Finance
UK's Bunzl keeps revenue growth forecast, says US turnaround bearing fruit
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Bunzl maintains its revenue growth forecast, resumes a £200 million share buyback, and addresses North American market challenges with strategic acquisitions.
(Reuters) -British business supplies distributor Bunzl on Tuesday maintained its annual guidance and resumed a share buyback programme, sending the company's shares 5% higher on hopes that challenges which have been hurting its profits are abating.
The group, which supplies businesses with items from stationery to food packaging, has been offsetting overall pricing pressures, and challenges in North America - including weak sales and high costs - by changing leadership and cutting costs.
Bunzl on Tuesday restarted a 200-million-pound ($270.2 million) share buyback programme, which it had paused in April, saying it wanted to preserve financial flexibility. It also reiterated annual guidance that was lowered in April, with an outlook of moderate revenue growth and an operating margin moderately below 8%.
The company's shares were the biggest gainer on Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index early on Tuesday, rising 5.5% to 2,516 pence by 0746 GMT, compared with a 0.6% decline in the broader market.
"Actions taken in our largest business in North America have re-energised the team and we are seeing early positive indicators of success," CEO Frank van Zanten said.
"While the benefits of some actions are not expected to drive improvements until well into 2026, we are focused on creating a stronger platform for its long-term profitable growth," he added.
Bunzl, whose strategy includes acquiring smaller businesses to bolster its operations, also said that it had bought Mexico-based personal protective equipment distributor Guantes Internacionales, and Quindesur, a Spanish distributor of foodservice and cleaning products.
"It looks increasingly like (the April warning) was 'one and done' and the focus can now return to the long-term attractions of the compounding model," Peel Hunt analyst Andrew Nussey said.
Bunzl's adjusted operating profit fell 7.6% at constant currency to 404.5 million pounds for the six months ended June 30.
Revenue overall rose 4.2% to 5.76 billion pounds, but North America, which accounts for more than half of total sales, logged a 2.3% decline.
($1 = 0.7402 pounds)
(Reporting by Unnamalai L and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Aidan Lewis)
A share buyback occurs when a company purchases its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares and often increasing the value of remaining shares.
Revenue growth refers to the increase in a company's sales over a specific period, indicating its ability to expand its business and increase its market share.
Operating margin is a financial metric that measures the proportion of revenue that remains after covering operating expenses, indicating the efficiency of a company's core business operations.
Corporate strategy is a company's overall plan for managing its business and achieving its goals, including decisions on resource allocation, mergers, acquisitions, and market positioning.
Market capitalisation is the total market value of a company's outstanding shares, calculated by multiplying the share price by the total number of shares, reflecting the company's size and investment potential.
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