Forterra announced a £20m share buyback on Wednesday, a repurchase equivalent to about 6% of the company's market capitalisation. The move comes as the brick and concrete manufacturer reported full-year results for fiscal 2025 and outlined its financial posture for fiscal 2026.
For fiscal 2025, Forterra recorded adjusted EBITDA of £61.6m, a figure management said was in line with market expectations. Looking ahead, the company guided that adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2026 should be slightly ahead of last year. Management signalled comfort with current analyst consensus of roughly £63m, a metric that implies approximatively 2% year-over-year growth versus fiscal 2025.
Operationally, Forterra highlighted an acute weather impact in the opening months of the calendar year. Exceptionally wet conditions in January and February led to deliveries declining by a high single-digit percentage compared with the same period in the prior year. Management noted uncertainty about how much of the observed weakness stems directly from weather disruption as opposed to an underlying softness in demand.
Because some of the lost deliveries during the wet months may not be recoverable later in the year, Forterra now expects volumes for fiscal 2026 to be flat year-over-year. The company also said demand is expected to be weighted toward the second half of the fiscal year.
The share buyback follows the company reaching its target leverage metric. At the end of fiscal 2025, Forterra's net debt to EBITDA ratio stood at 1x. Management anticipates net debt at the end of fiscal 2026 will be broadly unchanged from the fiscal 2025 level, and indicated that repurchases of shares could be sustainable in future years if conditions permit.
Context and strategic signal
- The £20m programme is presented as a return of excess capital after achieving the firm's leverage target.
- Management's guidance points to modest EBITDA improvement while acknowledging volume headwinds tied to weather and uncertain demand recovery.
- Net debt neutrality through fiscal 2026 underpins the companys assertion that buybacks could continue beyond the current programme.