a whole. You can see the change in operating margin from 15.7% in FY '25 to 18.7% in FY '26.
Currency was a significant headwind because of both forward contracts and in-year average FX rates. That was more than offset by the benefits of restructuring.
Gross margin dipped slightly, principally because of product mix, but the biggest impact came from operating leverage as a result of volume growth. That drove margins up to 18.7% for the year and indeed to over 21% in the second half.
Turning to cash. Adjusted operating cash flow was GBP 121 million.
Cash conversion dipped to 79% from 91% in the prior year. CapEx was actually down year-on-year, but working capital was up, especially receivables, in line with the very strong sales growth in Q4.
After tax, cost reduction expenditure, dividends and other movements, net cash increased by GBP 17 million. We closed the year with cash and deposit balances of GBP 291 million, maintaining a strong financial position.
The special dividend of GBP 0.70 per share will reduce H1 FY '27 cash flow by GBP 51 million. Finally, a look at return on invested capital.
There's no doubt we're currently benefiting from the semiconductor super cycle, but our focus is on taking action to improve ROIC through cycle. In FY '26, we successfully restructured our cost base.
In FY '27, we'll significantly increase manufacturing capacity, primarily for encoders. That will mean a doubling of CapEx on production assets.
And over the medium term, productivity improvements will extend beyond just manufacturing to include sales and the back office. One Renishaw is a multiyear program to implement standardized, globalized processes that will enable existing and future business.
All 3 initiatives are designed to ensure that Renishaw is positioned for long-term sustainable success through the business cycle. I'll hand back to Will.
William Lee
Thank you, John. So let's now take a look at strategy going forward.
So we are very much focused on being a world leader in sensors and systems for both measuring and manufacturing. We have a very strong purpose.
I'm very fortunate that I get to see this in action out visiting our customers, and it's then you really realize the important role that we play with them, those long-term relationships that we have and how we help them meet the needs of today and the future, those precision needs, those productivity needs, those challenges that they face. We have a clear strategy underpinning this, that very clear innovation-led or organic growth strategy, making sure we're disciplined on those investments.
Secondly, focusing on the attractive markets, so good through-cycle growth if cyclical. Next, we have the strategy of really accelerating our growth.
So really disruptive R&D coming through on close adjacent markets, making sure that we are accelerating the growth broader than just the core. And then finally, of looking at relatively small targeted acquisitions close to our core, really accelerating growth through those as well.
So when we're discussing this, we put this all together in a model that I'm sure many of you are familiar with now, our value creation model. So if we take a look at this, and on the left here, we have what is happening to us from the outside, the markets that we operate in.
And on the right, we have our strategy to drive outperformance. So markets, fortunate, definitely growing more than 5% per annum through cycle.
Accessible market up to GBP 7 billion. Certainly on those drivers and trends, and I'll talk through some of the more of the end markets shortly, but definitely AI and the pull-through there is the most significant clearly at the moment.
That strategy then for outperformance very much start with our traditional sensor business. These 3 pillars at the top, you can see here, growing in the existing market with that traditional sensor business.
Increasing technology value, so the Industrial Metrology and the AM systems, the hardware and software-enabled systems there and then extending into new markets, of which our ASTRiA inductive encoder is a prime example of moving very close to where we are with new disruptive technology. As John has mentioned, clearly, this middle layer is really important for us, making the most of the investments that we are making for the future with a very targeted focused execution and then that portfolio growth strategy of starting with what has to be very disruptive patented new R&D, driving that through into the future profitable businesses of tomorrow.
So if we take a little look about what's happening externally and the range of industries that we serve. First of all, so with the numbers here before we have a look at some of the changes here, that sort of health warning that these are estimates -- so sometimes we know for sure where we're selling.
So if we're selling a position encoder to a company that makes semiconductor manufacturing equipment, we know for sure where that is going to end up. If we're selling a machine tool sensor to a machine tool builder, we don't know.
So we are looking then at estimates to try and gauge that. I think the other thing worth stressing here is when we are selling our products, we have very generic solutions.
