Bunzl plc (LON:BNZL), the specialist international distribution and services Group, has published its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2025.
| Financial results | 2025 | 2024 | Growth asreported | Growthat constantexchange rates* |
| Revenue | £11,845.4m | £11,776.4m | 0.6% | 3.0% |
| Adjusted operating profit* | £910.3m | £976.1m | (6.7)% | (4.3)% |
| Adjusted profit before income tax* | £787.1m | £872.9m | (9.8)% | (7.4)% |
| Adjusted earnings per share* † | 179.3p | 194.3p | (7.7)% | (5.2)% |
| Dividend for the year∆ | 74.1p | 73.9p | 0.3% | |
| Statutory results | ||||
| Operating profit | £735.3m | £799.3m | (8.0)% | |
| Profit before income tax | £620.5m | £673.6m | (7.9)% | |
| Basic earnings per share† | 141.5p | 149.6p | (5.4)% |
Highlights include:
| · | Revenue increased by 3.0% at constant exchange rates*, driven by acquisitions; underlying revenue growth of 0.4%, with 0.9% underlying revenue growth in the second half of the year |
| · | Adjusted operating profit* decreased by 4.3% at constant exchange rates* to £910.3m; operating margin declined by 0.6 percentage points from 8.3% to 7.7% |
| · | The year-on-year decline in the Group’s second half operating margin moderated to 0.3 percentage points, from 8.6% in the prior period to 8.3%, with an improved operational performance in our largest business in North America, operating margin stabilisation in Continental Europe, and margin expansion in the UK & Ireland |
| · | Adjusted operating profit over the year includes a £7.8m credit related to prior years’ share-based awards^. Excluding this credit, adjusted operating profit was £902.5m and operating margin was 7.6% |
| · | Adjusted earnings per share* decreased by 5.2% at constant exchange rates* |
| · | Strong cash conversion of 95%; free cash flow generation of £579 million, an 8.7% decline; adjusted net debt to EBITDA* of 2.0 times at the end of the year |
| · | 0.3% increase in the total dividend; dividend per share has grown at a 9% CAGR since 2004 |
| · | Eight acquisitions announced with committed spend of £132 million; significantly lower level of spend following a strong year in 2024; pipeline remains active and we see an improving outlook for acquisitions in 2026 |
| · | £200m share buyback completed during 2025 |
| · | 2026 outlook reiterated: moderate revenue growth at constant exchange rates*; operating margin slightly down year-on-year |
Commenting on today’s results, Frank van Zanten, Chief Executive Officer of Bunzl, said:
“I am pleased with how the Group has responded to what has proven to be a challenging year for Bunzl; our people have shown great agility to be able to deliver on the revised expectations we set out in April 2025. Our 2026 guidance for a more stable profit outlook remains unchanged and provides a foundation from which to deliver long-term profitable growth.
The fundamentals of Bunzl’s business model are robust and I am confident in our ability to generate resilient, compounding growth over the medium-term, leveraging our scale advantage, entrepreneurial culture and ability to deploy strong cash generation to further consolidate our fragmented global markets.”
* Alternative performance measure (see Note 2)
∆ The Board is recommending a 2025 final dividend of 53.9p per share. Including the 2025 interim dividend per share of 20.2p the total dividend per share of 74.1p represents a 0.3% increase compared to the 2024 total dividend per share.
