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TT Electronics
Annual Report 2019

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FY2019 Annual Report · TT Electronics
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We solve electronic 
challenges for  
a sustainable 
world

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TT Electronics plc
Annual report and Accounts 2019

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Strategic report | Contents

Strategic report
Our purpose 
Highlights 
TT in focus 
Chairman’s statement 
Chief Executive’s strategic review 
Our strategic priorities 
Our business model and strategy 
Key performance indicators 
Our capabilities 
Our markets 
Divisional review 
Financial review 
Risk management 
Principal risks and uncertainties 
Our people 
Our environment 

Governance and Directors’ report
Chairman’s introduction to governance 
Board of Directors and Company Secretary 
Executive Management Board 
Leadership and company purpose 
Relations with stakeholders 
Composition, succession and evaluation 
Nominations committee 
Audit committee 
Directors’ remuneration report 
Future Remuneration Policy overview 
Remuneration at a glance 
Remuneration Policy report 
Annual report on remuneration 
Other statutory disclosures 
Statement of Directors’ responsibilities in respect  
of the Annual Report and Accounts 

Financial statements
Independent auditor’s report to the members  
of TT Electronics plc 
Consolidated income statement 
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income 
Consolidated statement of financial position 
Consolidated statement of changes in equity 
Consolidated cash flow statement 
Notes to the consolidated financial statements 
Company statement of financial position 
Company statement of changes in equity 
Notes to the Company financial statements 
Five-year record 

Additional information 
Glossary 
Shareholder information 

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Find out more at 
www.ttelectronics.com/investors/

Front cover image: Airbus A330neo.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Strategic report

Our purpose
We solve electronic challenges for  
a sustainable world. 
TT engineers advanced electronics 
which benefit our planet and its people 
for future generations. We do this by 
designing, manufacturing and working 
in a way that is cleaner, smarter and 
improves wellbeing.

Our focus on engineering electronics 
that work reliably in challenging and 
performance critical environments 
helps our customers bring advances 
that benefit our planet and its people.  
We apply these principles both to 
ourselves, in the way that we work and 
interact with our communities; and 
through our innovative products and 
services with our customers. The result 
is long-term sustainable value for our 
customers, our people, communities 
and the planet. 

We engineer and manufacture power, 
sensing and connectivity solutions 
which enable a more sustainable 
world. We are working towards 
sensible sustainability targets by the 
end of this year to incorporate in our 
Key Performance Indicators to better 
measure our performance. 

Read more on page 14–15

We help solve our customers’ electronic 
challenges by providing solutions that 
are cleaner, smarter, and improve 
wellbeing. Our power control solutions 
for aerospace applications contribute to 
lighter and more environmentally friendly 
aircraft. The industry-wide “Clean Sky” 
initiative and the associated economic 
benefits from increased fuel efficiency 
is driving demand for our products. 
We provide smart city infrastructure, 
including power management devices 
for smart metering technology which 
is driving a greater awareness and 
subsequent reduction in energy usage 
in business and home environments. We 
also support our customers with a range 
of medical solutions including laboratory 
analysis, minimally invasive procedures 
and medical diagnostic equipment 
which helps to improve wellbeing.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

1

Strategic report | Our purpose

Our purpose continued

We are aligned to the UN’s 17 
Sustainable Development Goals 
and we have set out the areas 
where our business and values 
are particularly focused. Each of 
these areas are closely aligned to 
our business purpose and where 
we feel we can have the greatest 
contribution based on what we do 
and where we operate.

2 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Our operations are closely aligned to the following four Sustainable Development Goals: 

Good Health and Wellbeing

The global challenge
Every two seconds someone aged between 
30 to 70 years old dies prematurely from 
diseases such as cardiovascular disease, 
chronic respiratory disease, diabetes or cancer. 
Great progress has been made against several 
leading causes of death and disease.1 

TT’s contribution
Our products and services help to diagnose 
and treat disease earlier, contributing to 
better life outcomes for patients. We help 
manufacture laboratory equipment which 
is at the cutting edge of medical innovation 
and disease prevention for the future, helping 
future generations live longer, healthier lives.

Quality Education 

The global challenge
Achieving inclusive and quality education for 
all reaffirms the belief that education is one 
of the most powerful and proven vehicles for 
sustainable development. 103 million young 
people worldwide lack basic literacy skills, and 
more than 60 per cent of them are women.2

TT’s contribution
TT supports the need for quality education for all 
as this helps to create smarter solutions to enable 
a more sustainable world. We train and develop 
our people and have a progressive approach to 
diversity and inclusion. We are passionate about 
encouraging more young people to consider 
education and careers in our industry and promote 
STEM initiatives, apprenticeships and internships 
(read more on page 46).

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure 

The global challenge
Investments in infrastructure – transport, 
irrigation, energy and information 
communication technology are crucial to 
achieving sustainability. Manufacturing is also 
an important driver of economic development 
and employment.3

TT’s contribution
TT is a global employer of c.4,800 people 
including manufacturing and research and 
development related roles. We provide 
electronics that enable smart meters, 
helping global citizens be more efficient 
and conscientious with their energy usage. 

Climate Action

The global challenge
The climate change emergency is real. 
There is no country that is not experiencing 
the dramatic effects of climate change. 
Greenhouse gas emissions are more than 
50 per cent higher than in 1990. Global 
warming is causing long-lasting changes 
to our climate system, which threatens 
irreversible consequences if we do not act.4

TT’s contribution
Our products and services contribute towards 
a more sustainable world. We provide power 
solutions that enable aircraft to be lighter 
and more fuel efficient and we are working on 
innovative next generation technology that will 
support the market-wide “Clean Sky” initiative. 
We are conscious of our impact on the 
environment in the way in which we operate 
and are working to reduce our impact.

1  Source: www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-3-good-health-and-well-being.html 
2  Source: www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-4-quality-education.html 
3  Source: www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-9-industry-innovation-and-infrastructure.html
4  Source: www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-13-climate-action.html

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

3

Strategic reportStrategic report | Highlights

Headline performance

Revenue

Underlying operating profit1

£478.2m

2018: £429.5m 
+4%2 (9% at constant currency)

Underlying EPS1

18.7p

2018: 16.2p 
+13%3

EPS

8.5p

2018: 8.0p 
1%3

£40.0m

2018: £33.4m 
+17%3

Operating profit

£18.8m

2018: £16.5m 
9%3

Free cash flow5

£9.7m

2018: £8.5m 
+14%

Operating cash flow

Cash conversion

£35.9m

2018: £25.1m 
+43%

Net debt4

£(69.1)m

20186: £(41.7)m

98%

2018: 88%

Dividend

7.0p

2018: 6.5p 
+8%

Strategic highlights 
•  Strategy continues to drive growth, enhance margin  

and improve quality of business

•  Aerospace, defence and medical revenues up 22%  

organically now 47% of Group revenues

•  New customer wins with multi-year recurring revenues; 

improved order book visibility for the third year in succession 

• New self-help programme launched to underpin further margin 
progression, improved efficiency and reduced carbon footprint 

• Successful capital deployment: core technology acquisitions 
with cross-selling success, and continued R&D investment 

Financial highlights
• 4% organic revenue growth; 9% growth at constant currency

• Underlying operating profit and PBT both materially 
increased; underlying EPS CAGR of 21% since 2015

• 8.4% underlying operating margin, +60 basis points 

• ROIC of 11.3%; up 10 basis points to 11.6% before  

the impact of IFRS 16

• Strong cash conversion of 98% and ongoing  

investment for growth

•  UK pension scheme triennial valuation completed – 

fully funded on an actuarial basis 

•  Full year dividend up 8% to 7.0p

1  Excluding the effect of restructuring and other non-recurring costs and acquisition 

related costs.

2  Organic growth at constant currency calculated by comparing current year actual 
results to the prior year results retranslated at current year actual exchange rates.
3  Growth at constant currency calculated by comparing current year actual results to 

the prior year results retranslated at current year actual exchange rates.

4  Net debt before impact of IFRS 16 is £(51.5) million.
5  Net cash flow from operating activities less cash flow from investing activities 

(excluding acquisitions and disposal proceeds and tax arising thereon) less interest paid. 
See note 8 on page 130 for further information. 

6  FY 2019 not restated for impact of IFRS 16.

4 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

47%

Group revenue 
from aerospace, 
defence and 
medical customers

4
New aerospace,  
defence and medical 
customers won

Read more page 14

1 star

TT rated as a  
1 star great  
place to work
Read more page 46

22%

Organic revenue 
growth in aerospace, 
defence and 
medical revenues

Sensing solutions 
for a smarter world

6%

Increase in R&D 
investment to 
£13.5 million
(constant currency)

New self-help 
programme 
launched to 
underpin the journey 
to double-digit 
margins
Read more page 14

Continue reading about our 
purpose on pages 1–2

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

5

Strategic reportStrategic report | TT In focus

We are well positioned to serve 
our international customer base

Our global reach

Sensing

TT smarter 
solutions

Manufacturing and 
engineering services

Power

Connectivity

6 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

8

Countries where we operate

28

Key locations

c.4,800

Employees* 

*  Average employee numbers through 2019.

Our capabilities

We design and manufacture electronics 
that sense, manage power and connect 
to other devices; our solutions are often 
mission-critical, operating in harsh 
environments. We:

•  Support growth of the aviation  

sector by improving reliability and 
environmental efficiency

• Bring tomorrow’s medical 

technologies to life for advanced 
disease detection and treatment

• Enable factory efficiency and 

automation for a more 
productive world

We provide solutions for the drive 
towards “electronics everywhere” 
across our markets.

Read more page 22–23

30%North  America(% of Group revenue)29%UK(% of Group revenue)19%Rest of  Europe(% of Group revenue)22%Asia and Rest  of World(% of Group revenue)Our strategy

Solving electronic challenges  
for a sustainable world
We create sustainable value by:

1.  Positioning ourselves in  

structural growth markets

2.  Creating differentiated capabilities

3.  Working with our customers to solve  
their toughest electronic challenges

Our divisions

Power and Connectivity
The Power and Connectivity division 
designs and manufactures power 
application products and connectivity 
devices which enable the capture and 
wireless transfer of data. We collaborate 
with our customers to develop 
innovative solutions to optimise their 
electronic systems.

We advance our strategy through  
our five strategic priorities:

Strategic business 
development

Operational excellence

Building a sustainable 
business

Global Manufacturing Solutions
The Global Manufacturing Solutions 
division provides manufacturing 
services and engineering solutions for 
our product divisions and to customers 
that often require a lower volume 
and higher mix of different products. 
We manufacture complex integrated 
product assemblies for our customers 
and provide engineering services 
including designing testing solutions 
and value-engineering.

See our business model on pages 18–19

R&D and value-added 
product solutions

Value-enhancing 
acquisitions

See more on our divisions on pages 32–37

Sensors and Specialist Components
The Sensors and Specialist Components 
division works with customers to 
develop standard and customised 
solutions including sensors and power 
management devices. Our solutions 
improve the precision, speed and 
reliability of critical aspects of our 
customers’ applications.

29%

of Group revenue

Our markets

45%

of Group revenue

26%

of Group revenue

See more on our markets on pages 24–31

defence and medical markets, 22% organic growth. 

47% TT now has 47% of revenues from aerospace,  
24%
23%

of Group revenue

of Group revenue

42%

of Group revenue

Medical

Aerospace and defence

Industrial

• Advanced surgical devices 
• Imaging and direct patient care 
• Laboratory automation and diagnostics

• Commercial and military aircraft 
• Space and satellite 
• Defence systems and vehicles

• Automation and control
• Energy and smart devices 
• Infrastructure

Read more page 26

Read more page 28

Read more page 30

Residual proportion of Group revenue relates to Transportation markets.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

7

Strategic report2019 was another  
strong year for TT

We have delivered good growth and continued profit 
improvement despite macro challenges in some of 
our markets. Our strong organic performance has 
been complemented by two capability enhancing 
acquisitions in our core markets of aerospace, 
defence and medical, which now represent 47% 
of our revenue. 

TT has a bright future 
having undergone 
significant transformation 
since I joined the Board 
in May 2015.” 

Neil Carson 
Chairman

Strategic development
TT has demonstrated that the strategy 
we set out in 2015 continues to yield 
benefits and improve the quality of our 
business. We have delivered good 
revenue and profit growth which has 
been enabled by the transformation the 
business has undergone over the last 
five years. TT is now a sustainable, 
higher quality, better balanced business 
that has continued to perform well 
despite a more mixed macroeconomic 
backdrop in some of our markets. 
By focusing on solving our customers’ 
electronic challenges for a sustainable 
world, we have grown revenues 4 per 
cent organically, and we have improved 
the profitability of the Group once again. 
We have continued to build leading 
positions in markets with structural 
growth drivers where there is increasing 
electronic content and we have added 
to our capabilities in our core markets 
of aerospace, defence and medical with 
two acquisitions, Power Partners (March 
2019) and the Power Solutions business 
in Covina (announced in November 2019, 
completed in January 2020). 

Our clear strategy and focus on our five 
strategic priorities has been instrumental 
in our success. Our power, sensing and 
connectivity solutions help to enable a 
more sustainable world. Demand from 
our customers for more sustainable 
solutions across our markets is driving 
growth for the business. Investments 
made in business development have 
resulted in our ability to secure a number 
of new contract wins and growth with 
our existing key accounts, particularly in 
aerospace, defence and medical markets 
which grew 22 per cent organically. Our 
R&D investment has ensured that we are 
well placed to benefit from the long-term 
structural growth drivers in our market 
despite short-term softening we have 
seen in our industrial market. We have 
also increased our engineering efforts 
on next generation technology for more 
sustainable aircraft travel in the future 
alongside some of our key customer 
partners. Please see pages 10 to 15 for 
more details on our successes this year. 
The Board believes that our strategic 
focus ensures that the business fulfils its 
potential for all of our stakeholders.

Our people
Our employees at TT are fundamental 
to the success of the businesses and 
on behalf of the Board, I would like to 
thank everyone for their hard work and 
dedication across our global operations. 
We are delighted to have added new 
employees to the TT family following the 
acquisitions of Power Partners and the 
Power Solutions business in Covina. 

This year the Board was pleased to visit 
Bedlington and Hartlepool. The Board 
was impressed with the work the 
team have done in consolidating 
our European industrial power and 
connectivity product manufacturing 
into our Hartlepool facility and the 
redevelopment of the Bedlington site 
to create a centre of excellence for our 
specialist power and sensing capabilities. 
We enjoyed meeting some of the 
Stadium employees at Hartlepool that 
were welcomed into the TT family in 
2018 and hearing about the new 
opportunities we have been exploring 
as a combined business. This year, we 
have also put in place a new employee 
engagement process to ensure that 
the voice of employees is considered in 
Board decision-making. Spending more 

8 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Strategic report | Chairman’s statementInvestment proposition

Organic growth ahead of the market

Improving ROIC*

+4%

2018: 6%

11.6%

up 10bps

R&D investment to support growth

Targeted, complementary acquisitions

£13.5m

+6% at constant currency

2 acquisitions

March 2019 and January 2020

Underlying operating margin progression¹

Progressive dividend policy

We have positioned TT for organic 
growth ahead of the market with 
opportunity to progress our operating 
margin. By prioritising strong cash 
performance, with a target of 80%+ 
cash conversion, we are able to 
continue to invest in R&D to support 
growth while improving ROIC and 
maintaining a progressive dividend 
policy. We will continue to support our 
strategy with targeted, complementary 
acquisitions where we have a track 
record of successful integration and 
value creation.

8.4%

up 60bps

Cash conversion of 80%+

98%

2018: 88%

time hearing from our employees gives 
me confidence that we are developing 
the right talent in the organisation to 
ensure the sustainability of TT in the 
future. Please see pages 47 to 48 for 
more details.

have thoroughly enjoyed my time with 
TT, having witnessed the significant 
progression made by the business in 
the past few years. See page 60 for 
more details and for an overview of 
Board activities in the year.

Board changes
During the year, Michael Baunton retired 
as Non-executive director having 
served on the Board since 2010. During 
Michael’s involvement in TT, the business 
transformed from an automotive focused 
Group to a technology-rich electronics 
business. On behalf of the Board, 
I would like to thank Michael for his 
contribution to TT. 

We were delighted to welcome Anne 
Thorburn to the Board in July. Anne 
brings many years of experience at 
Board level in listed companies including 
those operating in life sciences and 
medical markets where TT has a 
growing presence. 

At the end of 2019, it was announced 
that I would be standing down as 
Chairman as a result of my increasing 
external commitments. This represented 
a difficult decision for me personally, as I 

Shareholder returns and dividend
During the year I also met with some of 
our largest shareholders. We discussed 
how significantly the business has 
transformed since I became Chairman 
in 2015 and how we were positioning TT 
for continued future success. We have 
paired continued delivery of in year 
financial performance with longer term 
strategic positioning. We are ensuring 
the sustainability of the business in 
markets with long-term structural 
growth drivers where the need for our 
high reliability specialist electronics is 
increasing. We are leading designers and 
manufactures of multiple products that 
look to minimise environmental impact 
such as power controls solutions for 
aerospace and defence applications 
that contribute to lighter and more 
environmentally friendly aircraft. We 
take responsibility for the way in which 
we run our business and the products 
we produce seriously and believe that 

+8%

to 7.0p 

1  Please see note 8 on page 130 for details on 

alternative performance measures

*  Before the impact of IFRS 16

Please see the Financial Review on pages 
38–41 for more information.

electronic technology has a huge role 
to play in building a world where people 
have a good quality of life and are living 
within the means of our planet. 

The Board is proposing a final dividend 
of 4.9 pence per share. This, when 
combined with the interim dividend of 
2.1 pence per share, gives an increased 
total dividend of 7.0 pence per share for 
the full year (2018: 6.5 pence per share), 
an increase of 8 per cent. 

Looking forward
TT has a bright future having undergone 
significant transformation since I joined 
the Board in May 2015. When I step 
down from the Board in 2020, I will leave 
feeling confident that TT is now a 
higher-quality, better-balanced business 
that has proven to be robust in more 
mixed market conditions. 

Neil Carson 
Chairman 
3 March 2020

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

9

Strategic reportStrategic report | Chief Executive’s strategic review

Our performance in 2019 is  
further evidence that TT is 
delivering sustainable value 
for our stakeholders

During the year we delivered good revenue growth 
alongside continued profit improvement. We continue to 
be conscious of our impact on our stakeholders and have 
aligned the business to deliver value for our customers, 
employees, communities and shareholders.

Our power, sensing and 
connectivity solutions 
help to enable a more 
sustainable world.”

Richard Tyson 
Chief Executive Officer

2019: another year of strong 
financial performance
TT has again delivered a strong financial 
performance in 2019, with good 
revenue growth, profit improvement 
and margin enhancement as well as 
good cash conversion despite a more 
mixed market backdrop in some of our 
markets. We are demonstrating that 
the transformation of the business 
to focus on markets with structural 
growth drivers is leading to a higher-
margin, better-balanced business 
capable of sustaining a strong financial 
performance. Group revenue for 2019 
was £478.2 million (2018: £429.5 million), 
up 4 per cent organically. Acquisitions 
contributed revenue of £25.8 million 
and there was a £7.6 million favourable 
foreign exchange impact. We saw good 
growth from our aerospace, defence 
and medical customers and revenues 
from these customers grew 22 per cent 
organically, now representing 47 per cent 

of our total business. The Group’s order 
book is strong, with an increased 
proportion of recurring revenues and 
order visibility has improved for the third 
year in succession. 

Underlying operating profit¹ increased 
by 17 per cent at constant currency 
to £40.0 million (2018: £33.4 million). 
Acquisitions contributed £1.9 million. 
Statutory operating profit was 
£18.8 million (2018: £16.5 million), 
an increase of 14 per cent due to 
the improved trading performance, 
partially offset by increased restructuring 
costs. Statutory profit before tax 
was £15.1 million (2018: £14.6 million), 
up 3 per cent. The Group’s profit 
improvement was driven by the 
Power and Connectivity and Global 
Manufacturing Solutions divisions which 
more than offset the impact of softer 
markets in the primarily industrial facing 
Sensors and Specialist Components 

Strategic highlights
• Strategy continues to drive growth, 

enhance margin and improve quality 
of business

• Aerospace, defence and medical 
revenues up 22% organically, now 
47% of Group revenues

• New customer wins with multi-year 
recurring revenues; improved order 
book visibility for the third year in 
succession 

• New self-help programme launched 

to underpin further margin 
progression, improved efficiency 
and reduced carbon footprint 

• Successful capital deployment: 

core technology acquisitions with 
cross-selling success, and continued 
R&D investment 

1  Please see note 8 on page 130 for details on alternative performance measures

10 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

 New power supply 
business in Covina, US

The business is a designer and 
manufacturer of power supplies 
for the US aerospace and defence 
market. We acquired the business 
from Excelitas Technologies Corp for 
$17.7 million (£13.7 million) on a cash 
free debt free basis. The acquisition 
extends our capabilities for power 
supplies and power convertors in our 
core aerospace and defence markets. 
It adds to capabilities developed 
from our R&D and engineering focus 
in the UK and power capabilities in the 
medical and industrial markets from 
the acquisitions of Power Partners 
and Stadium over the last two years. 

The Covina power supply business 
brings strong margins and a robust 
growth profile driven by designed-in 
and mostly sole-sourced positions 
on major aerospace and defence 
programmes. The high-quality 
customer base will provide an 
opportunity to cross-sell our 
existing capabilities. 

We will invest in the business to 
further improve its growth prospects 
and engineering capability. 

The acquisition completed on 
3 January 2020.

Underlying operating profit was 
£16.5 million (2018: £11.2 million), 
up 45 per cent at constant currency. 
There was a £2.0 million profit 
contribution from acquisitions. 
Underlying operating profit margin 
improved to 11.9 per cent (2018: 9.7 per 
cent). The growth in underlying operating 
profit was driven by operational leverage 
from increased revenues and efficiency 
improvements, including the closure of 
three sites associated with the 2018 
acquisitions of Stadium and Precision. 
Delivery of the synergy plan for the 
Stadium acquisition is now complete 
and combined with synergies from 
the acquisition of Precision delivered 
£2 million of cost savings in 2019

Read more on pages 32–33

US aerospace 
and defence 
acquisition 

division. Decisive cost action taken 
in the first half of 2019 has helped 
to protect margins in this division. The 
synergy actions arising from the 2018 
acquisition of Stadium have now been 
completed with further run rate benefits 
expected in 2020.

Underlying operating profit margin for 
the Group has improved by 60 basis 
points to 8.4 per cent (2018: 7.8 per cent). 
Return on invested capital was 11.3 per 
cent and 11.6 per cent before the impact 
of IFRS 16, an increase of 10 basis points 
on a like-for-like basis (2018: 11.5 per 
cent). We delivered another year of good 
cash conversion of 98 per cent (2018: 
88 per cent) and free cash flow of 
£9.7 million (2018: £8.5 million). 
Operating cash flow was £35.9 million 
(2018: £25.1 million).

Please see note 8 on page 130 for details 
on alternative performance measures 
and Additional Information on page 172.

Particularly strong performances 
in aerospace, defence and medical 
focused business areas more than 
offset industrial market weakness. 

The Group’s strong operating 
performance was driven by growth 
in Power and Connectivity and Global 
Manufacturing Solutions which more 
than offset a slowdown in Sensors and 
Specialist Components as a result 
of softer industrial market demand. 

The Power and Connectivity division 
performed strongly, with good growth 
and significant margin enhancement in 
the year. Revenues were up 2 per cent 
organically to £138.2 million (2018: 
£115.5 million). There was a £1.2 million 
favourable foreign exchange impact. The 
growth was driven by increased revenue 
from existing customers in aerospace, 
defence and medical. These markets 
now account for over 50 per cent of the 
division and grew 14 per cent organically. 
Acquisitions made a £19.5 million 
contribution to revenue. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

11

Strategic reportStrategic report | Chief Executive’s strategic review

TT is continuing on its path to a higher-quality, better-balanced business  
as a result of our investment in aerospace, defence and medical markets.”

Global Manufacturing Solutions 
delivered very strong revenue growth 
coupled with improved order visibility, 
reflecting the value our customers place 
on our manufacturing and engineering 
capabilities. Revenues were up by 12 per 
cent organically to £213.2 million (2018: 
£181.8 million), driven by growth with 
customers in aerospace, defence and 
medical markets following our business 
development success in these markets 
over the last two years. There was a 
£2.2 million favourable foreign exchange 
impact. Acquisitions made a £6.3 million 
contribution to revenue in the division.

Underlying operating profit increased to 
£15.4 million from £11.3 million in 2018, 
up 34% at constant currency. There was 
a £0.1 million loss from acquisitions. 
Underlying operating profit primarily 
grew as a result of operational leverage 
on increased revenues and continued 
operational improvement, particularly in 
our UK operations. Underlying operating 
margins improved by 100 basis points 
to 7.2 per cent (2018: 6.2 per cent). The 
sustained step up in the margin of the 
division is a result of the transformation 
of the business from a manufacturing 
focus on printed circuit board 
assemblies to increasingly providing 
value-added services to our customers. 
We have invested in engineering teams 
to enable the manufacture of complex 
assemblies and to provide more 
sophisticated testing and engineering 
services, which account for 55% of 
revenues. By providing value-added 
services that benefit our customers, we 
are developing deeper and longer-term 
customer relationships and reducing 
churn in the revenue stream.

Read more about this on pages 34–35

During the year, the Sensors and 
Specialist Components division was 
impacted by softer market conditions 
and inventory de-stocking across its 
markets. Consequently, revenues were 
£126.8 million (2018: £132.2 million), 
down 7 per cent on an organic basis. 
There was also a favourable £4.2 million 
foreign exchange impact. This follows 
very strong mid-to-high single digit 
organic revenue growth in 2017 and 
in 2018. 

