James Cropper Launches Revised Strategy at Capital Markets Event
James Cropper (AIM: CRPR), the Advanced Materials and Paper & Packaging group, hosted a Capital Markets Event (CME) for institutional investors and analysts on the 18th of June 2025.
Since his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in February 2025, David Stirling has led a comprehensive review of the business, which was presented at the CME alongside the Group's revised strategy.
Leveraging the Group’s fibre expertise, cross-divisional technical platforms and synergies, specialist capabilities in electrochemistry and colour, and long-standing customer relationships, the revised strategy focuses on improvement and value creation within both Advanced Materials and Paper & Packaging, underpinned by disciplined capital management:
- Advanced Materials – aimed to generate growth through proactive alignment with both stable established and high-potential nascent markets:
- Strengthened core customer relationships, replicated applications in adjacent areas, and advanced strategic projects primarily in high-specification industrial markets.
- Balanced established market predictability with positioning in priority markets offering long-term growth opportunities.
- Paper & Packaging – targeted sustained profitability by delivering positive divisional returns, initially through operational improvement:
- Implemented a structured operational improvement programme to enhance asset utilisation and customer value, including a rebalancing of production between commodity, core, and, over the longer term, technical papers.
- Renewed focus on quality, service, and cost efficiency, with greater resilience achieved through commercial and organisational realignment.
- Disciplined capital allocation – continued to provide greater balance sheet headroom:
- Built on progress already made, including reduced net debt and revised repayment terms under the Company’s principal banking facility, to support execution of the divisional improvement plans.
- Maintained capital expenditure discipline, with strategic investment focused on Advanced Materials.
Further details were presented at the CME, and a recording of the presentation is available here.
As announced on 5 June 2025, no new information on trading was disclosed at the CME. The Company expected to publish its audited full year results for FY25 in July 2025, at which time further guidance would be provided on current trading and the Group’s outlook.