So an example here would be our Industrial Metrology systems. It's the same hardware and software that we are selling to a consumer electronics as it is to an automotive as to an aerospace.
So we're not aligned so much on specific solutions there. If we look at the specific outperformers then for this year, then a few key green ones going up.
Two of those feel very much like they're powered by the AI driver that we talked about before. So clearly, the semiconductor equipment is, but also the energy generation with investment into gas turbines and also into backup power with internal combustion engine units there driving that market well as well.
And also, we are seeing definitely a flow-through in aerospace and defense. Efficiency of these products.
Let's have a look a little bit more at a couple of those areas. So with -- in the world of semiconductor, so our sales here, this is our position encoders, our range of positioning encoders from optical encoders through to laser encoders right through to a whole range from manufacturers of front-end equipment, back-end equipment, advanced packaging, a whole different range.
What we see here really is the benefit, I think, of investment over many years of the innovation to make sure we've got the products that are needed and customer relationships and working with these customers for many years integrating our solutions with them, making sure they meet their metrology needs. We are now seeing the real benefits of that on this upturn.
That is meaning that we are investing significantly in our capital. This is right across from machining -- so machining centers for machining of encoder bodies, electronics manufacturing ramping up and also then the automation equipment for putting together the encoders themselves.
You can see this is actually an ATOM cell here with the robot doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the assembly of an ATOM product. So we have been investing.
We continue to invest here. Our strategy is very much to make sure we support our customers on the up cycle.
We have to be there. We have to be a trusted partner for them to supply their customers during these cycles that we see.
The benefit of this, because clearly we're very cognizant that this is cyclical. We've lived them through this before of the upturns and the downturns, the investments that we're putting in are helping us to under -- to drive the underlying productivity and therefore, the manufacturing efficiency of these products.
If we now just look at aerospace and defense. So certainly, we are seeing a flow-through of investment here, and this is customers investing both in capability and in capacity.
Now this has been a very strong traditional market for us. But when you think of this for Renishaw, you think of our IM sensors and you think of our IM systems business.
And that is indeed doing well, and we're spending a lot of time with customers of how do we help them support them ramp up in that area. But two areas really wanted to talk on today.
So the first is with additive manufacturing. And particularly in the defense space here, what we're seeing is customers really understanding the benefits that additive manufacturing can give in terms of design freedom and what they can achieve.
A couple of examples, some gun suppressors for large guns. This is not how they're supposed to be.
They wouldn't work very well at that, obviously. That's just so you can see the insides and also jet -- small jet engines for drones, which can be 3D printed.
So lots of investment going in there. The other area with defense to mention is our new ASTRiA inductive encoder.
Customers here that we talk to are really appreciating the combination of the metrology, the accuracy. This is rotational accuracy that we can give them, the robustness and ruggedness of the product and also its ease of installation.
So we seem to really hit a sweet spot. We are investing here again in manufacturing ramp-up.
This is quite new going through our new product manufacturing facilities at the moment. So we're investing in that and also in a range of sizes that our customers are after there.
This really shows, I think, here the benefit of the investment that we put in, in our innovation engine. So ASTRiA, a prime one there coming through.
Also additive, recent advances in terms of the software programs we've talked about with LIBERTAS, for example, and TEMPUS of really driving up the productivity of the machine. This means actually not only are there opportunities coming through, but we feel we're in a really competitive position that in the midsized market, we have the most productive platform.
And we think that we are, therefore, gaining share there relative to our competitors. So that investment in long-term innovation is key for us.
We continue to invest over GBP 100 million a year in engineering. That is right the way through from current to the real blue sky thinking.
The areas I just talked about and actually the Equator-X that you can see here, which also has been extremely well received. And again, we're in a ramp-up phase with together with the MODUS IM software are very much targeted towards our emerging businesses.
So when I said at the start, really pleased with the progress we're making there. That is underpinned and the future of that by what you're seeing here.
Now really importantly, though, for us, if you went back to our strategy, it's that sensors business, that's our core. And what has been really nice was actually we have just launched a new sensors.