Underlying operating profit was 
£15.3 million (2018: £18.5 million), 
down 19 per cent at constant currency. 
The underlying operating profit margin 
was 12.1 per cent (2018: 14.0 per cent). 
The reduction largely reflected the 
lower revenues and cost headwinds. 
We accelerated actions to improve the 
efficiency of our cost base including 
optimising our footprint and fixed labour 
costs. We have closed one facility and 
a further facility is in the process of 
being closed, with production being 
consolidated within the existing footprint. 
The total cash cost of this programme is 
expected to be circa £3.5 million. These 
actions realised c. £2 million of savings 
in the year. The underlying operating 
profit margin was 12.5 per cent in the 
second half, following the decisive cost 
action taken in the first half. We continue 
to review the range of self-help actions 
that are open to us in the business.

Read more on pages 36–37

Solving electronic challenges for 
a sustainable world
Our strategy
We create sustainable value by:

• positioning ourselves in structural 

growth markets

• creating differentiated capabilities

• working with our customers to solve 
their toughest electronic challenges.

The trend for “electronics everywhere”, 
represents a structural growth dynamic 
in our global markets. In industrial 
markets, automation and robotics have 
become commonplace; in medical 
markets, technology is taking medical 
surgery to a new level; in aerospace 
and defence, new aircraft platforms are 
launching with electronics at the heart 
of the drive for fuel efficiency; and in 
transportation, in the rail infrastructure 
market electronic solutions are being 
used to help improve efficiency and 
deliver preventative maintenance 
programmes. TT provides solutions to 
address our customers’ challenges in 
all these markets. Our technology and 
products are used in a huge range of 
applications from smart infrastructure 
to medical scanners and the latest 
generation fighter jets. 

We design and manufacture electronics 
that sense, manage power and connect 
to other things; our solutions are often 
mission-critical, operating in harsh 
environments. Our sensing capabilities 
enable the capture of data to inform 
decisions and support data analytics 
and artificial intelligence. Our power 
electronics support the efficient use 
of power and the protection of circuits 
from the risk of variation in power. 
Our connectivity solutions allow our 
customers to share data and bring 
together systems to optimise insight, 
efficiency and performance of entire 
electronic systems.

We have focused our resources and 
investments where our capability aligns 
with the greatest market opportunity, 
and where we have decades of industry 
expertise and strong customer 
relationships to collaborate in areas 
that are valued by our customers. 
We are creating strong and differentiated 
capabilities and are committed to solving 
our customers’ toughest electronics 
challenges by engineering smarter 
solutions together.

Underpinning all of this and fundamental 
to the success of our business is the 
engagement of our employees and 
we are committed to making TT a 
great place to work. We look after our 
employees and prioritise safety above all 
else. We want our employees to go home 
safely to their families every day after 
work. We also recognise the effects of 
mental health on our workforce and have 
over 85 trained mental health first aiders 
across the business.

We are committed to developing our 
people and recognising performance. 
We continue to work to attract new 
talent into our organisation and invest 
in interns and apprentices across the 
business. One of our UK sites won an 
award during the year for their apprentice 
programmes and we place great 
importance on fostering potential 
talent in our business. We recognise 
employees through our Be Inspired 
recognition scheme and during 2019 we 
had over 2,600 employees nominated 
under the scheme for displaying the 
“TT Way”, showcasing the best examples 
across the Group. We also aim to ensure 

12 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Results of our strategy 

Since 2015, the Group 
has been undergoing a 
significant transformation 
and is now a fundamentally 
different and improved 
business with a 
sustainable future. 

TT is continuing on the path to 
becoming a higher quality, better 
balanced Group with increasing 
exposure to the structural growth 
markets of aerospace, defence 
and medical.

Read more online at  
www.ttelectronics.com/investors

2015

2019

Aerospace, defence and medical markets
Percentage of Group revenue from

25%

Organic revenue growth from

(3)%

Underlying operating profit margin from

4.3%

Return on invested capital from

9.0%

47%

4%

8.4%

11.6%

1 Star

TT rated by 
employees as a  
1 star great place  
to work
(Benchmarked by Best 
Companies Ltd)

that all employees are included in our 
pay for performance schemes, be it our 
site-based profit share schemes or our 
annual incentive schemes. We believe 
in the value of employees having 
performance and development 
conversations with their managers 
to help ensure that employees can 
be their best every day and fulfil their 
potential. During the year we have 
taken and will continue to take steps 
to improve performance conversations 
and have introduced a new five-point 
performance scale. 

Our strategy is designed to grow TT 
and create value for our stakeholders 
including customers, employees, the 
communities in which we operate 
and shareholders. Fundamental to 
the success of our business is the 
engagement of our employees and 
we are committed to making TT a 
great place to work.

We have identified five strategic 
priorities to focus the Group 
and enable us to fulfil our potential. 

See pages 18–19 for more on our business 
model and strategy

Strategic business development
Our targeted business development 
activities identify customers with whom 
we can build strategic partnerships. 
We have identified key customer 
accounts where we have the greatest 
opportunity to expand our relationships, 
including introducing teams from other 
TT divisions. We have a sales council 
which helps ensure we go to market as 
“One TT” and we have reorganised our 
marketing function to support this 
approach. We have also developed lead 
coaches across the Group to support 
members of our sales community 
and ensure we approach new sales 
opportunities in a way that maximises 
our chances of success. This has 
resulted in new customer wins, 
increased sales to existing customers 
and cross-selling successes. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

13

Strategic reportStrategic report | Chief Executive’s strategic review

Our performance in 2019 is further evidence that TT is  
delivering sustainable value for our stakeholders continued

Our success is reflected in the very 
strong growth we have delivered in our 
Global Manufacturing Solutions division, 
where we first developed this approach. 
Across the Group, our top three medical 
customers grew 18 per cent in the year 
and we won four new customers in our 
focus markets of aerospace, defence 
and medical. We successfully qualified  
a power supply from our newly acquired 
Power Partners business onto a medical 
product for one of our largest customers 
in Global Manufacturing Solutions, 
demonstrating early cross-selling 
success between these businesses. 
Aerospace and defence customer wins 
include a contract awarded by L3 Harris 
Technologies to support a substantial 
electronics manufacturing programme 
for a key military platform where we are 
preparing for contract volumes to ramp 
up through 2020 and 2021. 

Read more on pages 16–17

R&D and value-added product 
solutions 
During the year, we increased our 
R&D spend to £13.5 million, up 6 per 
cent at constant currency. Investment 
is focused on three areas where we 
see the greatest opportunity for growth:

• Power solutions for aerospace and 

medical applications.

• Connectivity for the industrial 

Internet of Things (IoT).

• Specialist sensing capabilities.

Read more on pages 16–17

In June 2019 we launched a new 
prototype power convertor for aerospace 
applications at the Paris Airshow, 
demonstrating our product solution 
capabilities and the ability to move up 
the value chain. We have been balancing 
our near-term customer new product 
introduction priorities with engineering 
efforts that focus on longer-term 
initiatives and during the year we 
secured funding to develop next 
generation power technology for the 
aerospace market. We are working 
alongside Innovate UK and a global 
engine manufacturer to help develop 
technology that can be used in more 
sustainable aircraft travel of the future, 
contributing to cleaner, quieter air travel. 

Operational excellence
We strive to deliver operational 
excellence at each of our sites, wanting 
our customers to recognise TT for 
outstanding service. Following the 
successful transformation of some 
of our lowest performing sites in 2018, 
we continued to deploy our resources 
in sites where our operational 
performance has been below TT 
benchmark levels, particularly in the UK. 
We see more opportunity to improve 
our operational performance and drive 
excellence through our cross divisional 
operations, supply chain and health  
and safety councils.

We have worked on optimising our cost 
base and our environmental impact, 
by reducing our footprint. In the year, 
we closed four sites, consolidating 
operations into our existing 
manufacturing footprint, so improving 
the efficiency of the Group. 

We have initiated a new self-help 
programme to underpin the journey to 
double-digit margins, reducing the fixed 
cost base of the business, as well as 
improving the Group’s environmental 
impact. The total cash cost of these 
projects is expected to be circa 
£14 million, comprising restructuring 
costs and capital expenditure, with 
full year run-rate benefits of £5–6 million 
in 2022. 

We operate a zero-harm strategy and 
remain determined to continuously 
improve our safety performance. In 2019, 
we reduced the number of three day lost 
time accidents from 17 to four following 
analysis of issues, shared experiences 
and a re-doubling of efforts. We have 
also increased our efforts around near 
miss reporting, preventative measures 
and behaviour-based safety training. 

Read more on pages 16–17

Value-enhancing acquisitions
We announced two acquisitions in 
the year, extending our power supply 
capabilities in the US across our core 
markets of aerospace, defence and 
medical. We acquired Power Partners, 
a small power supply provider in March 
2019. The acquisition extends our 
technology roadmap for power products 

14 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

while improving our medical market 
access. We have already had a power 
supply designed by Power Partners 
approved for use with one of Global 
Manufacturing Solution’s largest medical 
customers for use in pharmaceutical 
lab equipment.

In November 2019, we announced the 
acquisition of the aerospace and defence 
power supply business of Excelitas 
Technologies Corp based in Covina, 
California. The acquisition completed on 
3 January 2020. The business expands 
our capabilities in power conversion 
while giving us enhanced access to 
the large and attractive US aerospace 
and defence market. We are focused 
on opportunities that will extend our 
existing capabilities in our core 
markets of aerospace, defence and 
medical. We continue to develop 
our acquisition pipeline and review 
acquisition opportunities that will add 
complementary capabilities, customers 
and market access. 

See the case study on page 11 for 
more information 

We continue to develop our acquisition 
pipeline and review sensible acquisition 
opportunities that will add complementary 
capabilities, customers and market 
access to TT. We are primarily focused on 
opportunities that will extend our existing 
capabilities in our core markets of 
aerospace, defence and medical. 

Building a sustainable business
TT engineers advanced electronics 
that benefit our planet and its people 
for future generations. We do this by 
designing, manufacturing and working 
in a way that is cleaner, smarter and 
improves wellbeing. Our focus on 
engineering electronics that work 
reliably in challenging and performance 
critical environments helps our 
customers bring advances that benefit 
our planet and its people. We apply 
these principles to ourselves, in the 
way that we work and interact with our 
communities and through our innovative 
products and services for customers. 
The result is long-term sustainable 
value for our customers, our people 
and our local communities. 

Our People, Social, Environmental and 
Ethics Committee (PSEE) has an 
expanded remit, replacing our long-
standing Corporate Social Responsibility 
Committee, which is chaired by the 
CEO and attended by a Non-executive 
director. The Committee drives TT’s 
sustainability strategy in the best 
interests of our employee, community, 
customer and investor stakeholders. 

We engineer and manufacture power, 
sensing and connectivity solutions to 
enable a more sustainable world and 
we are working towards sensible 
sustainability targets to incorporate 
into our Key Performance Indicators 
to better measure our performance.

We are actively reviewing our operational 
footprint to improve the efficiency of 
the Group by optimising our cost base 
and our environmental impact. Our 
environmental strategy is focused 
around the areas we have assessed to 
have the greatest environmental impact, 
namely energy usage, waste 
management and water usage. 

• Energy usage: Electricity is the largest 
component of our energy usage. Our 
target is to become carbon neutral 
on scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035. 
As part of this, we are looking to switch 
our sites to green energy electricity 
tariffs, in geographies where they are 
available, as our energy contracts 
come up for renewal.

•  Waste management: Our current 

waste management focus is around 
reducing our direct and indirect single 
plastic usage. During the year TT 
sites signed a “pledge on plastic” to 
reduce single use plastic. This pledge 
was endorsed by the Executive 
Management Board. We are looking at 
our waste to landfill and recycled waste 
and are targeting to reduce our waste 
to landfill and increase what we recycle.

• Water usage: We are conscious of the 
water we use during our production 
processes and are working to reduce 
this where possible. Examples include 
using wastewater generated by 
facilities for irrigation. 

We are leading designers and 
manufacturers of products which help 
to minimise environmental impacts. Our 
power control solutions for aerospace and 
defence applications contribute to lighter 
and more environmentally friendly aircraft. 
As a result of the “Clean Sky” initiative, and 
the associated economic benefits from 
increased fuel efficiency, demand for our 
products has been increasing. We also 
produce power management devices 
for smart metering technology, which 
is driving a greater awareness of and 
subsequent reduction in energy usage 
in the business and home environments. 

Update on the impact of Covid-19 
(Coronavirus)
TT operates two manufacturing facilities 
in China. One in Suzhou with c.650 
employees and one in Dongguan with 
c.200 employees. In addition, we have 
two small support facilities in Shenzhen 
and Hong Kong. In 2019, these facilities 
accounted for 25 per cent of the 
Group’s revenues. 

Following the coronavirus outbreak 
at the turn of the year, our primary 
concern has been the well-being of our 
employees and managing their safe 
return to work following the lunar 
holiday. Both of our facilities closed for 
the lunar new year holiday as normal 
and were mostly closed for normal 
production until 10 February, as 
directed by the Chinese authorities. 
During this period, we implemented 
our business continuity and crisis 
management plans, responding daily 
to local authority guidance. 

Our Suzhou facility was given special 
permission to continue production 
throughout the extended lunar holiday 
to supply some critically needed 
medical diagnostic products for use in 
combating the virus. At this time, under 
strict government control, we operated 
at c. 20 per cent capacity instead of 
being shut completely. Both facilities 
re-opened on 10 February and 
experienced a slower than normal 
capacity ramp-up but as of March 2020 
were operating at c.95 per cent capacity. 
We are continuing to prioritise actions 
and precautions to ensure the safety 
and wellbeing of our employees 
returning to work in the facilities. 

We are carefully monitoring our supply 
chain of around 900 suppliers in China. 
At this time, to the best of our knowledge, 
99 per cent of our suppliers have 
recommenced operations but with 
varying degrees of capacity. 

Our employees and local leadership 
have been exemplary during this difficult 
period. The outstanding efforts of our 
teams have enabled the business to 
continue to operate, deliver critical 
equipment and be returning to normality 
at the earliest possible time. Our thoughts 
remain with our employees and their 
families and those directly impacted by 
this situation.

Outlook
Our performance in 2019 is the latest 
evidence of the significant business 
transformation we have achieved over 
the last five years. We have delivered a 
strong performance with another year 
of good revenue growth, double-digit 
profit improvement and further margin 
enhancement despite the macro 
challenges in some of our markets. 

TT is continuing its path to a higher-
quality, better-balanced business as a 
result of our investment in aerospace, 
defence and medical markets. Our 
power, sensing and connectivity 
solutions help to enable a more 
sustainable world. We have added to 
our technology and capabilities with 
the US acquisitions of Power Partners 
and the Covina power supply business.

We are well placed to make progress in 
2020 and beyond. However, the duration 
and impact of the coronavirus remains 
uncertain, and based on the current 
situation we anticipate that it could 
impact underlying operating profit by up 
to £3 million in 2020. We are focused on 
making further strategic progress, and 
our new self-help programme underpins 
the journey to double-digit margins.

Richard Tyson 
Chief Executive Officer 
3 March 2020

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

15

Strategic report 
Strategic report | Our strategic priorities

Our strategic priorities

We have focused our 
investment to support 
our strategy around our 
five strategic priorities.

Strategic business  
development

R&D and value-added 
product solutions

We are focused on ensuring our business 
development function is fit for purpose as TT 
builds momentum with new product launches 
and developing strategic partnerships with our 
customers. We have continued our efforts 
around training and developing our people to 
promote a solutions-based sales approach and 
will focus on continuing to develop strategic 
customer relationships.

As TT moves to be a higher margin, higher value, 
and increasingly product focused business, the 
requirement for value-added product solutions, 
innovation and R&D is increasing. By deploying 
additional resources in our R&D function, we 
will prioritise increasing the effectiveness of our 
R&D spend and accelerate our ability to move up 
the value-chain where our customers support us 
doing so to develop smarter solutions together.

Future priorities

•  Continue to provide tools, training and 

•  Clear focus around engineering investment 

•  New self-help programme launched to 

•  Integration of Power Partners and the power 

•  Continue to focus on power, sensing and 

development to customer facing employees
•  Developing our marketing function and digital 

resources for engineers

•  Continued prioritisation of key customer 

accounts where we see the greatest 
opportunity for cross-selling

in three core capability areas: power solutions 
for aerospace and medical applications; 
connectivity for the industrial IoT; and 
specialist sensing capabilities

•  Continued customisation of platform products 
that have already been launched alongside 
new product development

•  Continue to access funding for next generation 

technology development alongside nearer 
term new product introduction

Highlights

•  Organic revenue growth remained in 

mid-single digits at 4 per cent despite a 
mixed macroeconomic environment in 
some of our markets

•  New customer wins in aerospace, defence 
and medical, including two new aerospace 
customers for our power solutions

•  Good growth in key accounts, including 18 per 
cent growth in our top three medical accounts

•  Increased R&D spend to £13.5 million during 
the year, up 6 per cent at constant currency
•  Launched a new prototype power convertor 

for aerospace applications at the Paris Airshow 
in June 2019, moving up the value chain and 
extending our capabilities 

•  Funding secured for next generation power 

technology development alongside Innovate 
UK and an OEM engine manufacturer to 
develop technology for more sustainable 
aircraft of the future 

Link to KPIs

•  Organic revenue
•  Underlying operating profit margin
•  Underlying EPS
•  Return on invested capital
•  Engagement score
•  R&D spend

•  Organic revenue growth
•  Underlying operating profit margin
•  Underlying EPS
•  Cash conversion
•  Return on invested capital
•  Engagement score
•  R&D spend

16 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Operational  

excellence

Value-enhancing  

acquisitions

Building a sustainable 

business

We want our customers to recognise TT for 

Targeted, complementary acquisitions provide 

Building a sustainable business 

our excellent service. Alongside continuing our 

an opportunity to accelerate our strategy and 

is fundamental to the strategy of the Group. 

BE Lean activities, we are focused on optimising 

growth opportunities, providing enhanced 

TT engineers advanced electronics which 

our operations and taking sensible actions to 

capabilities and market access.

improve our procurement effectiveness.

benefit us all now and will benefit future 

generations. We do this by designing, 

manufacturing and working in a way that 

is cleaner, smarter and improves wellbeing. 

We are conscious of the impact we have on 

the environment in which we operate and 

our impact across our customer, employee, 

shareholders and communities.

underpin the journey to double-digit margins; 

supply business in Covina

connectivity solutions which enable a more 

reduce the fixed cost base of the business; and 

•  Delivery of cost synergies from existing 

sustainable world

improve the Group’s environmental impact. 

Cash costs expected to be c.£14 million with 

full year run rate benefits of £5–6million 

in 2022

•  Sharing operational best practice with Power 

Partners and the power supply business in 

Covina as part of our integration process

acquisitions and cross-selling opportunities 

•  Through the PSEE Committee which is 

from expanded customer base and 

technology offering

•  Continued development of our acquisition 

pipeline and review of sensible acquisition 

chaired by the CEO and attended by a 

Non-executive director, we will drive TT’s 

sustainability strategy in the best interest 

of our employee, community, customer 

opportunities that would add complementary 

and investor stakeholders

capabilities, customers and scope to TT

•  Actively review our operational footprint 

to improve the efficiency of the Group 

by optimising our cost base and our 

environmental impact (see pages 50–52  

for our environmental strategy)

•  Self-help actions to improve our operational 

•  Acquired Power Partners in March 2019 for 

•  Achieved a reduction in our carbon footprint 

performance has led to improvements in 

$1.6 million (£1.2 million) on a cash free debt 

of 16 per cent through initiatives including 

profitability and margin

free basis, with an additional performance-

introduction of LED lighting and sensors

•  Synergy from operational optimisation 

following the acquisition of Stadium is 

now complete

•  Proactive steps taken in Sensors and Specialist 

Components to optimise the cost base 

following market softness protecting margins

based amount of up to $1.3 million (£1.0 

million) payable over two years. The business 

extends our medical power supply capabilities 

•  Improved business efficiency by 

rationalisation of three sites of c.37,000 

square footage, reducing our carbon 

in the US

footprint

•  Acquired power supply business in Covina 

which completed in January 2020 for 

$17.7 million (£13.7 million) extending our 

aerospace and defence power supply 

capabilities in the US

•  Made good progress developing our 

sustainability strategy and collecting data to 

benchmark our performance from next year

•  Return on invested capital

•  R&D spend

•  Underlying EPS

•  Return on invested capital

•  Underlying EPS

•  Cash conversion

•  Safety performance

•  Engagement score

•  R&D spend

•  Organic revenue

•  Underlying operating profit margin

•  Underlying earnings per share

•  Cash conversion

•  Return on invested capital

•  Safety performance

•  Engagement score

•  R&D spend

 
 
 
 
 
Strategic business  

development

R&D and value-added 

product solutions

We are focused on ensuring our business 

As TT moves to be a higher margin, higher value, 

development function is fit for purpose as TT 

and increasingly product focused business, the 

builds momentum with new product launches 

requirement for value-added product solutions, 

and developing strategic partnerships with our 

innovation and R&D is increasing. By deploying 

customers. We have continued our efforts 

additional resources in our R&D function, we 

around training and developing our people to 

will prioritise increasing the effectiveness of our 

promote a solutions-based sales approach and 

R&D spend and accelerate our ability to move up 

will focus on continuing to develop strategic 

the value-chain where our customers support us 

customer relationships.

doing so to develop smarter solutions together.

•  Continue to provide tools, training and 

•  Clear focus around engineering investment 

development to customer facing employees

in three core capability areas: power solutions 

Future priorities

•  Developing our marketing function and digital 

resources for engineers

•  Continued prioritisation of key customer 

accounts where we see the greatest 

opportunity for cross-selling

for aerospace and medical applications; 

connectivity for the industrial IoT; and 

specialist sensing capabilities

•  Continued customisation of platform products 

that have already been launched alongside 

new product development

•  Continue to access funding for next generation 

technology development alongside nearer 

term new product introduction

Highlights

•  Organic revenue growth remained in 

•  Increased R&D spend to £13.5 million during 

mid-single digits at 4 per cent despite a 

mixed macroeconomic environment in 

some of our markets

the year, up 6 per cent at constant currency

•  Launched a new prototype power convertor 

for aerospace applications at the Paris Airshow 

•  New customer wins in aerospace, defence 

in June 2019, moving up the value chain and 

and medical, including two new aerospace 

extending our capabilities 

customers for our power solutions

•  Funding secured for next generation power 

•  Good growth in key accounts, including 18 per 

technology development alongside Innovate 

cent growth in our top three medical accounts

UK and an OEM engine manufacturer to 

develop technology for more sustainable 

aircraft of the future 

•  Underlying operating profit margin

•  Underlying operating profit margin

Link to KPIs

•  Organic revenue

•  Underlying EPS

•  Return on invested capital

•  Engagement score

•  R&D spend

•  Organic revenue growth

•  Underlying EPS

•  Cash conversion

•  Return on invested capital

•  Engagement score

•  R&D spend

Operational  
excellence

Value-enhancing  
acquisitions

We want our customers to recognise TT for 
our excellent service. Alongside continuing our 
BE Lean activities, we are focused on optimising 
our operations and taking sensible actions to 
improve our procurement effectiveness.

Targeted, complementary acquisitions provide 
an opportunity to accelerate our strategy and 
growth opportunities, providing enhanced 
capabilities and market access.

Building a sustainable 
business

Building a sustainable business 
is fundamental to the strategy of the Group. 
TT engineers advanced electronics which 
benefit us all now and will benefit future 
generations. We do this by designing, 
manufacturing and working in a way that 
is cleaner, smarter and improves wellbeing. 
We are conscious of the impact we have on 
the environment in which we operate and 
our impact across our customer, employee, 
shareholders and communities.

•  New self-help programme launched to 

•  Integration of Power Partners and the power 

•  Continue to focus on power, sensing and 

underpin the journey to double-digit margins; 
reduce the fixed cost base of the business; and 
improve the Group’s environmental impact. 
Cash costs expected to be c.£14 million with 
full year run rate benefits of £5–6million 
in 2022

•  Sharing operational best practice with Power 
Partners and the power supply business in 
Covina as part of our integration process

supply business in Covina

•  Delivery of cost synergies from existing 

acquisitions and cross-selling opportunities 
from expanded customer base and 
technology offering

•  Continued development of our acquisition 
pipeline and review of sensible acquisition 
opportunities that would add complementary 
capabilities, customers and scope to TT

connectivity solutions which enable a more 
sustainable world

•  Through the PSEE Committee which is 
chaired by the CEO and attended by a 
Non-executive director, we will drive TT’s 
sustainability strategy in the best interest 
of our employee, community, customer 
and investor stakeholders

•  Actively review our operational footprint 
to improve the efficiency of the Group 
by optimising our cost base and our 
environmental impact (see pages 50–52  
for our environmental strategy)

•  Self-help actions to improve our operational 
performance has led to improvements in 
profitability and margin

•  Synergy from operational optimisation 
following the acquisition of Stadium is 
now complete

•  Proactive steps taken in Sensors and Specialist 

Components to optimise the cost base 
following market softness protecting margins

•  Acquired Power Partners in March 2019 for 
$1.6 million (£1.2 million) on a cash free debt 
free basis, with an additional performance-
based amount of up to $1.3 million (£1.0 
million) payable over two years. The business 
extends our medical power supply capabilities 
in the US

•  Acquired power supply business in Covina 

which completed in January 2020 for 
$17.7 million (£13.7 million) extending our 
aerospace and defence power supply 
capabilities in the US

•  Achieved a reduction in our carbon footprint 
of 16 per cent through initiatives including 
introduction of LED lighting and sensors

•  Improved business efficiency by 

rationalisation of three sites of c.37,000 
square footage, reducing our carbon 
footprint

•  Made good progress developing our 

sustainability strategy and collecting data to 
benchmark our performance from next year

•  Underlying EPS
•  Cash conversion
•  Return on invested capital
•  Safety performance
•  Engagement score
•  R&D spend

•  Underlying EPS
•  Return on invested capital
•  R&D spend

•  Organic revenue
•  Underlying operating profit margin
•  Underlying earnings per share
•  Cash conversion
•  Return on invested capital
•  Safety performance
•  Engagement score
•  R&D spend

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

17

Strategic report 
 
 
 
 
Strategic report | Business model

Our business model and strategy

Our resources and 
relationships:

Leveraging our attributes and unlocking 
their potential

Our people and culture
Engagement with our employees is 
at the heart of our “BE TT” strategy 
which stands for “Build Expertise”.  
Our culture is built on the “TT Way”.  
Our people are highly experienced, 
often with leading expertise in their 
field. We work together to foster a 
company we can all be proud of.

