- Progressive H1 and broadening of addressable market opportunities
- Markerless motion capture launched successfully with commercialisation progressing well
- Two acquisitions completed and new MD hire to support build out of smart manufacturing

18 June 2025 - Oxford Metrics plc (LSE: OMG), the smart sensing and software company, servicing life sciences, entertainment, engineering and smart manufacturing markets, announces unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2025.

Commenting on the results Imogen O’Connor, Chief Executive, said: “Oxford Metrics has made clear strategic progress in the first half, and is reporting in line with management expectations, against an exceptionally strong comparator created by the fulfilment of our record order book last year.

After several years in development, Vicon Markerless went live in March. I would like to thank our team for their tremendous effort in creating the best launch we have ever delivered and to our 10 beta customers for all their feedback, critiques and support along the way. Vicon is leading the way to set the industry standard, and this is the start to building a quality software and services revenue stream to complement our marker-based business.

We strengthened our smart manufacturing division with the acquisition of Sempre, and appointed a dedicated smart manufacturing managing director, to drive our growth initiatives. Now, the immediate focus is bringing together the precision and distribution capabilities of Sempre and the vision capabilities of IVS, to build an engine to capture more of this substantial growth market.

Trading in the second half has begun as expected, in line with previous years and our usual seasonal trading patterns, albeit we remain mindful of external macro uncertainty. As a diversified business, we are seeing improving activity for Vicon in South America, Asia Pacific and Europe, while recent policy change in the United States relating to the timing of approved funding is starting to impact our institutional and academic customers, a sizeable proportion of our US business. In smart manufacturing, there is good visibility with a building orderbook and pipeline which continues beyond the current financial year.

Notwithstanding the well-publicised uncertainty in the US market and typically being a second half-weighted business, the Board anticipates the full year Adjusted EBIT to be in-line with the Board’s expectations based on present market conditions and the conversion and execution of pipeline opportunities at their historical rate.”

_{* Adjusted (Loss)/Earnings before Interest and Tax, adjusted for share-based payments, amortisation of intangibles arising on acquisition and exceptional costs.}

Financial and strategic highlights

• Headline Group revenue of £20.1m, down 14% (H1 FY24: 23.5m), in line with management expectations and reflecting a particularly strong comparative due to:

  • Unusually large opening FY24 order book.

  • Final stage delivery of our largest order in company history.

  • As customer buying returned to normal in H2 FY24 this trend was not expected to continue.

• Group adjusted earnings before interest and tax of (£0.4m) (H1 FY24: £3.0m).

• Basic earnings per share (0.63p) (H1 FY24: 2.34p).

• Strong balance sheet with net cash position of £39.9m as at 31 March 2025 (H1 FY24: £54.8m), providing substantial resources for further targeted M&A and capital returns. Post Sempre acquisition of £5.5m, dividend of £4.2m and share buyback program of £3.6 million.

• Cash generation from operating activities £2.8m (H1FY24: £2.2m) reflecting strong and improved working capital management.

• Completed restructuring to allocate resources to high impact areas.

Motion capture: launched Vicon Markerless, the future of our industry

• Vicon Markerless launched in March 2025 empowering Visual Effects teams to bring ideas to life with greater speed and ease than ever before.

  • Initial feedback continues to be positive with global demonstrations underway.

  • Dreamscape Immersive’s latest VR experience is already powered by Vicon Markerless.

• Good progress in Vicon’s marker-based business, with new contracts and customer upgrades secured across all main markets and geographies.

Smart manufacturing: bolstered by two acquisitions and new leadership appointment

• Reported revenues of £5.3m (H1 FY24 £1.8m), an increase of 194%, inclusive of revenue contributions of £3.6m from Sempre, acquired in the period.

• Organic growth for the period is down slightly by 3% due to some contract delivery delays which have been delivered post period end.

• Multiple contracts secured across a broad set of markets including aerospace, medical, pharmaceutical and automotive.

• Strengthened the division via acquisition of The Sempre Group Holdings Ltd (“Sempre”) with integration underway.

• Appointed Dr Simon Gunter as managing director to lead and build our position in this important growth area.

• Post period end, completed acquisition of Amber Optix Ltd (“Amber Optix”), further strengthening both IVS’ and Sempre’s product portfolios.

Outlook

• Overall, trading in the second half has started in line with the Board’s expectations and our usual seasonal trading patterns.

• A typical pipeline of motion capture opportunities across majority of geographies for the remainder of the financial year.

• Improving activity and opportunities for Vicon in South America, Asia Pacific and Europe in our Entertainment and Life Sciences markets.

• Our US institutional and academic customers are navigating the changing landscape with recent US policy changes and subsequent reduction in grants and funding. 

• This is starting to impact our US operation with several pipeline opportunities being cancelled or being delayed beyond the current financial year.

• Markerless is in early commercialisation with global demonstrations underway; we expect to realise modest markerless revenues in FY25.

• Good visibility in smart manufacturing with a building orderbook and pipeline which continues beyond the current financial year.

• Separately, the Group continues to monitor the US tariff situation and does not anticipate the current US tariff policy will have a material impact.

• Although we remain mindful of external macro uncertainty and the natural H2 weighting of the business, the Board anticipates the full year Adjusted EBIT to be in-line with the Board’s expectations based on present market conditions and the conversion and execution of pipeline opportunities at their historical rate.

• Long-term fundamental drivers of our business remain strong, with the right products and the right teams well-placed to accelerate and execute.

• The Board has approved an additional £4m extension of the share buyback programme to take it up to £10m in aggregate.

For the full Interim Results click here.

Contact us.