Nichols had a standout FY24, executing very well against strategic ambitions set out at the Nov CMD. EPS grew by 13.5% to 64.0p, 4% ahead of our estimate and the normal DPS has been increased by 13.4%. We upgrade our FY25 EPS by 5% and FY26 by 4%. We make 5 key points: 1) Great progress made towards 20% PBT margin in mid-term, with 18.2% achieved in FY24 (+230bps). 2) The dominant Packaged division is going great guns with 12% EBIT growth; and is more impactful on margins and ROCE given capital light nature. 3) In the absence of M&A we see scope for more shareholders returns - as a guide we estimate a 68p special DPS for FY26. 4) The outlook statement signals a positive start to FY25, and we expect further progress against strategic goals. 5) The strength of these results highlight Nichols has good momentum and should be capable of EPS of 92.5p by FY29 (+44% vs FY24) on target revenue of £225m. This growth conviction supports our Buy and raised 12m TP from 1440p to 1485p.