See pages 46–49

Our engineering capability
We work closely with our customers  
to align our engineering resources 
to the right applications and markets 
where our differentiated capabilities  
are valued by our customers and 
can be used to bring advances that 
benefit both our planet and its people.

See pages 22–23

Our business development 
organisation
We have invested in training and tools 
to give our business development 
organisation the best opportunity to 
grow existing customer relationships 
and win new customers.

We drive value by:
• Engaging, training and supporting 

our employees.

• Fostering a culture that matches 

our values.

• Targeted investment in our five 

strategic priorities.

• Effectively utilising our global 

manufacturing footprint.

Capital re-investment
TT is a cash generative business.

The cash we generate is used to 
reinvest in the business, including in 
our engineering expertise, business 
development and nurturing our talent. 
We further allocate our capital to 
growing our business through 
acquisitions; we service our pension 
liabilities; and we pay a progressive 
dividend to shareholders.

Our strategic priorities:

Our strategy:
Our focused strategy enhances 
our potential, optimising our 
business performance to create 
sustainable value for each of our 
stakeholder groups.

1. Clear market focus
We are focused on building leading 
positions in areas of the market where 
there are structural growth drivers, and 
the trend for “electronics everywhere” 
is driving demand for our solutions. 

2. Creating differentiated capabilities
We concentrate our time and 
resources on market areas where our 
industry expertise and R&D investment 
creates strong and differentiated 
capabilities valued by our customers. 

3. Engineering smarter solutions with 
our customers
We are committed to solving electronic 
challenges for a sustainable world, 
designing, manufacturing, and 
working in a way that leads to a 
world that is cleaner, smarter, and 
improves wellbeing.

See pages 16–17

We focus our investment around our strategic priorities:

A global manufacturing footprint 
We have a global manufacturing 
footprint across the UK, US, and Asia 
that complements our customers.

See page 6

Access to our customers
We want to be known for excellent 
customer service. We have built 
credibility with our customers over 
many years and work in partnership  
to solve their electronic challenges.

Strategic business 
development

R&D and value-added 
product solutions

Operational  
excellence

Value-enhancing 
acquisitions

See pages 16–17

See pages 16–17

Building a sustainable 
business

18 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

How we generate revenue

Our markets

Creating value for our 

stakeholders

TT is a business that delivers long-term 

sustainable value for our customers, 

our people, our communities and our 

investors and we align our strategy to 

maximise value for all our stakeholders.

Customers 

We work with our customers to transform their 

product ideas into tangible solutions using 

our leading electronic engineering expertise.

4%

2018: 6% 

Organic revenue growth

See pages 38–41

Employees 

We reward and support our people globally, 

both financially and through personal 

and professional development. We were 

benchmarked as a 1 star great place to work 

by Best Companies Ltd.

1 Star

Great place to work

See pages 46–49

Communities 

We manage our business activities to minimise 

the environmental impact of our operations and 

support the local communities we operate in.

>5,300

“hours for giving” to good causes, 

up more than 10%

See pages 50–53

Shareholders 

Our strategy is structured to ensure long-term 

business sustainability, driving growth and 

value for our shareholders and our other 

stakeholders. We have a progressive 

dividend policy.

18.7p

Underlying EPS up 13%  

at constant currency

See pages 38–41

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We leverage our attributes to unlock TT’s potential and 
solve electronic challenges for a sustainable world.

Our resources and 

Leveraging our attributes and unlocking 

How we generate revenue

relationships:

their potential

Our people and culture

We drive value by:

Our strategy:

Engagement with our employees is 

• Engaging, training and supporting 

Our focused strategy enhances 

at the heart of our “BE TT” strategy 

which stands for “Build Expertise”.  

Our culture is built on the “TT Way”.  

Our people are highly experienced, 

our employees.

• Fostering a culture that matches 

our values.

often with leading expertise in their 

• Targeted investment in our five 

our potential, optimising our 

business performance to create 

sustainable value for each of our 

stakeholder groups.

strategic priorities.

1. Clear market focus

Our markets

Medical

Aerospace and defence

Read more on pages 26 to 27

Industrial

Read more on pages 28 to 29

Creating value for our 
stakeholders

TT is a business that delivers long-term 
sustainable value for our customers, 
our people, our communities and our 
investors and we align our strategy to 
maximise value for all our stakeholders.

Customers 
We work with our customers to transform their 
product ideas into tangible solutions using 
our leading electronic engineering expertise.

4%

Organic revenue growth
2018: 6% 

See pages 38–41

Employees 
We reward and support our people globally, 
both financially and through personal 
and professional development. We were 
benchmarked as a 1 star great place to work 
by Best Companies Ltd.

1 Star

Great place to work

Read more on pages 30 to 31

See pages 46–49

See pages 16–17

We focus our investment around our strategic priorities:

Our strategic priorities:

We go to market with clear capabilities

Sensing

TT smarter 
solutions

Manufacturing and 
engineering services

Power

Communities 
We manage our business activities to minimise 
the environmental impact of our operations and 
support the local communities we operate in.

>5,300

“hours for giving” to good causes, 
up more than 10%

See pages 50–53

Shareholders 
Our strategy is structured to ensure long-term 
business sustainability, driving growth and 
value for our shareholders and our other 
stakeholders. We have a progressive 
dividend policy.

18.7p

Underlying EPS up 13%  
at constant currency

See pages 38–41

field. We work together to foster a 

company we can all be proud of.

See pages 46–49

Our engineering capability

We work closely with our customers  

to align our engineering resources 

to the right applications and markets 

where our differentiated capabilities  

are valued by our customers and 

can be used to bring advances that 

benefit both our planet and its people.

See pages 22–23

Our business development 

organisation

We have invested in training and tools 

to give our business development 

organisation the best opportunity to 

grow existing customer relationships 

and win new customers.

A global manufacturing footprint 

We have a global manufacturing 

footprint across the UK, US, and Asia 

that complements our customers.

See page 6

Access to our customers

We want to be known for excellent 

customer service. We have built 

credibility with our customers over 

many years and work in partnership  

to solve their electronic challenges.

• Effectively utilising our global 

manufacturing footprint.

Capital re-investment

TT is a cash generative business.

We are focused on building leading 

positions in areas of the market where 

there are structural growth drivers, and 

the trend for “electronics everywhere” 

is driving demand for our solutions. 

2. Creating differentiated capabilities

The cash we generate is used to 

We concentrate our time and 

reinvest in the business, including in 

resources on market areas where our 

our engineering expertise, business 

industry expertise and R&D investment 

development and nurturing our talent. 

creates strong and differentiated 

capabilities valued by our customers. 

We further allocate our capital to 

growing our business through 

acquisitions; we service our pension 

3. Engineering smarter solutions with 

liabilities; and we pay a progressive 

our customers

dividend to shareholders.

We are committed to solving electronic 

challenges for a sustainable world, 

designing, manufacturing, and 

working in a way that leads to a 

world that is cleaner, smarter, and 

improves wellbeing.

Strategic business 

development

R&D and value-added 

product solutions

Operational  

excellence

Value-enhancing 

acquisitions

See pages 16–17

See pages 16–17

Building a sustainable 

business

Connectivity

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

19

Strategic report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Strategic report | Key performance indicators

Key performance 
indicators

Our strategic priorities

Strategic business 
development 

R&D and value-added 
product solutions

Operational  
excellence

Value-enhancing 
acquisitions

Building a sustainable 
business

Financial

Organic revenue  
growth (%)

4%

2018: 6%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

(3)%

4%

6%

5%

0%

Strategic priorities

Description

Organic revenue growth measures 
the revenue from continuing 
Group operations in the current 
year and is the percentage 
change from the prior year. The 
effects of currency movements, 
divestments and acquisitions 
made during the current or prior 
financial year have been removed.

Relevance

Our organic revenue growth 
measures the underlying growth 
of the business and is an 
indicator of our ability, over the 
longer term, to position ourselves 
in structural growth markets.

Underlying operating  
profit margin (%)

8.4%

2018: 7.8%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

8.4%

7.8%

6.7%

5.5%

4.3%

Underlying earnings  
per share (EPS) (p)

18.7p

2018: 16.2p, up 13%1

Cash conversion  
(%)

98%

2018: 88%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

18.7p

16.2p

10.9p

12.0p

8.8p

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

98%

88%

98%

87%

136%

Return on invested  

capital (%)2

11.3%

2018: 11.5%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

11.3%

11.5%

10.6%

10.3%

9.0%

Engagement  

score 

4.82 (2018)

Next survey in 2020

2019

interim pulse surveys

2018

2017

20164

20154

29

4.82

4.73

4.59

4.54

R&D spend 

(% of sales3)

5.1%

2018: 5.1%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

5.1%

5.1%

4.6%

4.0%

4.0%

Non-financial

Safety performance 

(No. of incidents)

4

2018: 17 (76%)

2019 4

2018

2017

20164

20154

17

7

13

Strategic priorities

Description

Underlying operating profit margin 
is calculated as underlying 
operating profit divided by revenue.

Underlying EPS is calculated as 
underlying profit after tax for the 
year, divided by the weighted 
average number of shares in  
issue during the year.

Cash conversion is defined as 
underlying operating cash flows, 
expressed as a percentage of 
underlying operating profit.

Our underlying operating profit 
margin is an indicator of our ability, 
over the longer term, to extract 
fair value for our differentiated 
products and services while 
maintaining an appropriate cost 
base in the business. 

This is relevant to determining 
corporate profitability for 
shareholders. Underlying EPS 
is a measure used as one of the 
performance conditions in the 
Group’s Long-Term Incentive Plan. 
Read more on remuneration  
pages 74–98

Cash conversion measures how 
effectively we convert profit into 
cash and tracks the management 
of our working capital and capital 
expenditure. 

Performance

We have maintained good 
organic growth despite a 
challenging macroeconomic 
backdrop and mixed market 
conditions, demonstrating the 
robustness of our business 
model and a higher level of 
sales from less cyclical markets 
including in aerospace, defence 
and medical industries. 

Our underlying operating profit 
margin has improved again, despite 
softness in our highest margin 
and predominantly industrial 
facing Sensors and Specialist 
Component division. Both our 
Power and Connectivity and Global 
Manufacturing Solutions divisions 
saw strong margin progression 
reflecting operational leverage 
from higher sales and efficiency 
improvements. 

Underlying EPS has increased 
by 11 per cent due to underlying 
operating profit growth from 
organic improvement and the 
contribution from acquisitions. 
Since 2015, EPS has improved by 
a CAGR of 21 per cent.

Our continued focus on generating 
cash has resulted in another 
year of strong cash conversion, 
particularly in the second half 
and while investing for growth. 

Our like-for-like 10bps improvement 

We have seen a good improvement 

We continue to see strong levels 

We remain focused on core areas 

in ROIC is a result of good profit 

in our safety performance this  

of engagement across the Group 

of R&D investment around power 

growth coupled with continued 

year by focusing on near misses, 

following our recognition as a 1 Star 

solutions for aerospace and 

capital discipline.

preventative measures and 

great place to work in late 2018. 

medical applications; connectivity 

behaviour-based training. 86%  

During 2019 we decided to conduct 

for the industrial IoT; and specialist 

of our sites achieved zero harm 

a survey every 18–24 months to 

sensing capabilities. We have 

during the year and we continue  

allow more time to benchmark 

increased the cash spend by  

to focus on achieving zero harm  

progress and implement changes. 

6 per cent at constant currency.

in every site. 

1  Constant currency.
2  Excluding IFRS 16, ROIC was 11.6 per cent, up 10 bps.
3  Sales include revenues from the Sensors and Specialist Components and Power and Connectivity divisions. It does not include sales from the Global Manufacturing Solutions division 

as this division does not consume R&D. 

4  2015 and 2016 have not been restated for the disposal of the Transportation division. 

20 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

We conducted “pulse surveys” to 

provide an interim indication of 

progress being made. The Board 

visited several facilities during the 

year and one of our Non-executive 

directors sits on our PSEE 

Committee to ensure the Board 

is engaged with the voice of our 

employees. Read more on page 47

Return on invested capital is 

Safety performance is quantified 

We use our employee survey to 

R&D spend is defined as the cash 

defined as underlying operating 

as the number of occupational 

measure how our employees feel 

spent on R&D in the Power and 

profit for the year divided by 

injuries resulting in three or more 

about working for TT, using a scale 

Connectivity and Sensors and 

monthly average invested capital 

days’ absence.

of one (low) to seven (high) against 

Specialist Components divisions 

eight factors (as surveyed by Best 

divided by the revenues from 

Companies Ltd).

these divisions. The Global 

Manufacturing Solutions division 

does not consume R&D.

for the year. Average invested 

capital excludes provisions, tax 

balances and financial assets 

and liabilities, including cash, 

borrowings and pension.

Relevance

This measures how efficiently we 

This KPI allows us to compare our 

Employee engagement is at the 

This KPI is an indicator of 

use our assets to generate returns, 

performance with that of our peers. 

heart of our strategy. We want our 

operational performance, as 

with the target of exceeding the 

We use a UK benchmark, published 

employees to be proud to work for 

we continue to invest in R&D 

cost of holding the assets.

by the Health and Safety Executive, 

TT. Our values are set out in the 

to generate new products and 

and apply this to all our facilities 

“TT Way”. The Board consider 

extend our capabilities. 

worldwide, reflecting our 

corporate culture and engagement 

commitment to raising standards 

in their discretionary consideration 

globally. The Board consider our 

on incentive payments.  

safety culture and performance in 

Read more on the TT Way pages 

their discretionary consideration on 

46–49 and more on remuneration 

incentive payments.

pages 74–98

Performance

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial

Organic revenue  

growth (%)

4%

2018: 6%

4%

6%

5%

2019

2018

2017

20164

0%

20154

(3)%

Strategic priorities

Description

year and is the percentage 

change from the prior year. The 

effects of currency movements, 

divestments and acquisitions 

made during the current or prior 

financial year have been removed.

Relevance

Underlying operating  

profit margin (%)

8.4%

2018: 7.8%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

8.4%

7.8%

6.7%

5.5%

4.3%

Underlying earnings  

per share (EPS) (p)

18.7p

2018: 16.2p, up 13%1

Cash conversion  

(%)

98%

2018: 88%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

18.7p

16.2p

10.9p

12.0p

8.8p

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

98%

88%

98%

87%

136%

Organic revenue growth measures 

Underlying operating profit margin 

Underlying EPS is calculated as 

Cash conversion is defined as 

the revenue from continuing 

is calculated as underlying 

underlying profit after tax for the 

underlying operating cash flows, 

Group operations in the current 

operating profit divided by revenue.

year, divided by the weighted 

expressed as a percentage of 

average number of shares in  

underlying operating profit.

issue during the year.

Our organic revenue growth 

Our underlying operating profit 

This is relevant to determining 

measures the underlying growth 

margin is an indicator of our ability, 

corporate profitability for 

Cash conversion measures how 

effectively we convert profit into 

of the business and is an 

over the longer term, to extract 

shareholders. Underlying EPS 

cash and tracks the management 

indicator of our ability, over the 

fair value for our differentiated 

is a measure used as one of the 

of our working capital and capital 

longer term, to position ourselves 

products and services while 

performance conditions in the 

expenditure. 

in structural growth markets.

maintaining an appropriate cost 

Group’s Long-Term Incentive Plan. 

base in the business. 

Read more on remuneration  

pages 74–98

Performance

We have maintained good 

organic growth despite a 

Our underlying operating profit 

Underlying EPS has increased 

Our continued focus on generating 

margin has improved again, despite 

by 11 per cent due to underlying 

cash has resulted in another 

challenging macroeconomic 

softness in our highest margin 

operating profit growth from 

year of strong cash conversion, 

backdrop and mixed market 

and predominantly industrial 

organic improvement and the 

particularly in the second half 

conditions, demonstrating the 

facing Sensors and Specialist 

contribution from acquisitions. 

and while investing for growth. 

robustness of our business 

model and a higher level of 

Component division. Both our 

Since 2015, EPS has improved by 

Power and Connectivity and Global 

a CAGR of 21 per cent.

sales from less cyclical markets 

Manufacturing Solutions divisions 

including in aerospace, defence 

saw strong margin progression 

and medical industries. 

reflecting operational leverage 

from higher sales and efficiency 

improvements. 

1  Constant currency.

2  Excluding IFRS 16, ROIC was 11.6 per cent, up 10 bps.

as this division does not consume R&D. 

4  2015 and 2016 have not been restated for the disposal of the Transportation division. 

3  Sales include revenues from the Sensors and Specialist Components and Power and Connectivity divisions. It does not include sales from the Global Manufacturing Solutions division 

The focus we have on our KPIs has been instrumental in delivering a transformed business over the last five years. TT is a higher 
margin, higher quality business that is growing strongly, providing solutions for our customers’ electronics challenges for a more 
sustainable world. We have an engaged and motivated workforce that prioritises a culture of safety above all else. We are focused 
on delivering our KPIs to drive sustainable value for our employees, customers, communities and investors. We have introduced 
underlying operating profit margin as a new KPI to focus on our ability to extract value for the differentiated products and services 
we provide alongside maintaining an appropriate cost base for the business. 

Return on invested  
capital (%)2

11.3%

2018: 11.5%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

11.3%

11.5%

10.6%

10.3%

9.0%

Non-financial

Safety performance 
(No. of incidents)

4

2018: 17 (76%)

2019 4

2018

2017

20164

20154

17

7

13

Strategic priorities

Engagement  
score 

4.82 (2018)

Next survey in 2020

2019

interim pulse surveys

2018

2017

20164

20154

29

4.82

4.73

4.59

4.54

R&D spend 
(% of sales3)

5.1%

2018: 5.1%

2019

2018

2017

20164

20154

5.1%

5.1%

4.6%

4.0%

4.0%

Return on invested capital is 
defined as underlying operating 
profit for the year divided by 
monthly average invested capital 
for the year. Average invested 
capital excludes provisions, tax 
balances and financial assets 
and liabilities, including cash, 
borrowings and pension.

This measures how efficiently we 
use our assets to generate returns, 
with the target of exceeding the 
cost of holding the assets.

Description

Safety performance is quantified 
as the number of occupational 
injuries resulting in three or more 
days’ absence.

We use our employee survey to 
measure how our employees feel 
about working for TT, using a scale 
of one (low) to seven (high) against 
eight factors (as surveyed by Best 
Companies Ltd).

R&D spend is defined as the cash 
spent on R&D in the Power and 
Connectivity and Sensors and 
Specialist Components divisions 
divided by the revenues from 
these divisions. The Global 
Manufacturing Solutions division 
does not consume R&D.

Relevance

This KPI allows us to compare our 
performance with that of our peers. 
We use a UK benchmark, published 
by the Health and Safety Executive, 
and apply this to all our facilities 
worldwide, reflecting our 
commitment to raising standards 
globally. The Board consider our 
safety culture and performance in 
their discretionary consideration on 
incentive payments.

Employee engagement is at the 
heart of our strategy. We want our 
employees to be proud to work for 
TT. Our values are set out in the 
“TT Way”. The Board consider 
corporate culture and engagement 
in their discretionary consideration 
on incentive payments.  
Read more on the TT Way pages 
46–49 and more on remuneration 
pages 74–98

This KPI is an indicator of 
operational performance, as 
we continue to invest in R&D 
to generate new products and 
extend our capabilities. 

Our like-for-like 10bps improvement 
in ROIC is a result of good profit 
growth coupled with continued 
capital discipline.

Performance

We have seen a good improvement 
in our safety performance this  
year by focusing on near misses, 
preventative measures and 
behaviour-based training. 86%  
of our sites achieved zero harm 
during the year and we continue  
to focus on achieving zero harm  
in every site. 

We remain focused on core areas 
of R&D investment around power 
solutions for aerospace and 
medical applications; connectivity 
for the industrial IoT; and specialist 
sensing capabilities. We have 
increased the cash spend by  
6 per cent at constant currency.

We continue to see strong levels 
of engagement across the Group 
following our recognition as a 1 Star 
great place to work in late 2018. 
During 2019 we decided to conduct 
a survey every 18–24 months to 
allow more time to benchmark 
progress and implement changes. 
We conducted “pulse surveys” to 
provide an interim indication of 
progress being made. The Board 
visited several facilities during the 
year and one of our Non-executive 
directors sits on our PSEE 
Committee to ensure the Board 
is engaged with the voice of our 
employees. Read more on page 47

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

21

Strategic report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Strategic report | Our capabilities

Our capabilities

Sensing

Our sensors measure power, flow, 
temperature and position in electronic 
devices and provide a smart response, 
informing our customers when 
processes are working efficiently or 
alerting them to an issue. This makes 
our sensors increasingly important in 
our next generation data-driven world, 
with autonomous machines and the 
IoT bringing sensor technology to the 
forefront of electronics design. By 
sensing power within an electronic 
circuit, our devices can help protect 
electronic devices from malfunctioning, 
maintaining product safety and brand 
reputation for our customers.

Our sensors can be programmed  
to manage minute positioning of a 
robotic arm for exceptional accuracy  
in automated factories. In medical 
applications, our sensors can use  
light to detect whether liquid is  
moving through a drip to a patient  
and can be used to alert hospital  
staff enabling safer patient monitoring. 

Primary markets served  
by our sensing capabilities
• Industrial
• Aerospace and defence
• Medical

Power

Our power capabilities help drive 
increased efficiency across a range 
of power management applications. 
We design and deliver power solutions 
that convert direct or alternating 
current from one voltage level to 
another, providing an energy-efficient 
method of managing power through a 
circuit. Power conversion by switching 
can be more than 75 per cent more 
efficient than other methods of 
regulating voltage1. By regulating 
and controlling the power in a circuit, 
our capabilities allow us to manage 
the heat generated when providing 
solutions that are smaller in size, lower 
in weight and packaged to guarantee 
peak performance in the harshest of 
environments. 

This is especially crucial where power 
is a scarce resource, such as on an 

aeroplane. As we continue to move 
towards “more electric aircraft”, 
increased electronics need more 
power and that power has to be 
managed more effectively. 

Our long heritage in power 
componentry has proved a key 
differentiator, as we have started to 
design and build entire power supplies 
which can be used in a wide variety 
of critical applications, including 
powering navigation systems on 
both commercial and military aircraft. 

Primary markets served  
by our power capabilities
• Aerospace and defence
• Medical
• Industrial

1  Andy Howard “How to Design DC-to-DC Converters”.

22 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Connectivity

Our connectivity capabilities allow 
data to be monitored and managed 
wirelessly enabling greater efficiency 
for our customers who are able to 
remotely track and monitor their 
assets or processes and also 
potentially monetise the data 
collected. Our hardware can be used 
in industrial and medical applications 
including automation, robotics, 
security, asset tracking, smart home 
technologies and pharmaceutical 
inventory management.

Our solutions are developed as a 
platform enabling customisations for 
our customers specific requirements, 
improving their speed to market. 
Our platform devices are designed 

to seamlessly upgrade to 5G and 
therefore benefit from the increased 
data rates and reliability that this 
architecture will allow.

Our connectivity sensors and wireless 
hub can be used on the underside of 
train carriages to detect the movement 
of the train along the track, identifying 
and communicating any discrepancies 
in movement which allows remote 
monitoring of the track condition 
and enables timely preventative 
maintenance action to be taken. 

Primary markets served by  
our connectivity capabilities
• Industrial
• Medical

Manufacturing and engineering services

Our complementary manufacturing 
and engineering services sit alongside 
our product offerings. We provide 
manufacturing and engineering 
services for our product divisions as 
well as customers, using our world-
class global manufacturing locations. 
Our differentiation lies in our ability 
to manufacture highly complex 
assemblies for products used in highly 
regulated markets such as medical 
laboratory equipment and aircraft 
braking systems. 

Our manufacturing capabilities are 
supported by our talented engineers 
who can design bespoke testing 
equipment for our customers to ensure 
the product meets critical functional 
requirements with extreme accuracy. 
We also provide value-engineering 
services, helping customers as they 
initially prototype a new product 
introduction to design the product for 
cost-optimised manufacturing while 
maintaining the highest levels of quality 
and reliability. 

Primary markets served  
by our manufacturing and  
engineering services
• Aerospace and defence
• Industrial
• Medical

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

23

Strategic reportStrategic report | Market review

Global trends driving structural 
growth in our markets

Market

Medical

Read more on pages 26–27

Aerospace and defence

Read more on pages 28–29

Industrial

Trend description

Trends in the healthcare industry continue 
to be positive as global incomes rise and 
the demand for improved healthcare 
increases globally. Themes that are 
supporting the healthcare market include 
ageing populations, developing healthcare 
infrastructure and people being more 
proactive in looking for preventive care 
through new technologies such as genetic 
mapping, in-vitro diagnostics and 
connected healthcare services. These 
themes are driving a growing medical 
device market globally which demands 
innovation and new technologies. 

The overall medical device market is 
expected to experience continued growth 
of 5.4% annually7 as adoption of new 
medical technologies from continued 
investment and R&D drive returns for 
the full supply chain. Additionally, IoT and 
connectivity remain a core area of growth 
within the medical market where patients 
seek quick diagnostics through wearables. 
Telemedicine and clinical research 
organisations are adopting connectivity 
solutions to support demands from 
clinical-trials for new drugs and 
medical devices. The healthcare IoT 
and Connectivity market is estimated 
to grow at c.28% to 2024.14 

The commercial aerospace market has 
attractive growth drivers; air passenger 
numbers are increasing, and successive 
platforms are being designed with ever 
greater electronic content as customers 
are demanding more efficient and 
cleaner air travel. The need for more 
environmentally friendly air travel to reduce 
CO2 emissions is supported by industry 
wide initiatives such as “Clean Sky” led by 
the European commission. Boeing’s new 
787 Dreamliner uses 20% less fuel than 
previous models and its 777X under 
development is expected to be the largest 
and most fuel-efficient twin-aisle airplane1. 
As a result, the electrification of aircraft will 
continue in the long term which increases 

the demands for advanced engineering 
solutions including new engine technologies 
and more efficient power systems. 