This is for our CMM and machine tools business. And you can see pictures of these down here.
I was over in Germany last week, AMB trade show, meeting up with customers, and they really understood the benefits that we are bringing to them with new measurement capabilities both in what they can measure and how quickly they can measure with these sensor technologies. Also in our core business, the product you can see here in the middle is our latest generation, which is coming through now released now of our new laser encoder system.
So here, we have a strong position with the companies that make -- this is for front-end wafer inspection. So they have phenomenally tough metrology challenges.
We are very strong in this market. The new product moves us on to keep us ahead of their metrology challenges ahead of the game and again, shows that strong relationship that we have.
So looking forward, over the long term, we're clearly excited about the opportunities that we have with the market drivers. We're very pleased with the progress that we're making with the strategy here with the innovation that's come through and the innovation that is there for the foreseeing years.
In the short term, what we clearly have is a continued growing order book. We are investing in that capacity, as I talked about in a number of different areas to make sure we support our customers through that growth.
But we're doing that very mindful that some of these areas are cyclical. And this year, really, then we are looking at further strong progress on revenue, profit and operating margin.
Right. Thank you very much for listening.
So John and I now would welcome questions apart from anything to do with the semiconductor cycle and our predictions on how long, how fast, when it will change.
Mark Davies Jones
Mark Davies Jones from ODDO BHF. So a few things.
Could you talk a little bit about geographic patterns and what you're seeing in China in particular because that's been a big growth market over time, but a little more competitive recently. How is that faring?
And on the encoder side, is there any change to the competitive position? It was a sort of 2-horse race at the top end of that market.
Is that still the case? Or is that picture changing as the market grows?
William Lee
So why don't we do this -- let's do the second one. I think these link actually, I would say.
So I think we've done very well as a company against our traditional competition. And I think what we are seeing is the benefits of that now coming through in the semiconductor space.
We're certainly seeing different competitive landscape from China. And when we discussed this through as an ExCo and Board, certainly, China is one of our biggest opportunities and risks.
There are domestic Chinese competitors across the board. But certainly in the space of encoders, then yes, there are competitors there that are supplying good products to customers in China, and we compete with those on performance, capability, price.
So the second -- the first question was on -- sorry, remind me now.
Mark Davies Jones
China as a market really because it's been a strong top line, but a tougher profit market for you, I think, for a little while.
William Lee
Yes. China is still going very well.
We are adapting and looking for the future as to what do we do in the strategies. And I think we've talked about here in the future of having some China for China products and looking at domestic supply chains for those to make the most of the entry-level market there, particularly from a sensor point of view.
On some of the areas then, so some of the things I talked about with additive manufacturing or inductive encoders, we don't sell over in Asia at all actually at the moment. Anything specific, John, do you want to add on?
Jonathan Hurn
It's Jonathan Hurn from Barclays side. I just have 3 questions, please.
Firstly, just on orders. Obviously, you don't give an order book, and I'm not going to ask for that.
But I don't know if you can just give us a feel for the book-to-bill by division that you saw through the last fiscal year. Anything there would be super helpful.
The second one was just on your inductive sensor, ASTRiA. I mean, can you just put a sort of an addressable market to that what you think the revenue opportunity for that sensor could be?
And then the third one was just on your software. Obviously, you've put new stuff into the market is going very well.
Can you just give us a feel for how that side of the business, the software side is growing within Renishaw?
William Lee
Okay. So let's...
John Shipsey
I will do the order book. You can do the other two.
William Lee
Yes.
John Shipsey
Okay. Great.
So yes, you're right. We don't disclose order book or by division.
What I would say is that we tend to have a longer order book in Position Measurement and actually more so now in additive manufacturing. It's relatively shorter in Industrial Metrology, but our order book has continued to grow in those divisions.
William Lee
So next was ASTRiA. So ASTRiA interesting.
So we didn't target -- so this wasn't going in thoughtfully saying this is perfect for the defense market. This was us saying, here's something that feels very novel where we have something neat and can make a difference.
