Innovation

Innovation is at the heart of our business

Whether we are innovating in our faster growing market segments, or supporting the changing requirements through our energy saving solutions for more traditional industries, our materials innovations enable rapid change.

We invest in innovation to maintain our materials leadership and overall capability. In 2024, we spent £31.1 million in research and development (R&D) across our four global CoE (2023: £32.9 million).

Our core markets remain critical, providing the Group with a strong base and a diversified portfolio. Within these markets, we aim to maintain our leadership positions and grow by investing selectively in innovation, focusing on market segments that exhibit higher growth potential. 

We want to accelerate our organic growth by increasing our exposure to faster growing market segments where we see the potential to achieve higher returns. We are investing in capacity for these markets where we see attractive returns that support our Group ROIC ambition. 

In 2024, we set out our plans to increase capital investment in  semiconductor capability and capacity, increasing our ability to address this growing market. Reflecting lower demand within the semiconductor market, we have revised our capital expenditure plans to match our capacity more closely with demand. In 2024, we invested £26.1 million in semiconductor capacity, and we expect to spend a further £35.0 million in total over 2025 and 2026. We remain confident in the longer-term potential in semiconductors and we expect to resume our investment as the market recovers.

Our core markets:

• In aerospace our innovative materials are enabling higher efficiency engines, ultimately reducing carbon emissions efficiency engines, ultimately reducing carbon emissions.
• In high-temperature industrial processes our material solutions are producing more energy efficient process for our customers.

In our growth markets we are:

• Increasing the lifetime and performance of solar, wind and energy storage, providing much-needed clean energy.
• Creating best-in-class materials and miniaturisation technology, helping the healthcare industry make huge leaps forward.
• Developing higher performance materials for the most demanding process steps in the semiconductor market.
• Providing superior materials which support the longer lifetime of products in the clean transportation field.

Our products help our customers to be more efficient – to use less energy in their manufacturing process or in their product, and to generate less CO₂.