The defence industry is also undergoing 
a number of structural growth drivers 
supported by the need for modernisation 
and demands for advanced technology. 
The US Department of Defence budget is 
more than $700bn2 while the UK Ministry 
of Defence budget is c.£37bn3 and both 
are expected to grow. This provides 
opportunities for those operating in 
the defence supply chain. We are also 
seeing continued growth in the space 
industry which requires high-reliability 
electronic solutions.

In 2019, our industrial markets experienced 
short-term weakness on the back of global 
uncertainty around policy and trade. 
The slow-down in industrial activity can 
be seen as the PMIs across Europe, the 
US and Asia experienced headwinds and 
showed a downward trend. However, the 
long term viability of the industrial market 
focused around the need for improved 
manufacturing efficiency through new 
technologies such as automation, IoT, 
connectivity and robotics remains 

attractive with long-term structural growth 
drivers. These advancements provide the 
benefits of reduced costs while increasing 
quality of products and flexibility to market. 
The market opportunity for improvements 
in the industrial sector through more 
advanced technology is estimated to be 
over $1 trillion.10

Read more on pages 30–31

24 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Sources: 
1  Boeing 2019 Environmental Report
2  US Congressional Budget Office 2019.
3  rusi.org/commentary/end-defence-austerity- 
2019-spending-round-and-uk-defence-budget
4  Aircraft Electrical Systems Market by System, 

MarketsandMarkets 2019.

5  Defence News 2018. 
6  Space Industry is the Market of the Future, ASDNews 2018
7  Fortune Business Insights Medical Device Markets, 2019

8  Surgical Robots Market, Kenneth Research 2019.
9  Global Laboratory Automation Systems Market, 

ResearchAndMarkets.com 2019.

10 The trillion-dollar opportunity for industrials, 

McKinsey & Company 2018. 

11 Newton Evans, 2017
12 Global Smart Factory Industry 2019 Market Research 

Report, Market Reports World 2019. 

13 MHI Deloitte Industry Report 2019
14 Research and Markets Global IoT in Healthcare Market 2020

$600bn

The global addressable market for medical 
devices is expected to grow at a CAGR of 
5.4% and reach over $600 billion by 20257

10.4%

The global surgical robots market growth is 
expected grow at a CAGR of 10.4% to 20258

8%

The global laboratory automation systems 
market is expected to reach to grow at a 
CAGR of 8% to 2026 9

Our response

TT’s involvement is to work with our 
customers who are at the forefront of 
the increased demands and growth in 
the medical sector using our range of 
highly-engineered solutions across patient 
monitoring, laboratory equipment and 
diagnostic equipment. We continue to 
demonstrate our commitment in this 
market through organic and acquisition 
investment. In 2019, we acquired Power 
Partners Inc., located near Boston which 
focuses on power solutions for the 
healthcare market. We also have the 
capabilities to deliver connectivity for 
healthcare equipment following our 
acquisition of Stadium in 2018. 

$41.7.bn

Market Worth $41.7 Billion by 2025 and 
growing at a 5.7% CAGR4

£37bn

The US DoD Budget is over $700bn2 and 
the UK MoD is £37bn3

5–6%

The global space industry is projected to 
grow annually at 5–6%6

We are providing innovative solutions 
and systems which are proven to have 
high-reliability for mission critical products 
for our customers who are responsible for 
commercial aircraft, defence platforms 
and space programmes. We are investing 
in our business development capabilities 
in aerospace and defence and have won 
a number of contracts for the F-35 defence 
programme during the year. We have 
also targeted our R&D investment to  
take advantage of opportunities in this 
market both in the near term and for next 
generation technology. 

$1tr

Improvements in the industrial sector 
through technology is estimated to be 
worth over $1 trillion10

$13.8bn

The market for smart grid investment is 
expected to grow from $6.4 billion in 2018 
to $13.8 billion in 2024, driven primarily by 
smart devices10

+9%

The global smart factory and factory 
automation market is expected to grow 
at c. 9% annually13

We have focused our R&D investment 
around connectivity for the industrial IoT 
and specialist sensing capabilities, some  
of which have applications in industrial 
markets such as our highly accurate 
position sensors for robotic automation. 
We have started to see good traction for 
our connectivity devices in the market 
following the acquisition of Stadium in 
2018 including working with customers  
on potential solutions for cold chain 
monitoring and wireless home alarm 
products. Cold chain monitoring is where 
sensors and controlling devices are used  
to track and monitor temperature to 
maintain a consistent environment for 
perishable food and medicine throughout 
the supply chain. 

We continue to expand our capabilities and 
our offering in healthcare which has seen 
year over year growth through our focused 
business development actions. This has 
led to double digit growth with our largest 
medical customers.

We have established an R&D centre at the 
University of Nottingham and partnered 
with a global OEM engine manufacturer 
and Innovate UK to develop next 
generation engine technology for more 
advanced power solutions and cleaner 
aircraft in the future.

In November 2019, we announced the 
acquisition of the aerospace and defence 
power supply business of Excelitas 
Technologies Corp based in Covina, 
California. The acquisition completed on 
3 January 2020. The business expands our 
capabilities for providing advanced power 
solutions to our customers while giving us 
enhanced access to the large and growing 
US market. 

Our business development efforts have 
been focused on areas where the short-
term headwinds in the market have been 
offset by favourable market conditions. 
During the year, we won three new 
industrial customers in Asia, including 
one customer in the solar power industry, 
supporting their product capabilities to 
convert light into electricity.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

25

Strategic reportStrategic report | Our markets

Medical

Improving wellbeing 
with life-changing  
technology

26 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Strategic report

24%of Group revenue

We work with some of the world’s leading medical 
equipment developers and manufacturers. Our 
customers rely on our experience in high-precision 
and high-reliability applications for their life-critical 
medical devices and equipment and we support 
independent design firms and contract 
manufacturers from design to production.

TT provides solutions to the medical 
market including advanced surgical 
devices; imaging and direct patient care; 
laboratory analysis and diagnostics.

Read more on pages 16–19 for the  
structural growth drivers behind the  
demand for our solutions

Medical and life science companies 
trust us to support them with their 
applications, relying on our years of 
expertise and specialist manufacturing 
facilities which ensure we meet or 
exceed the highest requirements of 
medical certifications required by our 
customers. Our products contribute 
to improved wellbeing of people today 
and in the future, creating products 
for medical technologies that improve 
health outcomes. Ensuring healthy 
lives and promoting wellbeing for all 
at all ages is important to building 
prosperous societies. We manufacture 
products that help treat cancer, 
including radiation therapy and 
oncology pathology equipment which 
were identified by the World Health 
Organisation as being priority medical 
devices in the treatment of cancer.1 

Following the acquisition of Precision 
in 2018, we extended our medical 
capabilities with new product offerings 
for “in-body” surgical devices including 
defibrillators, neuro-stimulation and 
pacemakers, as well as medical 
surgical navigation devices. Medical 
professionals are being supported 
by medical technology to improve 
productivity and reduce the 
requirements for larger, more invasive 
procedures in favour of a growing 
number of “in-body” surgeries. 
Minimally invasive surgery utilises 
surgical techniques that limit the size 
and number of cuts or incisions during 
an operation with the help of small 
tools, cameras and lights. These 
procedures are much safer in nature as 
compared to traditional open surgery 
as it results in fewer complications, 
quicker recovery, minimal blood loss 
and shorter hospital stays.

Read more about TT’s solutions  
for the medical market online at  
www.ttelectronics.com/ 
markets/medical-electronics/

1  WHO list of priority medical devices for cancer 

management, 2017. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

27

Strategic report | Our markets

Aerospace and Defence

Delivering 
cleaner skies 
for the future

28 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Strategic report

23%of Group revenue

We offer high-reliability aerospace and defence 
technologies for safety-critical applications used in 
harsh environments. Our experience and expertise 
in design and manufacturing has led us to build 
long-term partnerships with our customers. 
Our products and technologies deliver peak 
performance, endurance and dependability.

TT provides solutions for commercial 
and military aircraft; space and satellite 
and defence systems and vehicles. 
We have a presence on all major 
commercial aircraft platforms as well 
as strong positions on defence platforms 
and business jets. Our products on 
platforms gives us good visibility 
of future revenue streams. Platforms 
that are driving our growth include the 
A220, A320neo, A330neo, A350XWB, 
B787, F-35and KC-390.

Read more on pages 16–19 for the  
structural growth drivers behind the  
demand for our solutions

Demand for our products on aircraft is 
being driven by the “Clean Sky” industry 
wide initiative with the demand for more 
sustainable air travel driving demand for 
our products. Many of our solutions are 

focused around managing power 
effectively and efficiently on an 
aircraft with our solutions often 
critical to the power challenges our 
customers face in the restricted 
power environment of an aircraft. 
Our power solutions are more 
efficient than previous platforms as 
well as reducing the size and weight 
of our solutions resulting in greater 
fuel efficiency. It is estimated that a 
1 per cent reduction in the weight of 
an aircraft improves fuel consumption 
by around 0.75 per cent.1 

Our solutions are located across 
the aircraft from flight actuation 
systems to fuel pumps. Our power 
and hybrid microcircuits provide 
power management for the digital 
engine control unit known as “the 
brain” of the engine which controls 
all aspects of engine performance. 
Our solution controls the processing 
power needed to enable the engine 
to perform at maximum efficiency 
for any given condition with minimum 
pilot intervention.

Read more about TT’s solutions for the 
aerospace and defence market online  
at www.ttelectronics.com/markets/
aerospace-electronics/

1  Encyclopedia of Energy Engineering and 
Technology, Barney L. Capehart, 2007

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

29

Strategic report | Our markets

Industrial

Empowering  
smarter  
solutions

30 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Strategic report

42%of Group revenue

From global multinational enterprises to specialist 
manufacturers, industrial customers choose 
TT Electronics as their systems solution partner 
for the most challenging applications. 

We help our customers add value 
to their solutions using our industry 
expertise and focused R&D to improve 
productivity, connectivity, reliability 
and precision. 

TT provides solutions to industrial 
markets including for automation 
and control; energy and smart devices; 
and infrastructure.

Read more on pages 16–19 for the  
structural growth drivers behind the  
demand for our solutions

We serve industrial markets with 
each of our three capabilities, sensing, 
power and connectivity. Demand for 
our solutions is being driven by the 
move towards smarter solutions 
that save on time, power and waste. 
The growing adoption of smarter 
solutions servicing the industrial 
IoT market provides an exciting 
opportunity for TT. Our products 
can be used in cold chain monitoring 
to sense and monitor the temperature 
of perishable food items or 
pharmaceutical products during 
transportation. The demand for these 
solutions is driven by the increasing 
demand for temperature-sensitive 
drugs, better food quality and the 
need to reduce food wastage. 

Our solutions also improve efficiency 
of factory environments with our 
sensors used in factory automation. 
We provide sensors for speed and 
position control and we have over two 
decades of experience in this area 
of the market. Not only is there an 
increasing use of robotics within 
factory environments, but each robot 
requires an increasing number of 
sensors to be faster, more accurate 
and to perform more complex 
operations with increased dexterity. 
Our highly reliable, highly accurate 
sensors provide our customers with 
higher resolution which results in 
greater precision alongside analogue 
and digital outputs to make it easier 
for our customers to integrate our 
sensors into their systems. 

Read more about TT’s solutions  
for the medical market online at  
www.ttelectronics.com/markets/
industrial-electronics/

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

31

Strategic report | Divisional review

Power and Connectivity

The Power and Connectivity division designs and 
manufactures power application products and 
connectivity devices which enable the capture 
and wireless transfer of data. We collaborate with 
our customers to develop innovative solutions to 
optimise their electronic systems.

32 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

In summary

Revenue

£138.2m

2018: £115.5m1 
+20% (+18% at constant currency)

Underlying operating profit1

£16.5m

2018: £11.2m 
+47% (+45% at constant currency)

Underlying operating profit margin2

11.9%

2018: 9.7% 
220 bps (210 bps at constant currency)

Percentage of Group revenue

29% 

2018: 23% 

Organic revenue growth

2% 

2018: (4)%

c.1,500

Employees (year average)

14

Locations

Capabilities
• Power
• Connectivity

Key offerings
• Power solutions
• Connectivity devices

1  Note: Prior period restated for the transfer of the 
Malaysian Magnetics business to Power and 
Connectivity division. In 2018 the Malaysian Magnetics 
business generated revenue of £17.5 million and 
underlying operating profit of £2.8 million.

2  Excluding restructuring costs, asset impairments and 
acquisition related costs (see note 7 on page 129).

Strategic report

We made progress with our connectivity 
offerings, including tracking devices for 
assets in the construction industry and 
medical wearable devices for use in 
European care homes. We also secured 
a cross-selling win with a Global 
Manufacturing Solutions customer for 
human machine interface solutions for 
a high-end, British automotive customer.

We have bolstered our power supply 
capabilities with two acquisitions. We 
acquired Power Partners in March 2019, 
a small US based power supply provider, 
which accelerates our technology 
roadmap for power products while 
improving our US medical market 
access. We are already pursuing revenue 
synergy opportunities with power 
solutions for existing TT customers. 
In November 2019, we announced the 
acquisition of the aerospace and defence 
power supply business of Excelitas 
Technologies Corp based in Covina, 
California. This acquisition completed 
on 3 January 2020 and expands our 
capabilities in power conversion, while 
giving us enhanced access to the large 
and attractive US aerospace and 
defence market. 

At the start of the year we transferred 
our Malaysian Magnetics business from 
the Sensors and Specialist Components 
division to the Power and Connectivity 
division bringing together all our 
electromagnetics design and 
manufacturing capabilities in one 
division. This has enabled a joined-up 
approach for their routes to market and 
the optimisation of our manufacturing 
footprint strategy. This follows the 
accreditation of our Malaysian facility 
for aerospace and defence work, and 
the transfer of some of our product lines 
from our facility in North Devon, UK to 
Malaysia to create the capacity required 
for future growth.

Overview of 2019
The Power and Connectivity division 
performed strongly, with good growth 
and significant margin enhancement in 
the year. Revenues were up 2 per cent 
organically to £138.2 million (2018: 
£115.5 million). There was a £1.2 million 
favourable foreign exchange impact. 
The growth was driven by increased 
revenue from existing customers in 
aerospace, defence and medical. These 
markets now account for over 50 per 
cent of the division and grew 14 per cent 
organically. Acquisitions made a 
£19.5 million contribution to revenue. 

Underlying operating profit was £16.5 
million (2018: £11.2 million), up 45 per 
cent at constant currency. There was 
a £2.0 million profit contribution from 
acquisitions. Underlying operating 
profit margin improved to 11.9 per cent 
(2018: 9.7 per cent). The growth in 
underlying operating profit was driven 
by operational leverage from increased 
revenues and efficiency improvements, 
including the closure of three sites 
associated with the 2018 acquisitions 
of Stadium and Precision. Delivery of the 
synergy plan for the Stadium acquisition 
is now complete and combined with 
synergies from the acquisition of 
Precision delivered £2.0 million of cost 
savings in 2019. 

The division continues to benefit from 
the structural growth drivers associated 
with the increasing electrification of 
aircraft and we won two new aerospace 
and defence customers in the period. 
Following a continued focus on key 
account management, we grew our 
revenues with three of our largest 
aerospace and defence customers by 
36 per cent. We have targeted our R&D 
investment on the next generation of 
power solutions working across 
components, sub-assemblies and 
complete products. During the year 
we launched our first prototype power 
conversion unit at the Paris Airshow, 
following investment in 2018. We are 
actively working on several industry, 
government and customer funded 
projects focused on new technology for 
the next generation of more sustainable 
aircraft, developing electrical solutions 
that will contribute to cleaner, greener 
and quieter aircraft of the future 
alongside our key aerospace and 
defence customers.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

33

Strategic report | Divisional review

Global Manufacturing Solutions

In summary

The Global Manufacturing Solutions division 
provides manufacturing services and engineering 
solutions for our product divisions and to customers 
that often require a lower volume and higher mix 
of different products. We manufacture complex 
integrated product assemblies for our customers 
and provide engineering services including designing 
testing solutions and value-engineering.

Revenue

£213.2m

2018: £181.8m 
+17% (+16% at constant currency)

Underlying operating profit1

£15.4m

2018: £11.3m 
+36% (+34% at constant currency)

Underlying operating profit margin2

7.2%

2018: 6.2%  
+100bps (+90bps at constant currency) 

Percentage of Group revenue

45% 

2018: 42% 

Organic revenue growth

12% 

2018: 8%

c.1,500

Employees (year average)

6

Locations

Capabilities
• Manufacturing and  
engineering services

Key offerings
• Design for manufacture
• Manufacturing assembly and 

systems integration

• Reliability and functional testing
• Value engineering

1  Excluding restructuring costs, asset impairments 

and acquisition related costs (see note 7 on page 129).

34 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Strategic report

Overview of 2019
Global Manufacturing Solutions 
delivered very strong revenue growth 
coupled with improved order visibility, 
reflecting the value our customers place 
on our manufacturing and engineering 
capabilities. Revenues were up by  
12 per cent organically to £213.2 million 
(2018: £181.8 million), driven by growth 
with customers in aerospace, defence 
and medical markets following our 
business development success in these 
markets over the last two years. There 
was a £2.2 million favourable foreign 
exchange impact. Acquisitions made  
a £6.3 million contribution to revenue  
in the division.

Underlying operating profit increased to 
£15.4 million from £11.3 million in 2018, 
up 34% at constant currency. There was 
a £0.1 million loss from acquisitions. 
Underlying operating profit primarily 
grew as a result of operational leverage 
on increased revenues and continued 
operational improvement, particularly in 
our UK operations. Underlying operating 
margins improved by 100 basis points 
to 7.2 per cent (2018: 6.2 per cent). The 
sustained step up in the margin of the 
division is a result of the transformation 
of the business from a manufacturing 
focus on printed circuit board 
assemblies (PCBA) to increasingly 
providing value-added services to 
our customers. We have invested in 
engineering teams to enable the 
manufacture of complex assemblies and 
to provide more sophisticated testing 
and engineering services, which account 
for 55% of revenues. By providing 
value-added services that benefit our 
customers, we are developing deeper 
and longer-term customer relationships.

The strong growth is a result of 
investments made in strategic business 
development where we have been 
focused on targeting the right customers 
in the right markets. We have identified 
customers that have good structural 
growth drivers in their own markets 
and that value the complex engineering 
services we provide. During the year, 
we saw particularly strong growth 
from an aerospace and defence braking 
systems customer on a single aisle 
commercial aircraft, following our 
contract win in 2017. 

Our top medical customers grew  
18 per cent in the year and we won two 
new aerospace, defence and medical 
customers with multi-year, multi-million-
pound revenue streams. Customer wins 
include a contract awarded by L3 Harris 
Technologies to support a substantial 
electronics manufacturing programme 
for a key military platform, where we are 
preparing for the contract to ramp up in 
2020 and 2021. 

We have seen good cross-divisional 
collaboration, including with Power 
Partners, acquired this year. We have 
had a power supply designed by Power 
Partners approved by one of Global 
Manufacturing Solution’s largest medical 
customers for use in pharmaceutical lab 
equipment. We see further opportunity 
from integrating products from our 
Power and Connectivity division, 
particularly in aerospace, defence and 
medical markets. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

35

Strategic report | Divisional review

Sensors and Specialist  
Components

The Sensors and Specialist Components division 
works with customers to develop standard and 
customised solutions including sensors and 
power management devices. Our solutions 
improve the precision, speed and reliability of 
critical aspects of our customers’ applications.

36 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

In summary

Revenue

£126.8m

20181: £132.2m 
(4)% ((7)% at constant currency)

Underlying operating profit1

£15.3m 

2018: £18.5m 
(17)% ((19)% at constant currency)

Underlying operating profit margin1

12.1% 

2018: 14.0% 
(190)bps ((180)bps at constant currency)

Percentage of Group revenue

26% 

2018: 35% 

Organic revenue growth/(decline)  

(7)% 

2019: 8%

c.1,800

Employees (year average)

8

Locations

Capabilities
• Sensing
• Power

Key offerings
• Optoelectronics
• Sensing and power  

management devices

1  Note: Prior period restated for the transfer of the 
Malaysian Magnetics business to Power and 
Connectivity division. In 2018 the Malaysian Magnetics 
business generated revenue of £17.5 million and 
underlying operating profit of £2.8 million. 

2  Excluding restructuring costs, asset impairments and 
acquisition related costs (see note 7 on page 129).

Strategic report

Although there has been short term 
market softening, the long-term 
structural growth drivers for sensing 
and power management devices in 
applications such as robotic automation, 
energy, smart devices and infrastructure 
remain attractive. We have refocused 
our R&D investments around these core 
growth areas. De-stocking in the supply 
chain continues, and once completed 
we expect demand to return to more 
normal levels.

We have seen good growth in the period 
with a global industrial customer for our 
sensors which provide solutions for 
accurate information sensing for cash 
and card transactions. In the year 
we have won positions with new and 
existing customers, including a contract 
with a US defence prime to provide 
a custom sensor used in power 
management for a precision guidance 
mechanism. This arose from a cross-
selling opportunity identified following 
the acquisition of Precision in 2018. New 
contracts were also won with aerospace 
and defence customers, primarily for 
avionic and engine controls on aircraft. 

Overview of 2019
During the year, the Sensors and 
Specialist Components division was 
impacted by softer market conditions 
and inventory-destocking across its 
markets. Consequently, revenues were 
£126.8 million (2018: £132.2 million), 
down 7 per cent on an organic basis. 
There was also a favourable £4.2 million 
foreign exchange impact. This follows 
very strong mid-to-high single digit 
organic revenue growth in 2017 and 
in 2018. 

Underlying operating profit was 
£15.3 million (2018: £18.5 million), 
down 19 per cent at constant currency. 
The underlying operating profit margin 
was 12.1 per cent (2018: 14.0 per cent). 
The reduction largely reflected the 
lower revenues and cost headwinds. 
We accelerated actions to improve the 
efficiency of our cost base including 
optimising our footprint and fixed labour 
costs. We have closed one facility and 
a further facility is in the process of 
being closed, with production being 
consolidated within the existing footprint. 
The total cash cost of this programme 
is expected to be circa £3.5 million. 
These actions realised c.£2 million  
of savings in the year. The underlying 
operating profit margin was 12.5 per 
cent in the second half, following the 
decisive cost action taken in the first 
half. We continue to review the range  
of self-help actions that are open to us  
in the business.

As a result of the weaker market 
conditions for sensing and power 
management devices we have taken the 
decision to put on hold the planned joint 
venture with Uniroyal. Uniroyal remain a 
key supply partner and we are focused 
on developing our existing relationship. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

37

Strategic report | Financial Review

Strong organic financial 
performance bolstered  
by acquisitions

We are demonstrating that the transformation 
of the business to focus on markets with 
structural growth drivers has led to a higher-
margin, better-balanced business capable of 
sustaining a strong financial performance.

We are demonstrating that the 
transformation of the business to 
focus on markets with structural 
growth drivers has led to a higher-
margin better-balanced business 
capable of sustaining a strong financial 
performance. Group revenue for 2019 
was £478.2 million (2018: £429.5 million), 
up 4 per cent organically. Acquisitions 
contributed revenue of £25.8 million and 
there was a favourable £7.6 million foreign 
exchange impact. We saw good growth 
from our aerospace, defence and medical 
customers and revenues from these 
customers grew 22 per cent organically, 
now representing 47 per cent of our total 
business. The Group’s order book is 
strong, with an increased proportion of 
recurring revenues and improved order 
visibility for the third year in succession. 

Underlying operating profit¹ increased 
by 17 per cent at constant currency 
to £40.0 million (2018: £33.4 million). 
Acquisitions contributed £1.9 million. 
Statutory operating profit was 
£18.8 million (2018: £16.5 million), 
an increase of 14 per cent due to the 
improved trading performance, partially 
offset by increased restructuring costs. 

Statutory profit before tax was  
£15.1 million (2018: £14.6 million),  
up 3 per cent. The Group’s profit 
improvement was primarily driven by  
the Power and Connectivity and Global 
Manufacturing Solutions divisions which 
more than offset the impact of softer 
markets in the primarily industrial facing 
Sensors and Specialist Components 
division. Decisive cost action taken in the 
first half has helped to protect margins in 
this division. The synergy action arising 
from the 2018 acquisition of Stadium 
has now been completed with further 
run rate benefits expected in 2020.

Underlying operating profit margin  
for the Group has improved by 60  
basis points at constant currency to  
8.4 per cent (2018: 7.8 per cent). Return 
on invested capital was 11.3 per cent  
and 11.6 per cent excluding the impact  
of IFRS 16, an increase of 10 basis  
points (2018: 11.5 per cent). We delivered 
another year of good cash conversion  
of 98 per cent (2018: 88 per cent)  
and a free cash inflow of £9.7 million  
(2018: £8.5 million). Please see the Chief 
Executive’s strategic review on pages 6–9 
for detail on the divisional performance.

38 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

We have again delivered 
a strong financial 
performance with another 
year of good revenue 
growth, double-digit profit 
improvement and further 
margin enhancement, 
despite more mixed 
market conditions.”

Mark Hoad 
Chief Financial Officer

Financial headlines
• 4% organic revenue growth; 9% 
growth at constant currency 

• Underlying operating profit and PBT 
both materially increased; underlying 
EPS CAGR of 21% since 2015

• 8.4% underlying operating margin, 

+60 basis points 

•  ROIC of 11.3%; up 10 basis points to 
11.6% before the impact of IFRS 16

• Strong cash conversion of 98% and 

ongoing investment for growth

• UK pension scheme triennial 

valuation completed – fully funded 
on an actuarial basis 

• Full year dividend up 8% to 7.0p

1  Please see note 8 on page 130 for details on alternative 

performance measures.