And then from going out with the early stages where we use the MVP strategy, certainly, then the focus went on to the interest from defense customers. In terms of the size of the market, I don't think it's worth -- we don't know for sure, and I wouldn't want to give numbers.
What I would say is from the interest that we're seeing from a limited number of customers, this has the potential in a few years' time to be a significant revenue generator for us. So we will see on the potential and how that flows through.
So it's one that could be a very quick transformer for us. But that's on Renishaw time, not on.
And then finally, sorry, number 3 was -- yes, so really interesting time with software. I think the big bet we're putting is on the MODUS IM, which although we're focused on Equator, that is a platform from across the board, a common programming interface for whether you're doing a CMM or a machine tool.
We've targeted making this disruptive because of the ease of use and simplicity and also that it gets the best out of our products by driving them very quickly. This is accelerating through very strong feedback on ease of use.
The discussions we're starting to get into now interestingly is not just on how do you open up this so that the person running the machine tool can now program in the manufacturing environment, his shop floor metrology, not have the person from the CMM lab do it. But what's the role of AI in terms of coordinating it and programming this all as well.
So it's a really exciting time, not just from the productivity benefit we're seeing with AI complementing our internal software development, but thinking about that from a user experience as well. So 12 months' time, I think this is going to be a really interesting time to have seen exactly the impact this has had.
Unknown Analyst
Just on Position Measurement, clearly, an excellent year. Can you just talk about how much of the growth is volume versus pricing and how you see that going forward?
William Lee
Do you want to talk about pricing, John?
John Shipsey
Well, I'll talk about volume. So it is all of the growth is volume.
If you think of the 2 levers of volume and price, everything that we did in '26 was volume. I think we have more to learn about price and more -- I'd like us to develop more our positive agency on price.
At the moment, we're very focused on and I think rightfully focused on trying to meet customer demand in Position Measurement. Price is something that we have more capability to develop on, whether that's up or down.
Richard Paige
Richard Paige from Deutsche Numis. Three questions, I think, if I may.
Firstly, coming back to Position Measurement. In the Q4, obviously, a big step-up in sales on Q3.
I know there's capacity constraints and you're adding capacity, as you made clear there. Is there anything unusual in terms of customer product releases or anything that made that unusual in terms of that step-up?
I'm thinking more about how Q1 might look relative to Q4 in that division. Secondly, then just a view from you because I know this has been very rangy and we're adding capacity on operational gearing, particularly, I guess, I'm thinking about additive manufacturing now profitable, whether that should show -- demonstrate the same processes there.
And then finally, on the Industrial Metrology environment. I know it feels pretty down.
I know you've been quite down on Europe recently about machine tool manufacturer. Is there any signs of any change there, please?
William Lee
Should I do that last one and there's probably some finance bits because that's quite topical having just come back from Germany and met a lot of the machine tool builders there and some others. So it feels like Europe is starting to see some green shoots and definitely is on the recovery.
I think definitely the one part that isn't is automotive. So anyone that has exposure, whether that's a machine tool builder that has stayed highly exposed to machine -- sorry, to automotive is struggling.
All the other ones that are diversified are definitely starting to see pick up. I think the other area that is probably really struggling is the traditional sort of high-end German job shops doing mold and die for auto because not only have they got a weak auto, but where they have, they're being undercut by imports coming through.
So that sort of traditional sort of 5-axis machine with a Heidenhain controller in 10 of them in a German, that's tough.
John Shipsey
Okay. So maybe I'll talk to Q4 more generally.
So Q4, you'll have seen had a very big impact from additive manufacturing from Specialized Technologies. So that was an unsustainably high level just where capital goods orders came in, in Q4.
But having said that, how we started the year, we've started the year in line with the same level of activity overall in Q4 with the other divisions taking up some of that slack from Specialized Technologies. And of course, we will update you on Q1 in about a month's time.
But we're about, kind of, at the same level as Q4 year-to-date. That run rate, sorry, not the total run rate.
That would be very good. Then the other question was about operational gearing, particularly in Specialized Technologies.