† After excluding £0.6m of profit for the year attributable to a non-controlling interest within our Nisbets business
^ Share-based payment credit due to the reversal of prior year charges related to awards made in 2023 and 2024 which have been impacted by the Group’s performance in 2025
Strategic progress:
| · | Actions focused on improving performance in our largest business, North America Distribution, included: leadership changes, re-balanced decision-making between central and local teams, cost saving actions, improved branded supplier engagement, and further own brand launches. Actions have driven operational improvement in the second half |
| · | Continental Europe operating margin stabilised in the second half, supported by an enhanced focus on reducing costs to offset inflation, and on new business pipeline management |
| · | Own brand revenue penetration increased to 30% (2024: 28%) and digital orders grew to 76% of orders (2024: 75%≠) |
| · | Eight acquisitions completed in the year, across seven countries and four market sectors |
| · | We continue to drive operating efficiencies with 36 warehouse consolidations and relocations, including a large consolidation project in France; significant level of activity and ahead of the 19 consolidations and relocations in 2024 |
| · | 71% Trust Index score, a measurement achieved as part of the Great Place to Work survey; a strong and pleasing result to maintain, given employee satisfaction supports our continual focus on delivering a high level of customer service |
Business area highlights:
| Revenue (£m)2025 2024 | Growth at constant exchange* | Underlying revenue growth* | Adjusted operating profit* (£m) | Growth at constant exchange* | Operating margin* | ||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2025 | 2024 | ||||||
| North America | 6,276.7 | 6,568.1 | (1.2)% | (0.3)% | 440.5 | 515.6 | (11.5)% | 7.0% | 7.9% |
| Continental Europe | 2,442.0 | 2,377.1 | 2.5% | 0.3% | 204.7 | 210.8 | (3.6)% | 8.4% | 8.9% |
| UK & Ireland | 1,883.6 | 1,625.8 | 15.9% | 1.4% | 153.1 | 135.1 | 13.3% | 8.1% | 8.3% |
| Rest of the World | 1,243.1 | 1,205.4 | 9.1% | 3.5% | 145.3 | 146.2 | 5.4% | 11.7% | 12.1% |
| · | North America: Revenue decline at constant exchange rates driven by the disposal of R3 Safety, with underlying revenue broadly flat. Adjusted operating profit impacted by execution challenges in our largest business that primarily services foodservice and grocery customers, in a macroeconomic environment that became more challenging through the year. Despite the backdrop, actions taken to improve performance drove a moderation in the year-on-year margin decline in this business in the second half and delivered better-than-expected new business wins. Offsetting this business’ improvement in the second half has been increased demand pressure in other businesses, notably our food processor and convenience store businesses and foodservice and grocery businesses in Mexico. The safety, retail and Canadian businesses within the business area were less negatively impacted in 2025 |
| · | Continental Europe: Revenue growth driven by acquisitions, with underlying revenue broadly flat. Despite a resilient performance in the Netherlands and moderate growth in Spain over the year, and the benefit of acquisitions, operating margin was primarily impacted by performance in France in the first half, where ongoing price deflation, reflective of post Covid-19 pricing normalisation, and a weak economy continued to be compounded by operating cost inflation, which has been seen since the second half of 2024. Operating margin in the second half of the year across Continental Europe was stable year-on-year, supported by actions taken to improve performance and easier comparatives, with France also delivering a more stable margin |
| · | UK & Ireland: Very strong revenue growth, driven by the acquisition of Nisbets and supported by underlying volume growth. A reduction in operating margin was driven by the impact in the first half of consolidating a seasonally lower margin period of Nisbets, which was acquired in May 2024. While our cleaning & hygiene and care businesses were impacted by continued deflation, this was more than offset by a good performance in our foodservice businesses. The improvement in operating margin in the second half was driven by greater than anticipated synergy benefits and an improved performance at Nisbets |
| · | Rest of the World: Asia Pacific delivered very strong revenue and profit growth, supported acquisitions and organic performance, with the healthcare sector, which benefited from new business wins, a key driver. Brazil was impacted by challenges in fully passing through currency-related product cost increases in a weaker industrial market, which led to an operating margin reduction. This impacted the Rest of the World operating margin overall, although it remains strong |
Outlook
We reiterate our guidance for 2026:
| · | With economic and geopolitical uncertainties expected to continue, the Group expects moderate revenue growth in 2026, at constant exchange rates*, driven by some underlying revenue growth and a small benefit from announced acquisitions |
| · | Group operating margin* is expected to be slightly down year-on-year compared to 7.6%^ in 2025 |
| · | Other guidance items: net finance expenses of around £125 million; full year effective tax rate of around 26.0% |
* Alternative performance measure (see Note 2)
≠ Excluding acquisitions made in 2024
^ After excluding an £8 million share-based payment credit due to the reversal of prior year charges related to awards made in 2023 and 2024 which have been impacted by the Group’s performance in 2025