Results for the year ended 31 December 2019

£million unless otherwise stated

2019

2018

Change

Change
 constant fx

2019

2018

Underlying1

Statutory

Remuneration structure

Revenue

Operating profit

Operating profit margin (%)

Profit before tax

Earnings per share (pence)

Return on invested capital2

Cash conversion3

478.2

40.0

8.4%

36.3

18.7p

11.3%

98%

429.5

33.4

7.8%

31.5

16.2p

11.5%

88%

11%

20%

60ps

15%

15%

9%

17%

60bps

12%

13%

478.2

18.8

15.1

8.5p

429.5

16.5

14.6

8.0p

1  Excluding the effect of restructuring and other non-recurring costs and acquisition related costs.
2  Rolling 12 month underlying operating profit return on average invested capital. Excluding IFRS16, ROIC is 11.6%, up 10 bps.
3  Underlying operating cash flow (Underlying EBITDA less net capital expenditure excluding property disposals, capitalised development expenditure, working capital and non-cash 

movements) divided by underlying operating profit. See note 8 on page 130 for more information.

Other financial matters
Exchange rates
The exchange rates used to translate the key non-Sterling flows and balances were:

US$

Chinese RMB

2019

2018

2017

Average

Closing

Average

Closing

Average

Closing

1.27

8.79

1.32

9.23

1.34

8.84

1.27

8.74

1.29

8.73

1.35

8.81

Non-underlying items 
Statutory operating profit was 
£18.8 million (2018: £16.5 million), 
up 14 per cent. 

Non-underlying items are presented 
separately in the income statement 
where the Directors believe that they 
require separate disclosure by virtue 
of their nature, size or incidence in 
order to obtain a clear and consistent 
presentation of the Group’s underlying 
business performance. 

Profit from continuing operations in 
the year increased by 7 per cent to 
£13.9 million (2018: £13.0 million) 
after a charge for items excluded 
from underlying profit of £21.2 million 
(2018: £16.9 million). This comprised 
restructuring and other costs of 
£13.2 million (2018: £4.9 million) primarily 
related to headcount reduction and 
footprint rationalisation in the Sensors 
and Specialist Components division, 
as well as to support delivery of the 
Stadium synergy plan (see note 8 for 
more information). There was also 
£1.0 million linked to pension projects. 
In addition, acquisition and disposal costs 
were £8.0 million (2018: £12.0 million), 

including £3.1 million of cash costs 
related to the acquisitions made in 
the year, integration costs and costs 
associated with aborted M&A activities. 
Non-cash acquisition costs totalled 
£4.9 million, including £4.5 million of 
amortisation of acquired intangibles. 
Profit from discontinued operations was 
£3.4 million (2018: £0.4 million), primarily 
relating to the release of tax provisions. 

Interest
The net interest expense of £3.7 million 
(2018: £1.9 million) increased by 
£1.8 million, in part reflecting higher 
average net debt associated with the 
acquisitions of Stadium and Precision, 
increased levels of working capital 
during the year, as well as a £1.0 million 
increase due to the adoption of IFRS 16. 
Underlying profit before tax increased 
by 12 per cent at constant currency to 
£36.3 million (2018: £31.5 million).

Tax and earnings per share 
There was a tax charge in the period of 
£1.2million (2018: £1.6 million) with an 
underlying tax charge of £5.8 million 
(2018: £5.3 million) and a credit on 
items excluded from underlying profit of 
£4.6 million. This resulted in an effective 

underlying tax rate of 16.0 per cent 
(2018: 16.8 per cent). For details of our 
tax strategy and governance please see 
our website (www.ttelectronics.com/
legal/tax_principles_strategy/).  
Basic underlying earnings per share 
increased by 15 per cent to 18.7 pence 
(2018: 16.2 pence) and by 13 per cent  
at constant currency.

Cash performance
The cash performance was very good 
with underlying operating profit turned 
into good operating cash flow with 
cash conversion of 98 per cent (2018: 
88 per cent). Capital and development 
expenditure totalled £18.2 million, 
(2018: £18.9 million) equivalent to 1.3 
times owned asset depreciation and 
amortisation (2018: 1.4 times). For the 
full year there was a working capital 
outflow of £3.1 million (2018: outflow 
£2.1 million), although working capital 
levels through the year were somewhat 
higher than they have been historically 
due to carrying Brexit buffer inventory 
for an extended period, as well as 
additional in inventory to support growth 
and contract wins. Net interest and 
taxation paid reduced to £7.7 million 
(2018: £8.4 million).

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

39

Strategic report 
Strategic report | Financial Review

Strong organic financial performance 
bolstered by acquisitions continued

Dividends 
The Board has a progressive dividend 
policy, which is primarily driven by 
underlying earnings cover, while also 
taking into consideration other factors 
such as the underlying growth of the 
business, its capital requirements, 
pension obligations and the Group’s 
balance sheet position and cash 
generation. The Group’s risk profile is 
also important to its dividend decision 
and, in this context, the Board continues 
to consider the Group’s principal risks, 
which are set out on pages 44 to 45.

The Group’s Parent Company operates 
as a holding company, primarily deriving 
its net income from dividends paid by its 
subsidiary companies. At 31 December 
2019, TT Electronics plc had significant 
distributable reserves, amounting to at 
least £226.0 million (2018: £94.4 million). 
The Parent Company Balance Sheet is 
set out on page 162.

Having taken into account the above 
factors, the Board is proposing a final 
dividend of 4.9 pence per share. 
This, when combined with the interim 
dividend of 2.1 pence per share, gives 
an increased total dividend of 7.0 pence 
per share for the full year (2018: 6.5 
pence per share), an increase of 8 per 
cent. Payment of the dividend will be 
made on 15 May 2020 to shareholders 
on the register on 24 April 2020.

IFRS 16 Leases
The Group implemented IFRS 16 
Leases with effect from 1 January 2019. 
On adoption of the new standard, the 
Group recognised £18.0 million of right 
of use assets and £21.3 million of lease 
liabilities. The impact on the income 
statement in the year has been to 
increase underlying operating profit 
by £0.8 million and interest expense by 
£1.0 million. Comparative information 
for the prior year has not been restated.

Pensions 
The Group has historically operated 
one significant defined benefit scheme 
in the UK and much smaller defined 
benefit schemes in the US. The Stadium 
Group (1974) pension scheme was 
merged into the TT Group scheme in 
March. All of these schemes are closed 
to new members and are closed to 
future accrual.

The net accounting surplus under 
the Group’s defined benefit pension 
schemes increased to £16.6 million 
(2018: £16.5 million). The improvement 
in the position of the schemes was due 
to changes in the mortality assumptions 
and increase in the value of the Scheme 
assets due to investment performance, 
along with total payments of £8.6 million 
made to the UK schemes for the merger 
of the Stadium Group (1974) pension 
scheme which was merged into the 
TT Group scheme in March. The deficit 
contributions included a payment 
of £3.4 million on the merger of the 
Stadium Group (1974) scheme into the 
TT Group scheme to align funding levels.

The triennial valuation of the TT UK 
defined benefit scheme was completed 
during the year. As at April 2019, the 
scheme was fully funded (£0.3 million 
surplus) on a technical provisions 
basis. This compares with a deficit of 
£46.0 million as at April 2016. This 
significant improvement in the funding 
position has come from a combination 
of asset returns, deficit contributions 
and liability management exercises 
such as the 2018 Pensions Increase 
Exchange. The Company has re-
confirmed with the trustees to continue 
the deficit contribution plan as we 
target self-sufficiency and further 
de-risking. Planned contributions 
amount to £5.3 million in 2020, 
£5.5 million in 2021, £5.7 million in 
2022 and £4.4 million in 2023. 

Given the material nature of the UK 
scheme, the Group has developed a 
comprehensive strategy to manage 
the financial risk associated with it. 
The strategy consists of:

• maintaining a long-term working 

partnership with the Trustee to ensure 
strong governance of risks within 
the UK scheme. The UK scheme is a 
long-term undertaking and is managed 
accordingly, in order to provide security 
to members’ benefits and value for 
money to the Group;

• a prudent investment strategy is 

pursued by seeking risk-rewarded 
long-term returns while removing the 
majority of liability mismatching 
unrewarded risks. As such, the Group 
has in place financial hedging that 
removes the majority of interest rate 
yield and inflation risk. At the current 
level there is no significant impact on 
the deficit of a 10bps fall in yields which 
would otherwise be circa £9 million 
increase if the hedge were not in place, 
thereby reducing volatility. This strategy 
has been in place for a number of 
years, protecting the UK scheme’s 
position since December 2013 when 
yields commenced a prolonged 
decline; and

• the Group recognises that seeking 

rewarded risk returns in its investment 
strategy could lead to short-term 
fluctuations in funding levels 
depending on market conditions. 
The Group considers that by 
maintaining a good relationship with 
the Trustee, it will be able to utilise 
flexibility in the funding regime to even 
out the impact of short-term market 
underperformance to enhance 
predictability of Group pension 
contributions. This creates a suitable 
balance between the needs of the UK 
scheme, the Group, and the Members.

40 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

The main financial covenants in the 
long-term bank facilities restrict net debt 
to below 3.0 times underlying EBITDA 
and underlying EBITDA is required to 
cover net finance charges, excluding 
interest on pensions, by 4.0 times. The 
bank covenant calculation excludes the 
impact of IFRS 16. Net debt is calculated 
at average exchange rates and a 
pro-forma adjustment is made for a full 
year’s contribution from acquisitions.

Net debt/underlying 
EBITDA

Underlying EBITDA/
net finance charges

Covenant

December
2019

<3.00

0.9 times

>4.00

15.7 times

Re-financing
In December 2018 the Group entered 
into an agreement to extend its multi-
currency revolving credit facility, taking 
the maturity date out from May 2021 to 
November 2023, removing short-term 
re-financing risk associated with any 
potential debt market disruption 
associated with Brexit. In addition, 
the facility size was increased from 
£150 million to £180 million.

The rationale for preparing the financial 
statements on a going concern basis is 
set out on page 62.

Mark Hoad 
Chief Financial Officer 
3 March 2020

The assets and liabilities of the Group’s 
UK defined benefit schemes are 
summarised below, alongside the total 
Group pension deficit:

£million

2019

2018

Fair value of assets

575.5

533.9

Liabilities

UK scheme

Overseas schemes 
(deficit)

Total Group surplus

(554.3)

(513.1)

21.2

20.8

(4.6)

16.6

(4.3)

16.5

Financial risk management and 
treasury policies 
The Group’s main financial risks relate  
to funding and liquidity, interest rate 
fluctuations and currency exposures.  
A central treasury department that 
operates according to objectives, policies 
and authorities approved by the Board, 
manages these risks. The overall policy 
objective is to use financial instruments 
to manage financial risks arising from 
the underlying business activities and 
therefore the Group does not undertake 
speculative transactions for which there 
is no underlying financial exposure.  
More details are set out in note 22 to  
the Consolidated Financial Statements. 

Funding and liquidity 
The Group’s operations are funded 
through a combination of retained 
profits, equity and borrowings. 
Borrowings are generally raised at Group 
level from a group of relationship banks 
and then lent to operating subsidiaries. 
The Group maintains sufficient available 
committed borrowing facilities to meet 
any forecasted funding requirements. 

Net debt at the end of the year was 
£69.1 million (2018: £41.7 million), 
with available undrawn committed and 
uncommitted facilities of £109.3 million. 
Excluding IFRS 16, net debt was 
£51.5 million. During the year we 
acquired Power Partners Inc. for an 
initial cash consideration of $1.6 million 
(£1.2 million). An additional $1.3 million 
(£1.0 million) may become payable 
subject to business performance over 
the next two years.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

41

Strategic reportStrategic report | Risk management

Risk management for the successful  
delivery of our strategy

Risk management
The Board of Directors is responsible for 
risk management and internal controls, 
supported by the Audit Committee 
and informed by the executive Risk 
Committee. The Board defines risk 
appetite and monitors the management 
of significant risks to ensure that the 
nature and extent of significant risks 
taken by the Company are aligned with 
overall goals and strategic objectives. 
The Risk Committee supports the Board 
and the Audit Committee in monitoring 
the exposure through regular reviews, 
including reviewing the effectiveness of 

risk management processes and 
controls. The Internal Audit function is 
operated under a directed outsource 
arrangement to enhance the levels of 
resource and expertise available to the 
Group in specific areas, with its activities 
under the direction of the Executive 
Management Board. The Internal Audit 
function assists the Risk Committee by 
advising management on improvements 
to the overall risk management 
framework, facilitating the risk review 
process and providing independent 
experience and input to the process.

Our risk management framework

Corporate level steering
“Top-down” oversight; set risk appetite; monitor significant risks; alignment with strategic 
objectives at corporate level

Board of Directors
Primary responsibility for risk 
oversight; setting strategic 
objectives and defining risk 
appetite

Audit Committee
Oversees risk management 
and internal control 
processes

Risk Committee
Provides framework for 
managing risks; regular 
reviews of principal risks and 
risk management processes

Risk and  
assurance  
function

Divisional level steering and reporting
Risk identification assessment and 
implementation of risk management action 
plans and actions

Business units/site level  
steering and reporting
Implement and embed risk  
management at operational level

Operational steering and implementation
“Bottom-up” identification, assessment and mitigation of risk at operational level

42 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Risk management processes and 
internal control procedures are 
established within business practices 
across all levels of the organisation. 
Risk identification, assessment and 
mitigation are performed both “bottom-
up” with more detailed assessment at 
operational level, as well as through 
“top-down” assessment of strategic 
and market risk at the Executive 
management and Board level.

Risk management and internal controls 
provide reasonable but not absolute 
protection against risk. The Board 
acknowledges and recognises that 
in the normal course of business the 
Group is exposed to risk and that it 
is willing to accept a level of risk in 
managing the business to achieve its 
strategic priorities. Risk appetite is not 
static and as part of its risk management 
processes, the Board regularly considers 
its risk appetite in terms of the tolerance 
it is willing to accept in relation to each 
principal risk based on key risk indicators 
to ensure it continues to be aligned with 
the Group’s goals and strategy.

Risk profile
At the direction of the Board, Executive 
management has performed a robust 
assessment of the principal risks facing 
the Group, taking into account those 
that would threaten the business model, 
future performance, solvency or liquidity, 
as well as the Group’s strategic 
objectives. This process includes a 
“bottom-up” analysis of key risks at 
a divisional level. All principal risks 
identified by this process may have an 
impact on our strategic objectives within 
the next six to twelve months. Executive 
management and the Risk Committee 
perform further analysis to prioritise 
these risks, with a focus on those 
principal elements posing the highest 
current risk to the achievement of the 
Company’s objectives or the ongoing 
viability of the business. 

Risks assessed as higher priority are 
consolidated into a Group Risk Register. 
Risks included on the register are 
monitored closely by the Board, in terms 
of both prioritisation and mitigation 
strategies. It is recognised that, whilst 
these “top risks” represent a significant 
proportion of the Group’s risk profile, 

Executive management and the Risk 
Committee continue to monitor the 
entire universe of potential risks to 
identify new or emerging threats as 
well as changes in risk exposure. 

The assessment of principal risks during 
the year has identified that these risks have 
remained relatively stable in the year. This 
is reflected in the table of principal risks. 
The Group has long been conscious of 
our environmental, social and governance 
(ESG) agenda which has been reported to 
the Board through our Corporate Social 
Responsibility Committee which is 
attended by a Non-Executive Director. 
During the year, we expanded the remit of 
this committee and renamed it the People, 
Social, Environment and Ethics Committee 
(PSEE). We have identified that there is an 
increasing risk that a negative perception 
of our ESG profile could impact on our 
ability to attract new talent to the business, 
build relationships with our customers, 
positively impact the communities 
in which we operate in, and attract 
investment from potential shareholders. 
In 2018, we identified that the Taishan 
site (acquired as part of Precision) did 
not meet TT’s governance standards. 
We took swift action to move production 
to our facility in Malaysia and close the 
facility to reduce our risk in this area. 

We have added a new principal risk 
with the description “Sustainability, 
Environment, Health and Safety” to 
recognise the increasing risk that a 
negative perception of our ESG profile 
could negatively impact the business 
and reflect the focus on mitigating 
actions we have taken. 

Macroeconomic environment
While there is an acknowledgement 
of continued uncertainty around 
geopolitical and macroeconomic risk 
during 2019 and into 2020, the Group 
continues to take appropriate mitigating 
actions to address this and hence this 
risk is considered to be unchanged. 

The Executive management and the 
Board do not currently anticipate any 
significant impact on the Group’s trading 
following the UK referendum on Brexit, 
given that trade between the UK and the 
EU accounts for a small proportion of 
Group revenues and material purchases. 

We recognise however the potential for 
disruption in the event of a disorderly 
exit and as a result the following steps 
have been put in place:

• we have a clear understanding of the 
extended supply chain where we buy 
in the UK but the inventory originates 
from the EU;

•  where there is scope to re-source we are 
putting those actions in place, using 
alternative logistics routes or different 
distribution partners if possible;

• we have engaged our customers 

on whether or not they are buffering 
production requirements already or 
they would like us to support them 
in doing so; 

• all our UK businesses have enacted 
extra purchases of between one and 
three months of inventory to protect 
customer demand requirements. 
We would expect this to get worked 
back out of our inventory by the end of 
2020, but may impact cash conversion 
at the half year;

• our analysis indicates we would not 
be significantly affected by any EU 
workers in UK plants being forced to 
return to their home countries.

No significant direct impact from 
increased tariffs between the US and 
China is anticipated. We are actively 
talking to our customers to see how our 
global footprint can offer opportunities 
to mitigate customers’ own risks in 
relation to increased tariffs.

Update on the impact of COVID-19 
(Coronavirus)
The Covid-19 virus is an emerging risk 
affecting the Group in 2020. We operate 
two primary facilities in China in Suzhou 
and Dongguan. Having enacted our 
business continuity management 
practices, both of these facilities 
re-opened on 10 February with local 
authority approval and were quickly 
operating at 95 per cent capacity. 
Our Suzhou facility remained open 
following Chinese authority approval 
to build critical medical lab analysis 
equipment for our customers required 
for the Hubei province. The duration and 
impact of Coronavirus on our business 
is uncertain. 

Viability statement and prospects

In accordance with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code, the Directors have assessed 
the viability and long-term prospects of the 
Group over the period to December 2022, 
taking into account the Group’s current 
position and the potential impact of the 
principal risks and uncertainties set out on 
pages 44–45 of the Strategic report. Based  
on this assessment, the Directors confirm that 
they have a reasonable expectation that the 
Group will be able to continue in operation 
and meet its liabilities as they fall due over  
the period to December 2022. 

TT operates in markets with long-term 
structural growth dynamics which benefit 
from the trend for “electronics everywhere”. 
We engineer and manufacture power, sensing 
and connectivity solutions to address our 
customers’ challenges in the aerospace and 
defence, medical and industrial markets. 
By positioning ourselves in the right markets, 
by creating differentiated capabilities through 
our R&D investment, and by attracting and 
developing the right talent we have the right 
strategy to create sustainable value over the 
long-term.

The Directors have determined that the period 
to December 2022 represents an appropriate 
period over which to provide the viability 
statement as this aligns with the business 
cycle including product development and 
order intake trends. 

While the Directors have no reason to believe 
the Group will not be viable over a longer 
period, given the inherent uncertainty involved, 
the Directors believe that this presents 
investors and other key stakeholders with a 
reasonable degree of confidence while still 
providing a longer-term perspective. 

In making this statement, the Directors have 
carried out a robust assessment of the 
principal risks facing the Group, including those 
that would threaten its business model, the 
underlying mitigation planning, the assessment 
of future performance, solvency and liquidity, 
and the Group’s internal controls environment.

In making the assessment of the Group’s 
viability, the Directors have stress tested the 
Group’s financial projections for the period 
covered by the viability statement, testing it for 
“business as usual” risks (such as profit growth 
and working capital variances), and severe but 
plausible events (occurring both individually 
and in unison), as well as a “reverse” stress-test 
to understand the conditions which could 
jeopardise the future viability of the Group 
including assessing against covenant testing 
and facility headroom. The Group’s wide 
geographical and sector diversification 
helps minimise the risk of serious business 
interruption or catastrophic reputational 
damage. Furthermore, the business model is 
structured so that the Group is not overly reliant 
on any single customer, market or geography.

While this review does not consider all of the 
risks that the Group may face, the Directors 
consider that this stress-testing based 
assessment of the Group’s prospects is 
reasonable in the circumstances of the 
inherent uncertainty involved.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

43

Strategic reportStrategic report | Risk management

Risk management for the successful  
delivery of our strategy continued

Principal risks and uncertainties

General

Risk description

Potential impact

Mitigating action

Change in the year

General revenue reduction 
Reduction in demand and orders 
due to economic downturn or 
disruption to operations (pandemic 
or other business interruption event)

•  Decelerating sales growth 
affecting operating profit

•  Monitor the wider economic 
conditions of our markets 

•  Timely financial reporting to monitor 
performance and provide a basis 
for corrective action when required

•  Ongoing optimisation of our 

cost base

•  Business continuity and crisis 

management planning

•  Management structures in place 
to enable a rapid response to 
changing circumstances

Increased risk – market volatility 
and political uncertainty due to 
global trade wars and Brexit 
continue into 2020. The duration 
and impact of Coronavirus on our 
business is uncertain. 

Commercial

Contractual risks 
Potential liabilities from defects 
in performance-critical products 
that often operate in extreme 
environments

•  Reputational impact
•  Deterioration in customer 

relationships
•  Liability claims
•  Reduction in revenues, 

profitability and cash generation

•  Quality control procedures and 

systems in place and appropriate 
levels of insurance carried for 
key risk

•  Group guidelines on acceptable 
levels of contractual liability 
are reinforced

No change

Research and development 
Delay in new product development 
which is intended to support 
revenue growth

•  Increased cost in product 

•  Close collaboration with key 

development

customers

•  Delay in achieving projected 

•  Active monitoring of costs and 

revenues

milestones

No change

•  Inability to meet the latest 

requirement due to step change 
in technology

•  Target R&D more effectively
•  Implementation of standard project 

management disciplines

Operational

People and capability 
Ability to attract and retain 
high-quality and capable people

•  Loss of key personnel
•  Potential business disruption
•  Breakdown of communication 

and misalignment

No change

•  Remuneration structure designed 

to support retention

•  Succession planning processes 
embedded within the businesses

•  Campaigns to increase 

performance and development of 
communication between managers 
and employees to ensure alignment 
to objectives

•  Using a feedback loop utilising 
surveys to encourage regular 
objectives and performance 
discussions

Supplier resilience 
Potential failure of critical suppliers; 
product delivery delays; inability to 
meet customer commitments

•  Reduction in revenues, 

•  Regular review of key supplier 

profitability and cash generation

financial health and product quality
•  Monitoring of relevant commodity 

Reduced risk

and precious metals pricing
•  Review of spend patterns to 

identify opportunities

44 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

 
 
 
 
 
Operational continued

Risk description

Potential impact

Mitigating action

Change in the year

IT systems and information 
IT security breaches or disruption, 
unauthorised access or mistaken 
disclosure of information

•  Reputational impact, business 

•  Regular analysis of cyber security 

disruption and potential 
deterioration in customer 
relationships

and data management 
•  IT strategy reviewed by 

management and the Board
•  Data security policies updated 

in 2018

•  Investment through recruitment of 
additional IT and data specialists

No change – continued increasing 
level of cyber and data security 
threat offset by continued 
investment in these areas.

M&A and integration 
Realisation of financial benefit 
of acquisitions

•  Failure to realise the expected 
benefits of an acquisition or 
post acquisition performance 
of the acquired business not 
meeting the expected financial 
performance at the time 
acquisition terms were agreed 
could adversely affect the 
strategic development, future 
financial results and prospects 
of the Group

•  Full financial and other due 

diligence is conducted to the extent 
it is reasonably achievable in the 
context of each M&A opportunity
•  A detailed business case including 
forecasts is reviewed by the Board 
for each opportunity

•  Integration risk and planning is 

reviewed and undertaken as part 
of every acquisition

No change – Recent acquisitions 
have been integrated successfully 
and lessons learned activities 
undertaken.

Sustainability, Environment, 
Health and Safety 
The manufacturing industry is 
inherently dangerous. Managing 
the impact on our employees, 
sites and the environment of these 
risks. Our manufactured products 
or other activities/ decisions of 
the Group may not be judged by 
our customers, employees, 
communities and investors as 
being sustainable

•  Incidents occurring due to 
unsafe manufacturing 
processes. Failure to manage 
the impact of these risks could 
negatively impact our 
employees, lead to regulatory 
fines, reputational damage and 
lost production.

•  Failure to appropriately manage 
the environmental impact of our 
operations and products.
•  Reputational impact and 

potential deterioration in our 
relationships with our 
stakeholders 

New risk

•  Health, Safety and Environmental 
Council responsible for company-
wide best practice sharing, 
monitoring and improvements 
and strategy setting

•  Regional best practice teams 

established

•  PSEE Committee responsible for 
reporting Group progress against 
the development and monitoring of 
our strategy and associated KPI’s. 
•  Processes and roadmaps in place 
to minimise the risk of incidents 

•  Continued investment in M&A, 

business development and new 
product introduction in areas where 
our solutions contribute to a more 
sustainable world (see more on 
page 14) 

Legal

Legal and regulatory compliance 
Intentional or inadvertent 
non-compliance with legislation 
including laws and regulations 
covering export control, anti-
bribery and competition

•  Reputational impact
•  Civil or criminal liabilities leading 

to significant fines and 
penalties or restrictions being 
placed upon our ability to trade

•  Reduction in revenues, 

profitability and cash generation

No change

•  Cross-division export compliance 
group established and anti-bribery 
programme in place

•  Approach involves risk assessment, 

policy, training, review and 
monitoring

•  Whistleblower process in place 
to ensure issues can be raised, 
investigated and managed

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

45

Strategic report 
 
 
 
Strategic report | Our people

Our people

Our people deliver our 
leading electronic expertise. 
They are the foundation 
of TT.