I mean that for us is quite hard to judge. Obviously, it's a big move from a negative operating margin to the 4% you saw for the year.
I think for us, we do see additive manufacturing growing. It's on a good trajectory.
It's difficult to give you an algorithm for the operating profit conversion, I'm afraid.
Richard Paige
Is it going to be significantly different to the other divisions would you say?
John Shipsey
I think I would -- yes, I would struggle to answer that, to be honest. It's a new business building scale, and it's hard to gauge that trajectory.
It very much is driven by the top line.
William Lee
It's also probably not going to be smooth.
John Shipsey
No. There will be ups and downs with the value of each item, particularly in AM.
The...
William Lee
The value on the individual machines themselves.
John Shipsey
Yes.
Harry Philips
Harry Philips, Peel Hunt. Just one question, please, which is around sort of One Renishaw and productivity.
And obviously you got the sort of additional CapEx going in. And just trying to think about how you sort of -- clearly, you delivered GBP 244 million of revenue in Q4 and the suggestion, I think, from what you're saying, John, is that sort of we continue at that run rate into Q1.
There's sort of several aspects, I guess. One is as new CapEx comes on, how quickly does that come on?
And sort of how -- is this CapEx for growth? Or is this CapEx to sort of just -- you're almost sort of so busy at the moment, this CapEx comes in to just sort of ease the pressure, if you like.
So is that sort of nuance? And then secondly, I suppose once the world settles down, if it ever settles down, that sort of potential impact on margin and sort of that broader productivity program, the one -- and the broader concept of One Renishaw.
I suppose what I am trying to get at is...
John Shipsey
Is it one question, Harry?
Harry Philips
It's got supplementaries in there. It's sort of the 20% plus margin target through cycle, I get and through cycle being the key word there.
But here we are 21.7% in the second half, et cetera, et cetera, sort of that's a quantum above. So it's broader productivity and run rate.
John Shipsey
Well, I'll try and answer the selected bits of the question. So the CapEx, I mean, this also does relate to Jonathan's question on order book.
So the CapEx is going to -- broadly, the capacity is on 12-month lead time. So that capacity isn't going to fully come on stream until the end of this fiscal year.
The order book, to Jonathan's question, we have a longer -- we have -- our order book is growing, particularly in Position Measurement. But that order book is not committed orders.
And it's important to remember that. It is -- at the moment, there is a scarcity, and it's hard to interpret what that order book actually means, hence, we don't disclose it.
But the CapEx is to increase capacity, and it will fully come on stream by the end of the year. It does have a short payback.
So it's a relatively long lead time, but it has a short payback on that capacity. That's in the kind of short run.
And then, yes, our focus is on building productivity throughout Renishaw, particularly in the sales and back office. So some of that is efficiency and cost.
A lot of it is effectiveness. We want to free our salespeople to sell, not to deal with internal bureaucracy.
And we have probably -- I would describe it as a deficit in those areas. We have a historical deficit.
We're brilliant at inventing new products. But our business processes have not kept up with the growth, and they are quite diverse across the world.
So it's a big opportunity for us to be more efficient, more agile, particularly when we're faced with business cycles, more agile in our responses up or down. And as I say, then to be more effective in areas like sales.
So that is a multiyear program.
Lacie Midgley
Lacie Midgley at Bloomberg Intelligence. John, just following up on that on the ERP process that's now been paused.
Is that because you've seen more opportunity and there's different things you can do there? Or a little bit more color on that pausing, how long it's going to be paused for, if you can tell us a bit more on that.
John Shipsey
I mean I wouldn't pause it maybe -- well, let me describe it. We have had a lot of challenges.
As I think you all know, we went live in the U.K. with a new system.
That has been very painful. It took us 10 months to come out of hypercare.
And clearly, that is not -- we recognize that design is not fit for purpose for us to continue the rollout around the world. So we are pausing between now and the end of the calendar year to do a diagnosis phase diagnostic on that design.
What can we keep and what does -- what needs to redesign. And frankly, everything is on the table in that phase.
Lacie Midgley
Okay. That's helpful.