Richard Tyson 
Chief Executive Officer

1 star great 
place to work

The TT way

The principles of the “TT Way” are:

We do the right thing

We bring out the 
best in each other

We achieve more 
together

We champion 
expertise

We get the job 
done… well

Culture
We promote the “TT Way”, the culture 
we aspire to alongside our strategy, to 
develop and guide the way we behave. 

The “TT Way” culture is open, transparent 
and collaborative. At all levels of the 
organisation, we encourage and support 
a high degree of openness and equality 
which will continue to make TT a great 
place for our employees to work. We 
strive to maintain engagement with our 
employees at all stages, from application 
through to retirement. We approach 
interaction with openness, honesty and 
integrity, building strong relationships 
based on trust. Collaboration across the 
Group helps us share our learnings and 
expertise, improving the way we operate 
and serve our customers.

These values underpin the way we 
operate, and we strive to always act 
with integrity, transparency and 
professionalism. We look to do the 
right thing by our people, customers, 
suppliers, shareholders and for our local 
communities, where we work to ensure 
our actions have a positive impact on 
society and the environment. As an 
organisation, we hold ourselves to 
high ethical and business standards.

We promote employee wellbeing and 
health and safety at the workplace 
is at the heart of our “TT Way” 
behaviours. Our sustainability 
commitment to wellbeing extends 
beyond the medical products we 
design and manufacture. We are 
committed to improving the wellbeing 
of our employees by engaging our 
colleagues and communities around 
meaningful work and physical and 
mental wellbeing. Of paramount 
importance is the safety of our 
employees and safety is one of our 
key performance measures (read 
more on page 21). We were delighted 
to have substantially reduced the 
number of three-day lost time 
accidents this year and continue to 
work towards our goal of zero harm. 
Several of our sites were recognised 
internally for achieving zero harm 
throughout the year and our site in 
Kuantan, Malaysia received a national 
award for safety, recognising their 
safety roadmap as best practice. We 
recognise the importance of mental 
wellbeing and in addition to our first 
aiders across the site, we have trained 
more than 85 mental wellbeing 
first aiders to support employees 
struggling with their mental health.  
We also have dedicated ‘happy rooms’ 
at a number of our sites to provide a 
relaxed environment for our employees.

46 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

 
Promoting employee 
wellbeing and health and 
safety at the workplace 
is at the heart of our 
TT Way behaviours.”

People
Our employees are our expertise. 
Through training and developing our 
employees and working together, we 
unlock the potential of TT.

We had over 4,700 employees across 
TT as at 31 December 2019. 50 per cent 
of whom are female, and 50 per cent of 
whom are male.

The table below provides a detailed 
breakdown.

Employees (full time 
equivalent)

Main Board of Directors

Executive Management 
Board (EMB)

Senior Managers  
(Ex EMB) 

Barbados

China

Malaysia

Mexico

Singapore

Sweden

Tunisia

United Kingdom

USA

Other

Total

Male

Female

5

7

24

23

451

77

480

9

12

29

936

307

9

2

1

5

75

470

352

588

13

2

10

575

283

2

2333

2370

Creating a positive working environment 
at all of our sites is of paramount 
importance to TT. We strive to build a 
supportive, diverse and engaging place 
to work, while nurturing a high-
performance culture across the Group, 
built around the “TT Way”.

It is important to us that our employees, 
at all of our sites globally, feel part of 
our BE TT strategy, building expertise 
in TT. Engaged employees are critical 
to our success; our employees make 
TT the organisation it is today. We 
provide our employees with meaningful 
work, where our employees have the 
opportunity to grow their careers with  
TT and feel that they are contributing  
not only to TT, but to helping to solve 
electronic challenges for a more 
sustainable world. 

“Building expertise” is at the centre of our 
growth strategy and we are committed 
to growing the expertise of our 
employees. Personal development is 
important to TT as well as furthering 
individual careers. We continue to 
invest and prioritise the training and 
development of our people, equipping 
them with the right skills to do their 
jobs well, enabling them to unlock 
their potential and the potential of TT.

In order to support the development and 
growth of our employees, we have been 
investing in our talent pipeline, ensuring 
that line managers have career 
conversations with their direct reports 
and that employees have performance 
development reviews. In 2019, we 
launched a women’s business forum 
to help encourage and support female 
leaders within the business. We are also 
looking at addressing unconscious bias 
throughout our manager community. 
We have also prioritised diversity and 
inclusion within our leadership population 
to ensure that the right culture is being 
set throughout the organisation.

A key area for our training and development 
initiatives has been the continued focus 
on our sales and business development 
talent within the organisation. We continued 
to train our customer-facing employees 
with the strategies and processes to enable 
meaningful strategic engagements with 
our customers. 

We communicate frequently and 
openly with our employees, and we 
have received strong feedback from 
employees, telling us they know how 
their role contributes to the strategy. 
We have a quarterly newsletter called 
“BE TT News” which is translated into 
our global languages and available both 
online and in hard copy around our sites. 
In this newsletter, we celebrate the 
successes around the business 
including new sales wins, health and 
safety milestones, community activities 
and new product introductions. 

We held an employee engagement survey 
at the end of 2018 to gather feedback 
from our employees so we can constantly 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

47

Strategic reportStrategic report | Our people

Our people continued

Board

Leadership meetings/
conference/divisional 
reviews

Site Town 
Halls, 
including 
Q&A 

Personal 
objectives 
and 
business 
targets

l

k
a
T
T
T

d
r
a
o
B
e
h
T
/
d
r
a
h
c
R
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A

i

i

s
t
i
s
v
e
t
i
s
d
r
a
o
B
/
D
E
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e
n

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l

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i

p
e
h
g
n
w
o
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e
l
t
s
h
W

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i

y
e
v
r
u
s
t
n
e
m
e
g
a
g
n
E

People, Social, 
Environmental and 
Ethics Committee

Councils
Sales, R&D, 
Ops, 
Procurement 
etc.

Employee 
Engagement 
per site

Employees

learn and adapt to make TT a great place 
to work. Our response rate was 85% 
and well above the Best Companies Ltd 
benchmark. We are rated as a “One Star” 
company for engagement. During the 
year we undertook ‘pulse surveys’ to hear 
from our employees how the actions we 
have taken in response to the last survey 
have been implemented and to gather 
interim feedback. Overall the pulse 
surveys indicated a good level of 
awareness of the survey results and 
associated action plans with themes 
including reward, management, CSR, 
wellbeing and communication raised. 
We will continue to undertake full 
employee surveys on an 18–24 month 
time frame to allow time to embed the 
actions arising from each survey.

Engaged employees are crucial to 
attracting and maintaining the talent 
we need in the business to execute our 
strategy. During the year, we added 
dedicated internal recruitment managers 
for better identification and acquisition 
of talent into the business. We are 
committed to nurturing young talent 
within our industry and have a number 
of apprenticeships and interns across 
the Group. We support and promote 
apprentice schemes across TT, with 
apprentices in engineering, maintenance, 
operations, finance and business 
administration functions and the 
schemes are key to our talent 

management and succession planning. 
Our site in Sheffield, UK was awarded 
“Highly Commended SME Employer of 
the Year” at the Apprenticeship Regional 
Awards 2019 for Yorkshire and Humber, 
recognising TT’s commitment to 
identifying and nurturing new talent. 
We develop our apprentices with support 
for formal qualifications including level 
3 NVQ Apprenticeship in the UK and 
during the year, one of our apprentices 
in Barnstaple, UK won an award for 
Electrical Apprentice of the Year. 

TT also prioritises engagement with 
the next generation of potential talent 
for our industry. Science, Technology, 
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) 
are vital to the economic future, and 
STEM skills are more in demand than 
ever in the workplace. TT supports the 
development of future generations of 
engineers. We focus on supporting local 
STEM partnerships to promote careers 
in electronics and related fields. We also 
support initiatives that encourage more 
girls to study STEM subjects at school, 
and more women to enter our industry. 
During the year, our site in Carrollton,  
US, took part in National Engineering 
Week, an annual US celebration of the 
contribution to society that engineers 
make. In addition to a monetary donation 
to a local STEM programme, teams  
from the site took part in a robot  
building competition to engage future 

48 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

generations about how exciting a career 
in engineering could be. At our Mexicali 
site in Mexico, the team delivered a 
workshop for final year university 
students to help prepare them for the 
transition from university to work. And at 
our site in Kuantan, Malaysia, employees 
took part in “TT lab 2019” – a two  
day event held with five local schools 
that reached over 700 students to 
demonstrate STEM activities including 
games and quizzes, talks on motivation, 
careers advice, academic qualifications 
and safety awareness. 

Performance
Recognising the contribution and 
performance of our employees is 
important across all parts of the 
business. We do this in two ways. 
Firstly, we recognise employees through 
our Be Inspired recognition scheme to 
recognise teams and individuals that 
excel in demonstrating the “TT Way” 
behaviours. In 2019, we received over 
2,600 nominations for these awards, 
over 10 per cent more nominations than 
in 2018, demonstrating high levels of 
engagement and the desire of our 
employees to recognise and support 
their colleagues. We highlighted five 
overall winners at the end of the year, one 
for each of our values, which showcases 
some of the performance behaviours 
we are most proud of as an organisation. 
The overall winners are awarded a 
monetary amount and a site celebration 
gifted to the site they work at. We also 
aim to ensure that all employees are 
included in our pay for performance 
schemes, be it our site-based profit 
share schemes or our annual incentive 
schemes. Site based performance 
schemes primarily reward local 
employees based on metrics around 
On-Time-To-Promise (OTTP) and profit.

Secondly, we believe in the value brought 
by employees having performance and 
development conversations with their 
managers to help ensure that employees 
can be their best every day and fulfil their 
potential. During the year we have taken 
and will continue to take steps to improve 
performance conversations and have 
introduced a new five-point performance 
scale to allow greater differentiation and 
opportunity for recognition. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ethics
TT holds ethical standards in high 
regard, operating with integrity and to 
one standard worldwide. We do not 
tolerate corruption or bribery in any form, 
and are committed to maintaining the 
fundamental principles of fairness, 
honesty and common sense which lie 
at the heart of the Group’s philosophy, 
values and corporate standards. We 
operate effective systems and processes 
to counter corrupt practices, including  
an anonymous “whistleblower” reporting 
facility through which individuals can 
notify us of concerns.

Whistleblowing issues are reported 
directly to management or through the 
Group’s multi-lingual, anonymous ethics 
and integrity portal. Significant issues 
are reported to the Audit Committee and, 
in each instance, cases are investigated 
in detail and appropriate action taken.

Strong business ethics form the basis 
of our relationships with all of our key 
stakeholders, including employees, 
customers, partners and suppliers. Our 
Statement of Values and Business Ethics 
Code sets out the operating principles to 
which we adhere, which covers a diverse 
range of issues including anti-bribery, 
information assurance, intellectual 
property protection, fair competition, 
the working environment (including 
standards of behaviour expected from 
our employees), hospitality/entertainment 
and avoiding conflicts of interest. 

Day-to-day oversight of ethics and 
compliance-related matters is 
undertaken by our People, Social, 
Environmental and Ethics Committee, 
under the leadership of the EVP HR 
which is supported by a dedicated 
Environmental, Health and Safety 
Committee. For any matters of 
particular concern, an Ethics Committee 
is convened on an “as needed” basis, 
constituted from members of the 
Executive Management Board.

Human rights
TT is committed to upholding the  
human rights of our workers and to 
treating them with dignity and respect  
as understood by the international 
community. Our Human Rights Code 
is contained within the Responsible 

Business Alliance (formerly the 
Electronics Industry Citizenship 
Coalition) Code of Conduct (see below) 
and covers all workers including 
permanent, temporary, migrant, student, 
contract, direct and indirect. Our Code 
details expected labour standards and  
is supported by our Modern Slavery 
policy which can be found on our 
website: www.ttelectronics.com. 

We do not tolerate practices which 
contravene international standards. 
Regulatory demands upon us vary 
considerably around the world; however, 
we have established a core structure 
to ensure that Group companies fully 
comply with legislative and regulatory 
requirements while permitting them 
to tailor their approach to particular 
local needs.

Everyone in TT is responsible for having 
due regard for human rights. Managers 
and supervisors must provide leadership 
that promotes human rights as an 
equal priority to other business issues. 
All employees are responsible for 
ensuring that their own actions do 
not impair the human rights of others, 
and are encouraged to bring forward, 
in confidence, any concerns they may 
have about human rights.

Compliance
TT places a strong emphasis on 
business integrity. We ensure that we 
operate in an environment in which 
innovation can flourish within a 
compliance and risk-focused culture. 

During 2019, we have continued to 
work hard to develop a more integrated 
approach to governance, risk and 
compliance. Compliance with laws  
and regulation has been identified as  
one of our principal Group-level risks, 
and is monitored on a regular basis by 
the Risk Committee, with appropriate 
mitigations being adopted as required. 
Given the Group’s focus on aerospace 
and defence, we have continued to 
develop and enhance our training 
programmes and policies in the areas  
of export controls. This programme of 
work complements an additional focus 
on enhancing cyber and information 
security policies and controls during 
2019 together with compliance with  

the General Data Protection Regulation, 
which was introduced across the EU  
in 2018.

Treating our people with respect, 
equal opportunities and diversity
TT is committed to employment policies 
that provide and promote equal 
employment opportunities for all our 
employees and applicants, and to 
maintaining a workplace that ensures 
tolerance, respect and dignity for all staff. 
No employee, applicant, contractor or 
temporary worker should be treated less 
favourably, victimised or harassed on the 
grounds of disability, sex, marital or civil 
partnership status, race, nationality, 
colour, ethnicity, religion or similar 
philosophical belief, sexual orientation, 
age or any distinction other than merit. 
A copy of our Gender Pay Gap report 
can be found on our website www.
ttelectronics.com. Consideration is 
always given to human rights principles 
as part of the Group’s working practices.

Modern slavery
TT is committed to acting ethically 
and with integrity in all of our business 
dealings. As part of this commitment, 
TT has adopted a zero-tolerance 
approach to modern slavery, whether 
in the form of servitude; forced, bonded, 
or indentured labour; slavery; human 
trafficking or any other activity that 
amounts to an unreasonable restriction 
on the free movement of workers. 

Our business model is based on 
providing our customers with engineered 
products, services and expertise for 
performance-critical applications. 
In meeting our customers’ requirements, 
we operate procurement programmes 
through global supply chains, involving 
a wide network of suppliers and 
distributors. It is recognised that 
within this structure (as with all other 
participants operating in our business 
sector), the potential exists for the 
human rights of individual workers to 
be violated. The Board has adopted a 
policy on modern slavery, setting out 
the standards we expect from all our 
employees, contractors, suppliers, 
distributors and other business 
partners. A copy of our modern slavery 
statement can be found on our website 
www.ttelectronics.com

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

49

Strategic reportStrategic report | Corporate responsibilities

Our environment

Our focus on engineering electronics that perform 
reliably in challenging and performance critical 
environments helps our customers bring advances 
that benefit both our planet and its people.

Over 
£50,000

raised from ‘Giving the TT way’ 
programme

Mindful of our environment
Environmental issues, including climate 
change, are challenges affecting all of us. 
Businesses globally must work together 
with governments to address these 
challenges to protect our planet for 
future generations.

We are mindful of the environment 
in which we operate and monitor 
greenhouse gas emissions so we are 
aware of the impact we have on the 
environment. We engage employees 
to promote responsible environmental 
practices. We recognise that our 
activities have an impact on the 
environment and look to mitigate 
this impact wherever possible.

We help solve our customers’ electronic 
challenges by providing solutions that 
are cleaner, smarter, and improve 
wellbeing. Our power control solutions 
for aerospace applications contribute to 
lighter and more environmentally friendly 
aircraft. The industry wide “Clean Sky” 
initiative and associated economic 
benefits from increased fuel efficiency 
is driving demand for our products. 
We provide smart city infrastructure, 
including power management devices 
for smart metering technology, which 
is credited with driving a greater 
awareness and subsequent reduction 
of energy usage in business and 
home environments. We also support 
our customers with a range of medical 

solutions including laboratory analysis, 
minimally invasive procedures and 
medical diagnostic equipment which 
helps to improve wellbeing.

One of our strategic priorities is 
operational excellence and our focus 
is on optimising our operations and 
taking sensible actions to improve our 
procurement effectiveness. During 
the year, we reduced our footprint and 
optimised our operations which helped 
to reduce our environmental impact. 
We have always prioritised minimising 
our environmental impact and best 
serving our customers by running 
facilities that are close to our customers. 

We are mindful of the 
environment in which 
we operate and monitor 
greenhouse gas 
emissions so we are 
aware of the impact we 
have on the environment.”

50 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

In Kuantan, Malaysia, the team 
celebrated the country’s 62nd 
Independence Day with a beach 
clean-up drive, removing plastic 
and other waste from the 
local environment.

Carbon dioxide equivalent (tonnes) 

2019

2018

1,479

1,042

25,285

26,497

Emissions resulting 
from operations and 
combustion of fuel1

Emissions resulting 
from the purchase of 
electricity, heat, steam 
or cooling 

Total 

26,764

27,539

1  These figures represent all material emissions. 

Other greenhouse gases emitted as a result of the 
manufacturing process are not included within this 
figure since these represent a negligible proportion of 
our emissions overall. 

The Group has chosen to adopt 
emissions per £1 million of revenue as 
its intensity ratio. For 2019, emissions 
were 56.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide 
equivalent per £1 million of revenue 
(2018: 64.1 tonnes). In this figure, 
we have included the full year of total 
emissions from the acquisitions made 
in 2018 and emissions from our fleet 
mileage which we are disclosing in 2019 
for the first time.

review in-progress energy management 
projects. Each site has a “TT Electronics 
EC/GhG Reduction checklist”. We hold 
in-house energy audits and work 
closely with our customers to develop 
products that help them meet their 
environmental objectives. 

Our transparent approach to 
environmental performance reporting 
is evidenced by our voluntary 
participation in the CDP Climate 
Change questionnaire in 2019.

For the year ended 31 December 2019, 
the Group’s greenhouse gas emissions 
(detailed below) were calculated using 
the latest factors for converting energy 
usage to carbon dioxide equivalent 
emissions published by DEFRA and 
the International Energy Agency. 

Our environmental strategy is focused 
around the areas we have assessed to 
have the greatest environmental impact, 
namely energy usage, waste 
management and water usage.

Energy usage
Electricity is the largest component 
of our energy usage. Our target is to 
become carbon neutral on scope 1 and 
2 emissions by 2035. As part of meeting 
this target, we are looking to switch our 
sites to green energy electricity tariffs as 
our energy contracts come up for 
renewal and in geographies where 
renewable tariffs are available. 

To encourage energy efficiency, we have 
developed a corporate-wide Energy and 
Greenhouse Gas (Emission Scope I and 
II) Conservation Roadmap (EC/GhGR) 
for all facilities to focus on decreasing 
the quantity of energy used and 
implementing energy efficiency 
initiatives. We have an EC/GhGR 
Champion at each site to manage energy 
efficiency activities for the facility. The 
champion holds regular meetings with 
management teams to establish energy 
management plans and targets and to 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

51

Strategic reportStrategic report | Corporate responsibilities

Our environment continued

Our environment continued

Waste management
Our current waste management focus is 
around reducing our direct and indirect 
single plastic usage. During the year 
TT sites signed a “pledge on plastic” 
to reduce single use plastic which was 
endorsed by the Executive Management 
Board. As part of this pledge, stakeholder 
meetings have taken place and 
educational programmes have been 
launched to raise awareness on the 
detrimental use of single use plastic to 
our environment. Sites hold collection 
of single use plastic items and logistic 
teams have been engaged to look for 
ideas for where we can replace plastic 
with more sustainable alternative 
materials. We have recycling bins in 

our facilities and have removed plastic 
bottles to replace with reusable water 
bottles, jugs and glasses to remove 
single use plastic cups. We are looking at 
our waste to landfill and recycled waste 
and are targeting to reduce our waste 
to landfill and increase what we recycle.

We are also focused on the waste in our 
environment outside of our facilities and 
various sites have engaged with their 
local communities to clean up and 
reduce waste. In Kuantan, Malaysia, 
the team celebrated the country’s 
62nd Independence Day with a beach 
clean-up drive, removing plastic and 
other waste from the local environment. 

Water usage
We are conscious of the water we use 
during our production processes and are 
working to reduce this where possible. 
Examples include using waste water 
generated by facilities for irrigation where 
possible. In our site in Juarez, Mexico, 
all the site’s waste water generated by 
the facility is being reused to irrigate 
green areas on the site. We have called 
this our “Green Desert Project” and our 
newly formed “Green Team” is focused 
on delivering the site’s commitment 
to protecting and improving the 
environment. The team has launched 
initiatives such as “Adopt a Tree” where 
new trees have been planted to improve 
water drainage and the environment for 
the local community. 

The ‘Green Team’ in Juarez, Mexico 
have diverted all the site’s waste 
water generated by the facility to 
irrigate green areas of the site. 
They have also planted trees in 
the local area under their “Adopt 
a Tree” initiative.

52 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Our communities 

As a responsible global 
organisation with 
operations in many 
locations, TT Electronics 
is committed to making a 
sustainable, positive impact 
on the local communities 
in which we operate. 

We have an international footprint 
comprising 28 key sites. At a number of 
our sites, we have been a local employer 
for many years, and we encourage our 
employees to play an active role in 
supporting the local community. Many 
of our employees are local to the site 
and we pride ourselves on providing 
meaningful work to the community. 
Many of our employees want to make a 
positive contribution to the community 
in which they live and work and we 
encourage sites to take part in initiatives 
that mean the most to their employees 
locally. In 2019, we ran more than 45 
community and STEM events and our 
employees gave over 5,000 “hours for 
giving” to good causes.

Each of our sites choose a local charity 
to support throughout the year and in 
2019 we raised over £50,000 through 
our programme “Giving the TT Way”. 
Activities include a wide range of 
initiatives including the Welsh and Surrey 
Three Peaks challenges, blood donation, 
purchasing school supplies, fancy dress 
days and cake sales. Our site in Kuantan, 
Malaysia celebrated the countries 
62nd Independence Day with a mini 
walkathon, park and beach clean-up. 
The activity helped remove plastic and 
other waste from the community as 
well as raise awareness about recycling. 

A team from Barnstaple, UK took  
part in the three-day Children’s 
Hospice Southwest charity bike ride. 
They completed a challenging 
205-mile route which took them from 
St Austell, Cornwall to Bristol, Avon; 
visiting each of the three Children’s 
hospices in the region. The team 
raised over £6,000 for the charity.

We work closely with local schools and 
other educational establishments to 
give back to the local community using 
our skills and passion for engineering 
to encourage more young people to 
consider STEM careers. Many of our 
employees gave up their time to give 
talks, demonstrate engineering and 
attend careers fairs to excite young 
people in our communities about 
what a career in a STEM related field 
could offer. 

The 2019 Strategic report, from 
page 1 to page 53 has been reviewed 
and was approved by the Board of 
Directors on 3 March 2020.

Richard Tyson 
Chief Executive Officer

Mark Hoad 
Chief Financial Officer

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

53

Strategic reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Chairman’s introduction to governance

Neil Carson 
Chairman

Chairman’s introduction  
to governance

One of the key themes that we highlighted in last year’s 
annual report was the concept of TT having produced 
strong delivery while investing for the future.

As you will have seen elsewhere in 
this report, the Group has done much 
in 2019 to maintain the positive 
momentum from previous years. 
This is evident from the strong set of 
results achieved in 2019, as well as in 
the delivery of key projects such as the 
acquisition, in January 2020, of Excelitas 
Technologies Corps’ aerospace and 
defence power supply business in 
Covina, California, the establishment 
of the Advanced Technology Centre in 
collaboration with Nottingham University 
and the investment in key facilities such 
as Suzhou, Bedlington and Hartlepool to 
drive sustainable growth for the future.

Addressing the 2018 UK Corporate 
Governance Code
Another feature of last year’s annual 
report was the Board’s focus on meeting 
the reform agenda set out in the 2018 
UK Corporate Governance Code. 
This issue has been a key priority for 
the Board in 2019 and in this section 
we have summarised how this has 
been integrated as a core part of our 
governance operations. As can be seen 
from the Strategic report, significant 
work has been undertaken this year in 
developing a revised purpose statement 
for the Group and the Board was heavily 
involved in the process of ensuring that 
this statement provided an effective link 
to our values and culture. Furthermore, 
the Board is aware of the fast-changing 
agenda on environmental and 
sustainability priorities for global 

companies and has been actively 
involved in this initiative during 2019, 
which is described in more detail on  
page 14. Finally, we have worked hard  
to define how we have discharged both 
our duty to promote the success of 
the Company under section 172 of 
the Companies Act 2006 (see page 62) 
and our contribution to stakeholder 
engagement (see pages 64 to 65). 

Engaging with our Employees
On this latter point, the Board visited two 
of our key facilities in 2019 (Bedlington 
and Hartlepool) in order to witness at 
first hand the progress being made 
to translate focused investment into 
tangible customer opportunities. 
The Board also had a management 
presentation from senior Executives 
from our world-class facility in Suzhou. 
In addition, a NED representative attends 
each People, Social, Environmental and 
Ethics (PSEE) Committee meeting in 
order to ensure that “employee voice” 
and wider stakeholder considerations 
are elevated (through the PSEE 
Committee) to the Board, so that 
Directors can take the pulse of key 
engagement issues. The PSEE 
Committee was established in 2019 with 
an expanded remit (beyond the previous 
CSR Committee) to provide a forum for 
detailed consideration of stakeholder 
issues. The framework for promoting 
NED engagement on “employee voice” 
issues was developed during a visit by 
Michael Baunton to our Perry facility in 

54 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

2019, which was repeated during visits 
by Anne Thorburn to Rogerstone and 
Barnstaple as part of her induction 
programme. Further information on our 
employee engagement framework is set 
out on page 48. 

The Board
Michael’s visit to our facility in Perry took 
place in April 2019, just a few months 
before the ninth anniversary of his 
appointment to the Board. To address 
the “independence” requirements of 
the UK Corporate Governance Code, 
and as disclosed in last year’s annual 
report, the Nominations Committee 
launched a recruitment campaign in 
the first half of 2019 to find Michael’s 
replacement. This process culminated 
in the appointment of Anne Thorburn 
to the Board in July. Anne has significant 
Finance-related experience in listed 
company environments, covering the 
life sciences, medical and industrial 
sectors, and has already made a 
significant contribution since joining 
the Board. It was sad to see Michael 
stepping down from the Board, as he 
has been a loyal servant to TT over the 
years. On behalf of the Board, I would 
like to thank Michael for his dedicated 
service throughout his time as a 
Non-executive Director. 

At the end of 2019, it was announced 
that I would be standing down as 
Chairman as a result of my increasing 
external commitments. This represented 
a difficult decision for me personally, 
as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time 
with TT, having witnessed the significant 
progression made by the business in the 
past few years. This year also represents 
Stephen King’s ninth anniversary as a 
director of the Company, with the result 

I remain committed to the principle that the  
Board should focus its attention on those areas  
over which it can add most value and we will  
strive to maintain this approach in the future.” 

that he too will step down from the 
Board during 2020. Stephen has served 
as Chair of the Audit Committee for  
the majority of his time with TT and  
is currently TT’s Senior Independent 
Director. We are in the process of 
conducting an external search for my 
replacement as Chairman and will 
provide further information on this 
appointment process in due course, 
together with details as to whom the 
Board has selected as Stephen’s 
replacement as Senior Independent 
Director. At the point that Stephen steps 
down from the Board, Anne Thorburn will 
take over his responsibilities as Chair of 
the Audit Committee. I would like to take 
this opportunity to thank Stephen for 
his considerable contribution to TT’s 
progression during his time as a director. 
Except as stated above, we do not intend 
to recruit any new members to the Board 
at the present time. I can confirm that 
one of the Board’s key priorities is to 
ensure that any new NED appointments 
made in the future are supportive of the 
culture of openness and transparency 
we have created at the Board level, to 
allow us to maintain focus on our key 
strategic priorities in an environment 
of trust and freedom of expression.

I am pleased to report that the Board has 
maintained a strong focus on its wider 
governance responsibilities throughout 
the past year, which includes the delivery 
of the Group’s strategic priorities and 
monitoring performance in key areas 
of operations, including: health & safety, 
talent management, site rationalisation, 
improved business development 
capability and operational efficiency, 
R&D progression and M&A execution. 
The Board’s activities during the year are 
set out on page 60 and demonstrate 

how the strategic direction of the Group 
and the long-term success of the 
Company have remained at the forefront 
of the Board’s decision-making 
processes. Whilst we have taken the 
decision not to repeat the external 
evaluation exercise first conducted in 
2017, there has been a continuous focus 
throughout the last financial year on 
how the Board can better support the 
business as it strives to meet its growth 
agenda, which culminated in an in-depth 
Board evaluation exercise at the end of 
the year. The outputs of this exercise are 
summarised on pages 66 to 67 of this 
Annual Report. As described elsewhere 
in this report, the Board has paid 
particular attention in 2019 to the 
requirements of the new UK Corporate 
Governance Code in scoping its future 
activities. In that regard, I can confirm 
that the Group has complied fully with 
the requirements of the Code in 2019. 

The Board attaches a high degree of 
importance to diversity at all levels across 
the Group and is committed to recruiting 
the best talent available, based on merit, 
and assessed against objective criteria 
of skills, knowledge, independence 
and experience. However, we do not 
advocate a forced approach to diversity 
at any level of the organisation. This is 
the rationale that has been applied to 
the NED recruitment exercises that have 
been undertaken during 2019 and this 
approach will continue to be applied in 
the future. Female representation on the 
Board now stands at over 25 per cent, 
which we believe will have a positive 
impact on the delivery of the Group’s 
strategic and operational needs in the 
future. This process was reinforced by 
a strong focus on diversity initiatives 
across the Group in 2019 (including 

UK Corporate Governance Code
Compliance Statement
TT is committed to achieving and 
maintaining the highest standards 
of corporate governance. As at 
31 December 2019, the Group 
was compliant with the main and 
supporting principles of good corporate 
governance set out in the UK Corporate 
Governance Code 2018 (“the Code”). 
The Code is available to view at the 
website of the Financial Reporting 
Council, www.frc.org.uk. Details and 
explanations of the application of the 
principles of corporate governance 
are set out in the following pages 
of this Governance section.

the creation of a new “Women in 
Business Forum” across the UK and 
US business units), which we propose 
to expand in 2020.

I am pleased with the progress we 
have made in 2019, both in terms of the 
continued improvements in operational 
performance and the contribution 
made by the Board in the delivery of 
the Group’s strategic priorities. I believe 
that we have continued to develop 
our governance framework in 2019 to 
meet the future needs of the business. 
I remain committed to the principle that 
the Board should focus its attention on 
those areas over which it can add most 
value and we will strive to maintain this 
approach in the future. I look forward to 
the continuation of this progression in 
the coming year.

Neil Carson 
Chairman

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

55

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Board of Directors and Company Secretary

A blend of skills and experience

Board of Directors and Company Secretary

Neil Carson OBE

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

Stephen King

Chairman
Joined: 2015

Chief Executive Officer
Joined: 2014

Chief Financial Officer
Joined: 2015

Richard has developed an 
extensive portfolio of managerial 
and operational capabilities over 
a 25-year career with a range of 
leading aerospace and defence 
and technology companies, 
including over six years as a 
member of the Executive 
Committee and President of the 
Aerospace & Security division of 
Cobham plc. Prior to that, he was 
responsible for TRW Aeronautical 
Systems’ (formerly part of Lucas 
Industries) European aftermarket 
business. Richard has significant 
experience of leading large 
complex, global businesses 
coupled with M&A and business 
transformation activities, as well 
as driving growth and innovation 
in high technology businesses.

Mark has a deep understanding of 
finance and operational activities 
which he has acquired during a 
career spent in senior finance/
management roles with FTSE 
listed companies, including as 
group finance director of BBA 
Aviation plc, a FTSE 250 company 
operating in the aerospace domain. 
A chartered accountant, Mark’s 
experience includes several 
years working in a variety of 
management roles at RMC Group 
plc in Continental Europe and 
Australia, as well as a strong focus 
on driving business transformation 
in the US.

Relevant skills and experience:

Neil has a proven track record of 
delivering growth as a leader of 
a FTSE 100 science/R&D based 
company, Johnson Matthey, 
reinforced by over 30 years’ 
experience of operations 
management, technical 
innovation and strategic planning, 
which are highly complementary 
to the Company’s needs. Neil has 
also had exposure to a wide 
range of industry sectors, having 
served on the boards of a variety 
of UK listed companies and 
Government bodies, including 
Amec Foster Wheeler plc, 
Paypoint plc, TI Fluid Systems 
plc and the Prince of Wales’ 
Corporate Leaders Group on 
Climate Change, of which he 
was a founder member. Neil 
was also formerly the Honorary 
President of SCI (the Society 
of Chemical Industry).

Other current appointments:

Senior Independent
Non-executive Director
Joined: 2011

Having served as a CFO on several 
FTSE 250 boards, Stephen has a 
wealth of finance and corporate 
governance experience across 
a number of industry sectors. 
Stephen is a chartered accountant 
and his previous executive 
responsibilities on the board of an 
investment trust company provides 
the Board with particular insight in 
the areas of M&A/financing, risk, 
audit and regulation at a PLC level. 
Stephen was previously group 
finance director of Caledonia 
Investments plc and De La Rue plc, 
and a non-executive director of 
The Weir Group plc. He has also 
held senior finance positions with 
Aquila Networks plc, Lucas 
Industries plc and Seeboard plc, 
and was also a non-executive 
director of Camelot plc and Bristow 
Group Inc.

Non-executive chairman of 
Oxford Instruments plc and 
non-executive director of Royal 
Dutch Shell plc.

Non-executive director of the 
Vitec Group plc and Governor of 
St Swithuns’ Independent School 
for Girls in Hampshire.

Non-executive director on the 
board of BBA Aviation plc and 
Chemring plc, where he chairs 
both of their Audit Committees.

N   R  

P   RI

RI

A   N

56 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Key

N   Nominations Committee

A   Audit Committee

R   Remuneration Committee

P  

 People, Social, Environmental  
and Ethics Committee

RI   Risk Committee

  Chair of the Committee

Chairman

Joined: 2015

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Joined: 2014

Joined: 2015

Senior Independent

Non-executive Director

Joined: 2011

Independent Non-executive 
Director
Joined: 2016

Independent Non-executive 
Director
Joined: 2016

Independent Non-executive 
Director
Joined: 2019

General Counsel and  
Company Secretary
Joined: 2012

Alison Wood

Jack Boyer OBE

Anne Thorburn

Lynton Boardman

Relevant skills and experience:

Neil has a proven track record of 

Richard has developed an 

Mark has a deep understanding of 

Having served as a CFO on several 

delivering growth as a leader of 

extensive portfolio of managerial 

finance and operational activities 

FTSE 250 boards, Stephen has a 

a FTSE 100 science/R&D based 

and operational capabilities over 

which he has acquired during a 

wealth of finance and corporate 

company, Johnson Matthey, 

reinforced by over 30 years’ 

experience of operations 

management, technical 

a 25-year career with a range of 

career spent in senior finance/

governance experience across 

leading aerospace and defence 

management roles with FTSE 

a number of industry sectors. 

and technology companies, 

including over six years as a 

listed companies, including as 

group finance director of BBA 

Stephen is a chartered accountant 

and his previous executive 

innovation and strategic planning, 

member of the Executive 

Aviation plc, a FTSE 250 company 

responsibilities on the board of an 

which are highly complementary 

Committee and President of the 

operating in the aerospace domain. 

investment trust company provides 

to the Company’s needs. Neil has 

Aerospace & Security division of 

A chartered accountant, Mark’s 

the Board with particular insight in 

also had exposure to a wide 

Cobham plc. Prior to that, he was 

experience includes several 

range of industry sectors, having 

responsible for TRW Aeronautical 

years working in a variety of 

the areas of M&A/financing, risk, 

audit and regulation at a PLC level. 

served on the boards of a variety 

Systems’ (formerly part of Lucas 

management roles at RMC Group 

Stephen was previously group 

of UK listed companies and 

Industries) European aftermarket 

plc in Continental Europe and 

finance director of Caledonia 

Government bodies, including 

business. Richard has significant 

Australia, as well as a strong focus 

Investments plc and De La Rue plc, 

Amec Foster Wheeler plc, 

experience of leading large 

on driving business transformation 

and a non-executive director of 

Paypoint plc, TI Fluid Systems 

complex, global businesses 

in the US.

The Weir Group plc. He has also 

held senior finance positions with 

Aquila Networks plc, Lucas 

Industries plc and Seeboard plc, 

and was also a non-executive 

director of Camelot plc and Bristow 

Group Inc.

coupled with M&A and business 

transformation activities, as well 

as driving growth and innovation 

in high technology businesses.

plc and the Prince of Wales’ 

Corporate Leaders Group on 

Climate Change, of which he 

was a founder member. Neil 

was also formerly the Honorary 

President of SCI (the Society 

of Chemical Industry).

Other current appointments:

Non-executive chairman of 

Oxford Instruments plc and 

Non-executive director of the 

Vitec Group plc and Governor of 

non-executive director of Royal 

St Swithuns’ Independent School 

Dutch Shell plc.

for Girls in Hampshire.

Non-executive director on the 

board of BBA Aviation plc and 

Chemring plc, where he chairs 

both of their Audit Committees.

Relevant skills and experience:

Alison’s background is in leading 
business development, M&A 
and strategic planning across 
blue-chip UK companies, 
particularly in the Defence sector. 
In addition, during her time as the 
Remuneration Committee chair 
of several FTSE listed companies, 
she has gained an invaluable 
insight into the development and 
execution of remuneration policy, 
which is a key component of the 
Company’s growth ambitions. 
Alison was formerly global 
director corporate development 
& strategy for National Grid plc 
and before that, group strategic 
development director for BAE 
Systems plc. Alison has 
previously held non-executive 
directorships at Cobham plc, e2v 
technologies plc, BTG plc and 
THUS plc.

Other current appointments:

Non-executive director of Costain 
Group plc, Cairn Energy plc and 
the British Standards Institution 
(BSI). In addition, Alison chairs 
the Remuneration Committees of 
Costain Group Plc and BSI.

A qualified solicitor, having 
practised with Simmons & 
Simmons, Macfarlanes and 
Burges Salmon LLP. Formerly 
head of legal (Europe, Middle 
East and Africa) at Syngenta 
Crop Protection and then general 
counsel and company secretary 
of QinetiQ Group plc from 2002 
to 2011.

Anne has many years of experience 
gained from board level finance 
roles in listed international 
companies, including across life 
sciences, medical and industrial 
markets. Anne has particular 
expertise in financial management, 
risk, audit and M&A which 
complements the Company’s 
strategy as it continues to 
transform. Anne is a member of the 
Institute of Chartered Accountants 
in Scotland and has formerly 
served as chief financial officer of 
Exova Group plc and group finance 
director at British Polythene 
Industries PLC. Anne was formerly 
a non-executive director of BTG plc.

Jack has a background in 
corporate finance, investment 
and M&A, which he has applied 
in bringing a number of business 
ventures through to operational 
maturity in the engineering, 
telecommunications and 
biotechnology sectors. Jack’s 
extensive experience of innovation 
and the exploitation of technology, 
in the private sector and through 
working with Government bodies, 
are highly relevant given the 
Company’s transformational 
agenda. Awarded an OBE in 2015 
for services to science and 
engineering, Jack was formerly 
a non-executive director of Mitie 
Group plc and Laird plc, and 
chairman of Ilika plc, AIM-listed 
Seeing Machines Limited and 
the Academies Enterprise Trust. 
He was also an investment banker 
at Goldman Sachs and strategy 
consultant at Bain & Co.

Non-executive director of Ricardo 
plc, Chair of the University of 
Bristol, and Member of the Board 
of the Henry Royce Institute for 
Advanced Materials.

Non-executive director and 
chair of the Audit Committee 
of Diploma PLC.

N   R  

P   RI

RI

A   N

R   A   N

A   N   R   P

A   N

P   RI

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

57

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Executive Management Board

A blend of skills and experience 
continued

Executive Management Board

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

Lynton Boardman

Neil Fleming

Chief Executive Officer
Joined: 2014

Chief Financial Officer
Joined: 2015

General Counsel and  
Company Secretary
Joined: 2012

EVP, Corporate Development
Joined: 2018

Relevant skills and experience:

Full biography on page 56.

Full biography on page 56.

Full biography on page 57.

Neil has experience in the energy, 
utilities and transportation sectors, 
with previous senior roles at 
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. 
Neil was a non-executive director 
at Scotia Gas Networks and 
Birmingham Airport.

Tenure – Independent Non-executive Directors

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8 

9

Neil Carson

Stephen King

Michael Baunton1

Jack Boyer

Alison Wood

Anne Thorburn2

Attendance 2019

Board

Audit Committee

Nominations Committee

Remuneration Committee

Neil Carson

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

Michael Baunton1

Jack Boyer

Stephen King

Alison Wood

Anne Thorburn2

7 of 7

7 of 7

7 of 7

5 of 5

7 of 7

7 of 7

7 of 7

4 of 4

–

–

–

3 of 3

4 of 4

4 of 4

4 of 4

2 of 2

3 of 3

–

–

1 of 1

3 of 3

3 of 3

3 of 3

2 of 2

1  M Baunton resigned from the Board on 1 September 2019; he attended all scheduled meetings before such date.
2  A Thorburn was appointed to the Board on 1 July 2019; she attended all scheduled meetings after such date.

5 of 5

–

–

3 of 3

5 of 5

–

5 of 5

–

58 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Joined: 2014

Joined: 2015

General Counsel and  

Company Secretary

Joined: 2012

EVP, Corporate Development

Joined: 2018

Relevant skills and experience:

Full biography on page 56.

Full biography on page 56.

Full biography on page 57.

Neil has experience in the energy, 

utilities and transportation sectors, 

with previous senior roles at 

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. 

Neil was a non-executive director 

at Scotia Gas Networks and 

Birmingham Airport.

Tom Garvey

Sarah Hamilton-Hanna

Michael Leahan

Charlie Peppiatt

Divisional EVP 
Joined: 2016

EVP, Human Resources
Joined: 2019 

Divisional EVP
Joined: 2017

Divisional EVP
Joined: 2018

Relevant skills and experience:

Tom has more than 20 years’ 
experience in the aerospace 
and defence industry. Having 
joined from Cobham plc, 
Tom has experience setting 
and executing growth plans and 
developing customer-focused 
product and technology.

Sarah brings over 16 years’ 
experience in HR across global HR, 
business transformation, talent 
and organisational development. 
Sarah was formerly Global HR lead 
for the food and beverage solutions 
division of Tate and Lyle.

Michael has over 30 years’ 
experience in the aerospace 
and defence industry. Michael 
previously held senior positions 
at Marotta Controls, Lucas 
Aerospace and Fairchild Controls.

Charlie joined TT in 2018, 
following the acquisition of the 
Stadium Group, where he was 
CEO from 2013. Previously 
Charlie was VP Global Operations 
for Laird Technologies and has 
held senior roles globally.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

The division of responsibilities between the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer has been defined, formalised in writing, 
and approved by the Board:

Roles and responsibilities

Chairman

Chief Executive

Maintains responsibility for:
•  the leadership and effectiveness of the Board, and for setting its agenda; 
•  ensuring all Directors receive accurate, timely and clear information 
on financial, business and corporate matters so they can participate 
in Board decisions effectively; 

Maintains responsibility for:
•  the operations of the Group; 
•  developing Group objectives and strategy, having regard to the 

Group’s responsibilities to its shareholders, customers, employees 
and other stakeholders; 

•  facilitating the effective contribution of Non-executive Directors; 
•  ensuring constructive relations between Executive and Non-executive 

•  successful implementation and achievement of strategies and 

objectives, as approved by the Board;

Directors; 

•  managing the Group’s risk profile, including its health and safety 

•  ensuring effective communication with shareholders;
•  ensuring the performance of individual Directors, the Board as a 
whole, and its Committees are evaluated at least once a year.

performance; 

•  ensuring the Group’s businesses are managed in line with strategy 

and approved business plans, and complying with applicable legislation 
and Group policy; 

•  ensuring effective communication with shareholders; 
•  setting Group human resource policies, including management 

development and succession planning for the senior executive team.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

59

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Leadership and Company purpose

Leadership and Company purpose

Company purpose, strategy and values
The Board’s main roles are to provide 
leadership to the management of the 
Group, to determine and ensure the 
implementation of the Group’s strategy 
and to maintain the highest standards 
of corporate governance. Underpinning 
all of these aspects of the Board’s 
responsibilities lies the principal aim 
of ensuring the sustainable, long-term 
success of the Company. The main 
activities covered by the Board in the 
year are set out below. 

The Board understands the relationship 
between the Company’s purpose, 
strategy and values. In 2019 the Board 
has reviewed and approved the new 
Company purpose statement –  
“We solve electronic challenges for  
a sustainable world. TT engineers 
advanced electronics which benefit  
our planet and its people for future 
generations. We do this by designing, 
manufacturing and working in a way  
that is cleaner, smarter and improves 
wellbeing.” The Board considers this 

purpose to be an appropriate reflection 
of the Group’s culture and the strategic 
direction for the business in the future. 
Our corporate purpose is integral to 
understanding why we do what we do. 
The Company’s strategy is clearly 
defined and regularly reviewed by the 
Board; the five-year strategic plan is 
discussed in detail and is approved 
annually, based on the Company’s 
activities, its progress on delivering the 
strategic priorities and the significant 
challenges that have been identified  
both within the business and across  
the wider macro-economic environment. 
Our strategy defines what we do. 

The Company’s values, culture and 
behaviours drive how we execute our 
strategic vision. The “TT Way” principles, 
see page 46, set out the Company’s 
culture and values by which we expect 
our employees, from the top down, 
to conduct our business. We strive to 
always act with integrity, transparency 
and professionalism. To support the 
TT Way, the Company has a number  

of policies in place such as our Statement 
of Values and Business Ethics Code, 
the TT Worldwide Anti-Corruption and 
Bribery Policy and the Modern Slavery 
Policy. Alongside these policies the 
Board monitors and reviews the 
implementation of the Company’s 
culture through processes such as our 
anonymous Whistleblowing helpline, 
where concerns raised are independently 
investigated and escalated to the Board 
for their review. Furthermore, the Board 
receives updates on our employee 
engagement processes, including our 
employee voice on the Board initiative 
(see page 48) which identifies what is 
going well and where we can improve 
across our sites worldwide. To support 
full understanding of our policies and 
standards there is a programme of 
induction for new employees and regular 
refresher training through e-modules 
and Company communications. At a 
wider stakeholder level, the Board 
approves the Group’s Modern Slavery 
Policy and Modern Slavery Statement 
on an annual basis. 

Board activities in 2019
During the financial year, the Board discussed and implemented the following key actions:

Value added product solutions
•  Receive presentation from EVP of IoT Solutions 
•  Review of organic opportunities in Medical sector

Business Development
•  Review of BD planning activities
•  Receive presentation from EVP of IoT Solutions
•  Receive presentation from EVP GMS

Operational Excellence
•  Operational Review – GMS in Suzhou
•  Review of Group IT Strategy
•  Footprint optimisation

Value-enhancing Acquisitions
•  Review and scrutiny of various acquisition proposals
•  Analysis of specific regulatory regimes in other jurisdictions
•  Review of post-offer intention statements one year on from Stadium
•  Review of M&A opportunities in Medical sector

Organisational capabilities (people)
•  Review of HR Strategic Progress
•  Talent and succession planning
•  Review of voice on the Board and wider stakeholder issues through 

PSEE Committee

Governance and reporting
•  Annual report content
•  Board Evaluation exercise
•  Review of AGM documents, arrangements and results
•  Investor relations feedback and strategy review
•  Review of Stakeholder Engagement processes
•  Analysis of new Corporate Governance Code reforms
•  Conduct Conflicts of Interest review
•  Modern Slavery Policy and Statement

Financial, risk, operational performance
•  Review of financial results
•  Approval of dividends
•  Assessment of going concern and FBU analysis
•  Regular review of risk register
•  Review Group’s insurance cover
•  Review of Five-Year Strategic Plan
•  Approve 2020 budget
•  Receive presentation by Tax & Treasury

60 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

The Board
Subject to the Company’s Articles of 
Association, UK legislation and any 
directions given by special resolution, 
the Board manages the Company’s 
business. The Board has reserved 
certain specific matters to itself for 
decision. These include financial 
policy and policy relating to acquisition 
and disposal.

The Board appoints its members, 
and those of its principal Committees, 
having received the recommendations 
of the Nominations Committee. It also 
reviews recommendations of the 
Board Committees and the financial 
performance and operation of the 
Group’s businesses. It regularly reviews 
the identification, evaluation and 
management of the principal risks faced 
by the Group and the effectiveness of 
the Group’s system of internal control 
as set out on page 42.

Board and Committee meetings are 
scheduled in line with the Company’s 
financial calendar, thereby ensuring that 
the latest operating data is available for 
review and sufficient time and focus can 
be given to matters under consideration. 
During the year, there were seven 
principal Board meetings on scheduled 
dates, for which full notice was given. 
We hold additional meetings as and 
when required; during 2019 one such 
additional meeting was scheduled to 
consider M&A opportunities. The Board 
has held two principal meetings to date 
during 2020.

Beyond the principal meetings, the 
Board takes the opportunity to discuss 
important strategic and operational 
issues at Board dinners, which are 
scheduled to coincide with the principal 
meetings. In 2019, six Board dinners 
were held throughout the year and 
members of the Executive Management 
Board attended one of these dinners. 
The Non-executive Directors meet, 
without the Executive Directors present, 
at the end of each scheduled Board 
meeting, as a standing agenda item. 

Each Board meeting during 2019 
discussed strategic issues (principally 
focused on key projects, the M&A 
opportunity pipeline and the status 
of integration activity on recent 
acquisitions) together with operational, 
financial, human resources, legal, 
governance and investor relations items. 
The Directors review, throughout the 
year, the opportunities and risks to 
the future success of the business by 
receiving and discussing information 
from both internal and external sources 
regarding the issues affecting the 
business, the wider industry and the 
macroeconomic environment. 
The Board has developed a deep 
understanding of the Group’s business 
model and strategy and the strategic 
priorities that underpin the business, 
The main events in the Board calendar 
are the approvals of the half-year and 
full-year results, the Board site visit, 
the review of the five-year strategic plan 
(which take place around the autumn) 
and the approval of the budget towards 
the end of the year.

All Directors have access to the advice 
and services of the Group General 
Counsel & Company Secretary and 
are offered training to fulfil their role 
as Directors, both on appointment 
and subsequently. There is an agreed 
procedure for any individual Director to 
take independent professional advice at 
the Company’s expense if they consider 
it necessary.

In accordance with the provisions on 
conflicts of interest in the Companies 
Act 2006, the Company has put in place 
procedures for the disclosure and review 
of any conflicts, or potential conflicts, of 
interest which the Directors may have, 
and for the authorisation of such 
conflicts by the Board. In deciding 
whether to authorise a conflict or 
potential conflict, the Directors must 
have regard to their general duties 
under the Companies Act 2006. 

The authorisation of any conflict, and the 
terms of authorisation, may be reviewed 
at any time and, in accordance with best 
practice, we conduct a review of Director 
conflicts of interest annually.