And then just on the CapEx, I think you said majority of that that's going in '27 is for the supporting where you are now. Can you put a number on that?
If I think about '28, what are you -- is it too early for you to sort of say what the number might be there...
John Shipsey
Yes, yes, afraid so. Yes.
Lacie Midgley
Tried. Okay.
And then just on ASTRiA, I thought someone asked on the sort of revenue opportunity. But if I just think about the margin, assuming because of the end markets and where you're selling to there, we -- is it right to assume that, that's stronger than your traditional margin there?
And are we seeing any of that in that strong PM margin in Q4? Or is that too early given the size of the orders that we probably...
John Shipsey
Yes, it is too early to have any meaningful impact at all at the moment. So this is all for the future.
And yes, the margin will be decent there, particularly some markets.
Oliver Swift
Oliver Swift with Panmure Liberum. Just a few questions, if I may.
So firstly, could you give some more color on the M&A you referenced? What could we expect acquisitions to look like in what areas of the business?
Secondly, on the special dividend, how should we think about returns going forward? Can we expect more?
And at what level of net cash should we expect this? And then lastly, on the sensor side of the business, I guess, why has it been weaker?
Should we expect this to inflect with, kind of, more general machine tool demand? Or is it that the business has been over-indexed to Europe?
John Shipsey
Okay. Right.
Yes. So M&A, I think the very important first statement is that almost exclusively, our focus is on organic growth.
We will look to complement that with selective M&A, but we have next to no track record in that area, and we are -- we need to build our capability, and we need to take a long runup. So they will be -- what we would like to be able to do is to find small close-in bolt-on acquisitions, complementary technology, for example.
But we are going to build our internal know-how. We're not going to go out and do something radical.
So the second question was about the buyback. Sorry, not the buyback.
I think not the buyback. Sorry about that.
So I can't -- it's a very short answer. Don't read anything into what we have done or as in project for the future.
This is just a particular set of circumstances. And please don't read into what will happen in the future.
What you should just understand is we continue to look at our capital allocation, and we will be responsible about it.
William Lee
And finally, so is the Industrial Metrology sensors that has been that sluggish area for some time now. And we talked, yes, about German machine tool, but also other areas have been relatively weak as well.
Certainly feels like if you look at JMTBA numbers, the recent ones are fairly bullish going forward, a bit of recovery in Germany and U.S. consumption pretty strong.
So no, I think that's very much for us just we've been through this rather prolonged depressed cycle there.
Jonathan Hurn
So just one very quick follow-up. I think last fiscal year, you had GBP 20 million of savings from your cost reduction actions.
How do we think about that number in the profit bridge for this year? What kind of level of savings are we going to see, would you say?
John Shipsey
So the cost reduction exercise was done at the start of the year. So there isn't any material flow-through.
Dini Magoon
Dini Magoon from UBS. I just wanted to ask a question on the PM margin.
So how can we think about the sustainability of that margin going forward? And once we adjust for the impairment, was there anything that sort of boosted the margin in H2, like accelerated contract closeouts, et cetera?
John Shipsey
No, there wasn't. Clearly, we are in a time of high demand and supply constrained, not just within Renishaw, but beyond.
But no, there was nothing in the second half that was unusual in terms of boosting it.
Oliver Swift
Another question, if I may. Just on Position Measurement, you previously flagged quite difficult comps with laser encoders.
Does that get easier now? And should that then be supportive to the margin?
John Shipsey
I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head, I'm afraid.
William Lee
Yes. I would say, so laser encoders certainly is favorable from a margin point of view.
The demand there coming through from the front-end semi, those wafer inspection companies is strong at the moment. Exactly how that relates back to that one-off cycle we have.
But yes, we see that as a positive going forward and also tends to be slightly more stable because of the value of the equipment they're going on to.
John Shipsey
That sounds like we are there with questions. So thank you.
Have we got anything from -- no? Liza.
So thank you all very much for attending today. Clearly, exciting times for us looking forward for that long term and also a strong year ahead for us.
Thank you all.
William Lee
Thank you.