Each member of the Board, including 
the Senior Independent Director, has 
the right to include items on the Board 
agenda or the agenda of the Committees 
they sit on.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

61

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Leadership and Company purpose

Leadership and Company purpose 
continued

Directors’ interests
The Directors of the Company at 
31 December 2019 held interests 
(directly or through their connected 
persons) in the following numbers of 
the Company’s Ordinary shares of 
25 pence each on 1 January 2019, 
31 December 2019 and 2 March 2020:

2
March
2020
Ordinary
shares

31
December
2019
Ordinary
shares

1
January
2019
Ordinary
shares

Neil Carson

190,000 190,000 190,000

Richard Tyson 717,251

717,251 560,896

Mark Hoad

550,090 550,090 454,438

Stephen King 123,000 123,000 100,000

Jack Boyer

82,588

82,588

71,588

Alison Wood

–

–

Anne Thorburn 45,000

45,000

–

–

The interests of the Directors in the 
Company’s share options and Long-
Term Incentive Plan are shown in the 
Directors’ Remuneration report on 
page 96.

Going concern
The Directors have reviewed the 
budgets for 2020 and the projections 
for 2021 developed during the 2019 
annual strategic planning cycle. 

They have assessed the future 
funding requirements of the Group 
and compared them with the level of 
available borrowing facilities. They have 
also assessed the potential impact on 
the Group’s trading arising from Brexit 
(as further described on page 43), which 
is not anticipated to be significant in 
the context of the Group’s operations. 
Based on this, the Directors are satisfied 
that the Group has adequate resources 
to continue in operational existence 
for at least 12 months from the date 
of approval of the financial statements. 
For this reason, they continue to adopt 
the going concern basis in preparing 
the financial statements.

Relations with shareholders
The full list of engagement activities 
and our relations with shareholders 
during the year are set out on page 65.

Substantial shareholding notifications
The Company had been notified of 
the following voting rights attaching 
to TT Electronics plc shares in 
accordance with the Disclosure and 
Transparency Rules at 2 March 2020 
and 31 December 2019.

So far as has been ascertained, no 
other person or corporation holds or is 
beneficially interested in any substantial 
part of the share capital of the Company.

2 March 2020

31 December 2019

Aberforth Partners LLP

BlackRock, Inc

Polar Capital LLP

M&G plc

JO Hambro Capital Management

Schroders plc

Aberdeen Asset Management Ltd

NN Group N.V.

Franklin Templeton Management Ltd

Number

14,832,779

9,149,031

8,589,822

8,417,742

8,218,564

7,931,600

7,835,077

7,815,000

7,590,000

Tameside MBC re: Greater Manchester Police

–

%

9.1

5.6

5.3

5.1

5.1

4.9

4.8

4.8

4.6

–

Number

14,832,779

–

8,589,822

8,417,742

8,218,564

7,931,600

7,835,077

7,815,000

7,590,000

6,215,344

%

9.1

–

5.3

5.1

5.1

4.9

4.8

4.8

4.6

3.8

62 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

S172 Statement
The Directors have performed their 
duty under section 172 of the 
Companies Act 2006 (duty to promote 
the success of the Company). Two key 
priorities for the Board in 2019 were 
the acquisition of the Power Solutions 
business in Covina and the completion 
of restructuring activities at various 
TT sites worldwide. Both of these 
initiatives were undertaken having 
regard to TT Electronics’ wider 
stakeholder groups, including 
employees, customers, suppliers, 
regulators and the local community 
(with a particular focus on promoting 
improved standards of Health, Safety 
and Environmental performance). 
The Board recognised that the closure 
of certain sub-scale facilities would 
regrettably result in some staff 
redundancies, but considered this to be 
a necessary outcome in order to allow 
the Group to push more aggressively 
into priority areas of strategic growth 
and free-up investment in world-class 
facilities, including Bedlington, 
Hartlepool, Dongguan, Minneapolis 
and Kuantan. In making these 
decisions, the Board was mindful 
that the Group would be promoting 
increased job security at these 
locations and improved capacity to 
deliver customer requirements, which 
was also a key factor in the decision 
to proceed with the Covina acquisition. 
Similar considerations underpinned the 
decision to establish the new Advanced 
Technology Centre, in collaboration 
with Nottingham University and other 
academic institutions, which was 
designed to promote customer-focused 
R&D in a campus-style environment. 

Division of responsibilities

Leadership Structure
Details of TT’s Board of Directors are 
set out on pages 56 and 57 of this 
report. The chart below provides further 
information on how leadership at 
the Board level is discharged. Most 
importantly, the Board comprises a 
majority of Independent Non-executive 
Directors, with the division of 
responsibilities between the Chairman 
and Chief Executive Officer having been 
clearly articulated. The Board believes 
that its composition, the structure of its 
principal committees and the processes 
it has in place to discharge its primary 
areas of responsibility, meet the 
requirements of “Leadership” and 
“Effectiveness” under the UK Corporate 
Governance Code. 

The Board has established a number 
of Committees, each with its own 
delegated authority defined in terms 
of reference. The Board reviews these 
terms periodically (the last occasion 
being in December 2019), and receives 
reports and copies of minutes of 
Committee meetings. The Board 
appoints the members of all principal 
Board Committees, having received 
the recommendations of the 
Nominations Committee. 

A non-executive director has been 
nominated to be a member of the 
People, Social, Environmental & Ethics 
Committee with the purpose of receiving 
information about the Company’s 
engagement with its key stakeholders. 

This includes the outcomes of our 
employee engagement activities as 
described on pages 47 and 48 and 
sustainability initiatives described on 
page 14. The designated non-executive 
director on the PSEE Committee reports 
this information directly to the Board 
following each Committee meeting. 
The key activities covered by the PSEE 
Committee are described in more detail 
on page in the table below. 

Approved by the Board on 3 March 2020 
and signed on its behalf by:

Lynton Boardman 
Group General Counsel  
& Company Secretary

Board

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Executive Management Board
•  Reviews business 

performance and agrees 
and implements any actions 
as necessary

•  Responsible for monitoring 
and driving delivery of the 
Group’s key priorities
•  Acts as a forum to raise 
and debate significant 
operational issues

 People, Social, 
Environmental & Ethics 
Committee
•  Health & Safety 
•  Environmental
•  Human Resources 
•  Employee engagement 

with the Board

•  Local Communities
•  Ethics

Disclosure Committee
•  Reviews potential 
existence of and 
manages the disclosure 
of inside information

•  Maintains project 

insider lists

Audit Committee
Committee report on page 70

Nominations Committee
Committee report on page 68

Remuneration Committee
Committee report on page 74

Risk Committee
•  Provides a framework  

for managing risks

•  Monitors risk appetite and 
exposure through regular 
reviews of principal risks
•  Reviews the effectiveness  

of risk management 
processes and controls

•  Provides an appropriate level 
of reporting on the status of 
risk management

•  Assesses wider emerging risks

Key

Delegation

Reporting

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

63

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Relations with stakeholders

Relations with  
stakeholders

Our stakeholders are key to the 
long-term sustainability of our 
business. The importance of open and 
meaningful engagement with all of our 
stakeholders is fully embraced by all of 
our Board members. In 2019 the Board 
completed its stakeholder mapping 
exercise to identify the Company’s key 
stakeholders, to determine the Board’s 
engagement activities during the year 
and to review the information flow 
from senior management and other 
commercial teams to the Board.

Our activities that  
affect them:

How we have engaged:

Board visit to TT sites in  
Bedlington and Hartlepool

The Board meeting in July 2019 
was held in the North East of England, 
which provided members of the Board 
with an opportunity to visit each of 
the Bedlington and Hartlepool facilities. 
The Board was welcomed by the 
local senior management team 
at both locations and spent time 
understanding the manufacturing 
processes at the sites and meeting 
local members of staff. 

In Bedlington, the Board saw at first 
hand the redevelopment activities that 
were underway to create a world class 
centre of manufacturing excellence 
and innovation hub. The Board also 
gained a closer appreciation of the 
significant investment that had been 
made to upgrade the Hartlepool facility 
following the acquisition of Stadium in 
April 2018, to provide greater flexibility 
to meet customer requirements and 
increased capacity for future growth.

Outcomes of our 
engagement:

64 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Customers and 
Suppliers

•  Research and development (R&D)
•  Operations and production pipeline
•  Safety, quality control, reliability
•  Legal and regulatory compliance
•  Payment practices
•  Responsible business/ethics

•  Key interactions channelled through the CEO, 

the Divisional Executive Vice Presidents 
(“EVPs”) and their management teams 
through direct meetings, trade events and 
conferences.

•  Customer initiatives supported by the wider 
EMB to maintain a current understanding of 
the challenges faced by the customer base.
•  “Voice of the customer” feedback to inform 

our business development, R&D and 
operations approaches. 

•  Sales and engineering teams engage with 

lead customers and solicit market feedback 
which is used in the business cases for new 
product development. 

•  The Board receives regular updates and 
reports from the Operations Council, the 
Supply Chain Council and the CEO on 
responses to our customers’ challenges 
and key customer and supplier initiatives.
•  Internal reporting processes ensure a flow 
of information on health & safety, strategy, 
production and financial performance from 
site level through the EMB and to the Board.
•  Subsidiary payment practices, and the effect 
this has on our suppliers, will be reviewed 
and considered by the Board from 2020.

•  R&D spend of £13.5 million, focused on core 
areas where we see the greatest opportunity 
for growth, see page 14. Established the 
Advanced Technology Centre in Nottingham 
for next generation power solution 
for Aerospace. 

•  Following site visits by the Board, best 

practices have been shared to improve our 
quality management and manufacturing 
processes.

•  Development and periodic review of the 

Company’s global cyber security strategy 
to reduce the risk of hacking events and 
ensure the protection of customers’ 
confidential, technical information.
•  The Board reviewed and approved the 
Group’s Modern Slavery Policy and 
Statement for 2019.

Society

Employees

Investors

•  Employment, training and apprenticeships

•  Employment, training and apprenticeships

•  Financial performance

•  Pollution, waste, environmental policies

•  Group employment policies

•  Governance and transparency

•  Local operational impact

•  Helping local communities

•  Footprint optimisation

•  Investment in our sites

•  Diversity/Inclusion

•  Health & Safety

•  Group strategy

•  Leadership 

•  Reputation

•  Sustainability

•  Membership of the Confederation of 

•  New engagement process to ensure that the 

•  CEO and CFO meetings with institutional 

British Industry (CBI) and the Responsible 

voice of the employee is considered in Board 

investors immediately after publication of 

Business Alliance.

decision-making. See page 48 for further 

the annual and interim results, and on an 

•  Regular updates to the Board from the HSE 

information about this process. 

ongoing basis as required. 

Council, the designated non-executive director 

•  Nominated NED engages with site employees 

•  The Chairman wrote to and held discussions 

sitting on our PSEE Committee and the EVP HR 

to bring insights to the Board and to highlight 

with many of our largest shareholders 

on social, environmental and employee 

key factors that are important to our employees. 

this year.

engagement themes.

•  CEO and CFO visits to many of our 

•  The Chair of the Remuneration Committee 

•  The HSE Council engages on our environmental 

manufacturing sites each year have included 

engaged with our largest shareholders 

impact directly with regulatory bodies, and 

“town-hall-style” meetings with site employees. 

regarding proposed changes to our Directors’ 

across all TT sites, to share reports with the 

Regular town-hall meetings are also held at our 

Remuneration Policy.

Board on the Group’s progress against its 

sites throughout the year.

•  Investor roadshows were held over a total of 17 

environmental KPI targets.

•  At least one Board meeting per year is held 

days to discuss the annual and interim results, 

•  TT’s PSEE objectives focus on supporting our 

at one of our sites where a site visit is 

along with ad hoc roadshow events between 

local communities and charitable activities 

organised and directors engage directly 

the results announcements to maximise 

which “Build Expertise” in science, technology, 

with the workforce. 

potential interactions with investors. 

engineering and maths (STEM). 

•  At least one NED visits a TT manufacturing site 

•  The Board receives feedback on investor 

•  Employees are encouraged to actively 

each year (independent of scheduled Board 

relations issues so that Directors develop 

support their community and local charities. 

meetings) to provide individual feed back to 

an understanding of major shareholders’ views 

Further details on the way we work with the 

the Board on stakeholder engagement. 

on the Company. 

communities in which we operate and our 

environmental initiatives can be found on  

page 50. 

•  Engagement activities between Directors 

•  The Company’s brokers provide briefings 

and members of the EMB and other 

to the Board on shareholder opinions and 

representatives of the senior management 

independent feedback from investor meetings. 

•  Diversity within our industry is an important 

team.

theme for the Board. Gender balance is 

considered in terms of our senior management 

pipeline, our wider workforce, the sector we 

operate in and educational institutions nationally. 

•  Regular circulation of Group-wide 

our culture.

communications to employees covering 

the Company’s operations, challenges 

and successes. 

•  The health and safety tone is set from the 

financial press releases are made available on 

top with the CEO leading initiatives at various 

the Group’s website. 

•  Information offered at analysts’ meetings and 

sites this year, focusing on making health 

and safety behaviour a fundamental part of 

•  At the Annual General Meeting, Directors 

communicate with both institutional and 

private investors, full details of the 2020 AGM 

are given on page 174. 

•  The Board has considered our environmental 

•  Structured and robust process developed to 

•  Feedback from investors has informed the 

impact in relation to discussions on our 

ensure that all future NED visits to TT sites will 

Board’s discussions and decisions on the 

footprint optimisation. 

allow time and resources for NEDs to engage 

Company’s strategy and priorities.

•  Engagement activities with our institutional 

investors have informed the Company’s 

development of its sustainability strategy.

•  The Board agreed and approved a full review 

of the Directors’ Remuneration Policy prior to 

submitting it for approval by shareholders at 

the 2020 AGM. 

•  The EMB endorsed our Company-wide “Pass on 

Plastic” environmental initiative.

•  We signed up to the “Women in Aerospace 

& Defence Charter”, a UK-wide initiative 

designed to promote increased gender balance 

within this sector.

•  TT signed up to the UK Armed Forces Covenant 

under which we have made a commitment to 

honour and support current and former 

military personnel. 

•  Following Board visits to our sites where 

directors have met with local apprentices, 

the Board continues to champion 

apprenticeships in our business.

meaningfully with local management and a 

balanced cross-section of local employees 

whilst taking into account cultural issues and 

local “hot topics”.

•  The first site employee forums were held at 

a number of sites across our global locations 

in 2019. Employees provided important 

first-hand thoughts and experiences to 

the Board on aspects such as safety, 

business strategy, ethics and impact on 

the local environment. The Board agreed to 

expand these forums to cover all TT sites 

globally in 2020.

•  The Board, in collaboration with the EVP HR, 

is developing and progressing initiatives to 

address diversity and inclusion within the 

current employee base and the future pipeline, 

including the first “Women in Business” forums 

which were held in 2019. 

Our activities that  

affect them:

How we have engaged:

Outcomes of our 

engagement:

Customers and 

Suppliers

•  Research and development (R&D)

•  Operations and production pipeline

•  Safety, quality control, reliability

•  Legal and regulatory compliance

•  Payment practices

•  Responsible business/ethics

•  Key interactions channelled through the CEO, 

the Divisional Executive Vice Presidents 

(“EVPs”) and their management teams 

through direct meetings, trade events and 

conferences.

•  Customer initiatives supported by the wider 

EMB to maintain a current understanding of 

the challenges faced by the customer base.

•  “Voice of the customer” feedback to inform 

our business development, R&D and 

operations approaches. 

•  Sales and engineering teams engage with 

lead customers and solicit market feedback 

which is used in the business cases for new 

product development. 

•  The Board receives regular updates and 

reports from the Operations Council, the 

Supply Chain Council and the CEO on 

responses to our customers’ challenges 

and key customer and supplier initiatives.

•  Internal reporting processes ensure a flow 

of information on health & safety, strategy, 

production and financial performance from 

site level through the EMB and to the Board.

•  Subsidiary payment practices, and the effect 

this has on our suppliers, will be reviewed 

and considered by the Board from 2020.

•  R&D spend of £13.5 million, focused on core 

areas where we see the greatest opportunity 

for growth, see page 14. Established the 

Advanced Technology Centre in Nottingham 

for next generation power solution 

for Aerospace. 

•  Following site visits by the Board, best 

practices have been shared to improve our 

quality management and manufacturing 

processes.

•  Development and periodic review of the 

Company’s global cyber security strategy 

to reduce the risk of hacking events and 

ensure the protection of customers’ 

confidential, technical information.

•  The Board reviewed and approved the 

Group’s Modern Slavery Policy and 

Statement for 2019.

Society

Employees

Investors

•  Employment, training and apprenticeships
•  Pollution, waste, environmental policies
•  Local operational impact
•  Helping local communities
•  Footprint optimisation

•  Employment, training and apprenticeships
•  Group employment policies
•  Investment in our sites
•  Diversity/Inclusion
•  Health & Safety
•  Group strategy

•  Financial performance
•  Governance and transparency
•  Leadership 
•  Reputation
•  Sustainability

•  Membership of the Confederation of 

British Industry (CBI) and the Responsible 
Business Alliance.

•  Regular updates to the Board from the HSE 

Council, the designated non-executive director 
sitting on our PSEE Committee and the EVP HR 
on social, environmental and employee 
engagement themes.

•  The HSE Council engages on our environmental 

impact directly with regulatory bodies, and 
across all TT sites, to share reports with the 
Board on the Group’s progress against its 
environmental KPI targets.

•  TT’s PSEE objectives focus on supporting our 
local communities and charitable activities 
which “Build Expertise” in science, technology, 
engineering and maths (STEM). 

•  Employees are encouraged to actively 

support their community and local charities. 
Further details on the way we work with the 
communities in which we operate and our 
environmental initiatives can be found on  
page 50. 

•  Diversity within our industry is an important 

theme for the Board. Gender balance is 
considered in terms of our senior management 
pipeline, our wider workforce, the sector we 
operate in and educational institutions nationally. 

•  Regular circulation of Group-wide 

communications to employees covering 
the Company’s operations, challenges 
and successes. 

•  New engagement process to ensure that the 
voice of the employee is considered in Board 
decision-making. See page 48 for further 
information about this process. 

•  CEO and CFO meetings with institutional 
investors immediately after publication of 
the annual and interim results, and on an 
ongoing basis as required. 

•  Nominated NED engages with site employees 
to bring insights to the Board and to highlight 
key factors that are important to our employees. 

•  The Chairman wrote to and held discussions 

with many of our largest shareholders 
this year.

•  CEO and CFO visits to many of our 

•  The Chair of the Remuneration Committee 

manufacturing sites each year have included 
“town-hall-style” meetings with site employees. 
Regular town-hall meetings are also held at our 
sites throughout the year.

•  At least one Board meeting per year is held 

at one of our sites where a site visit is 
organised and directors engage directly 
with the workforce. 

•  At least one NED visits a TT manufacturing site 
each year (independent of scheduled Board 
meetings) to provide individual feed back to 
the Board on stakeholder engagement. 
•  Engagement activities between Directors 

and members of the EMB and other 
representatives of the senior management 
team.

•  The health and safety tone is set from the 

top with the CEO leading initiatives at various 
sites this year, focusing on making health 
and safety behaviour a fundamental part of 
our culture.

engaged with our largest shareholders 
regarding proposed changes to our Directors’ 
Remuneration Policy.

•  Investor roadshows were held over a total of 17 
days to discuss the annual and interim results, 
along with ad hoc roadshow events between 
the results announcements to maximise 
potential interactions with investors. 

•  The Board receives feedback on investor 
relations issues so that Directors develop 
an understanding of major shareholders’ views 
on the Company. 

•  The Company’s brokers provide briefings 
to the Board on shareholder opinions and 
independent feedback from investor meetings. 
•  Information offered at analysts’ meetings and 
financial press releases are made available on 
the Group’s website. 

•  At the Annual General Meeting, Directors 
communicate with both institutional and 
private investors, full details of the 2020 AGM 
are given on page 174. 

•  Feedback from investors has informed the 
Board’s discussions and decisions on the 
Company’s strategy and priorities.

•  Engagement activities with our institutional 
investors have informed the Company’s 
development of its sustainability strategy.
•  The Board agreed and approved a full review 
of the Directors’ Remuneration Policy prior to 
submitting it for approval by shareholders at 
the 2020 AGM. 

•  The Board has considered our environmental 

•  Structured and robust process developed to 

impact in relation to discussions on our 
footprint optimisation. 

•  The EMB endorsed our Company-wide “Pass on 

Plastic” environmental initiative.

•  We signed up to the “Women in Aerospace 
& Defence Charter”, a UK-wide initiative 
designed to promote increased gender balance 
within this sector.

•  TT signed up to the UK Armed Forces Covenant 
under which we have made a commitment to 
honour and support current and former 
military personnel. 

•  Following Board visits to our sites where 

directors have met with local apprentices, 
the Board continues to champion 
apprenticeships in our business.

ensure that all future NED visits to TT sites will 
allow time and resources for NEDs to engage 
meaningfully with local management and a 
balanced cross-section of local employees 
whilst taking into account cultural issues and 
local “hot topics”.

•  The first site employee forums were held at 

a number of sites across our global locations 
in 2019. Employees provided important 
first-hand thoughts and experiences to 
the Board on aspects such as safety, 
business strategy, ethics and impact on 
the local environment. The Board agreed to 
expand these forums to cover all TT sites 
globally in 2020.

•  The Board, in collaboration with the EVP HR, 
is developing and progressing initiatives to 
address diversity and inclusion within the 
current employee base and the future pipeline, 
including the first “Women in Business” forums 
which were held in 2019. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

65

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Composition, succession and evaluation

Composition, succession  
and evaluation

Board composition

Board and Committee  
performance evaluation 

In accordance with the Code, the Board has conducted an evaluation 
of its performance and that of its principal committees during 2019. 
The Company engaged an external facilitator as part of the Board’s 
Strategic Review exercise in 2017, but decided to complete an 
internal assessment process (as adopted in previous years) in 2019. 
Overall, the Board concluded it had performed satisfactorily in 2019 
and each director had performed effectively whilst giving due 
commitment to their role. 

Evaluation process

Discussion points 

• Skills matrices reviewed by 

• Overall operations of the Board 

each Non-executive Director to 
assess knowledge and expertise 
in key areas

• Matrices evaluated to identify any 

areas of weakness in the skills held 
by the Board as a whole

and committees

• Board member interactions

• Trust and transparency

• Levels of engagement

• Diversity and recruitment

• One-to-one interviews between the 
Chairman and Committee chairs

• Governance

• One-to-one interviews between 
the Chairman and all Directors

• Access to wider 

management team

• Site visits

During 2019, the Board comprised two 
Executive Directors (Richard Tyson 
and Mark Hoad) and either five or six 
Non-executive Directors, as the Board 
composition changed in the middle of the 
year. In addition to the Executive Directors, 
Neil Carson, Stephen King, Jack Boyer 
and Alison Wood all served throughout 
the year. Anne Thorburn was appointed as 
a Non-executive Director on 1 July 2019. 
Michael Baunton served as a Non-
executive Director until 1 September 2019. 
Stephen King served as Senior 
Independent Non-executive Director 
throughout 2019. We provide full details 
of each Director’s Board and Committee 
meeting attendance on page 58 and 
Directors’ biographies, including the 
Committees they serve on and chair, 
can be found on pages 57 and 58. 

At the time of his appointment as 
Chairman, Neil Carson was considered 
to be independent in accordance with the 
provisions of the Code and is considered 
to have been independent throughout his 
term of office. All the remaining Non-
executive Directors are also considered 
to be independent as defined by the Code.

In accordance with the Company’s 
Articles of Association, Directors must 
offer themselves for re-election at 
the first Annual General Meeting held 
following their initial appointment, and 
every three years after that. However, 
continuing the best practice first adopted 
at the 2013 AGM, all Directors will retire 
and, if eligible, offer themselves for 
re-election at the forthcoming AGM. 
This practice will continue in the future, 
to ensure compliance with the 
requirements of the Code. Following 
formal performance evaluation, the Board 
has concluded that the performance of 
each Director continues to be effective 
and to demonstrate commitment to the 
role. The Notice of AGM sets out details 
of the key areas of contribution made by 
each of the Directors in providing 
leadership to the Company.

66 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Directors’ performance 

evaluation

In accordance with the Code, the 

performance of individual Directors 

was also evaluated during 2019.

For the Non-executive Directors, the 

output from a private meeting held 

between the Chairman and the Executive 

Directors formed the basis for individual 

appraisals held by the Chairman with 

each Non-executive Director. This also 

provided an opportunity to discuss any 

issues which had arisen from either their 

individual assessments or those of the 

Board and its principal Committees. 

For the Chairman’s performance, the 

other Non-executive Directors, led by 

the Senior Independent Non-executive 

Director, and with input from the Chief 

Executive Officer and Chief Financial 

Officer, met privately to discuss this, 

with the outcomes being fed back to 

the Chairman by the Senior Independent 

Director for discussion.

At the beginning of the year, we set 

each Executive Director challenging 

performance objectives, and reviewed 

progress against these as the year 

progressed. Both the Executive Directors 

take part in the Group’s performance 

management programme which, 

together with a review of progress 

against agreed goals and objectives, 

is used to assess performance and to 

set clear objectives and developmental 

plans for the following year (which 

are closely aligned with the Group’s 

strategic priorities and values). The Chief 

Executive Officer meets with the Chief 

Financial Officer at the beginning of each 

year to discuss and review performance 

against objectives. The Chairman 

conducted the performance evaluation 

of the Chief Executive Officer, taking 

account of the output from the Group’s 

performance management programme 

together with feedback provided by 

the other Non-executive Directors at 

a private meeting held to discuss 

this and any other matters which the 

Non-executive Directors wished to raise.

Board composition

Board and Committee  

performance evaluation 

During 2019, the Board comprised two 

Executive Directors (Richard Tyson 

and Mark Hoad) and either five or six 

Non-executive Directors, as the Board 

In accordance with the Code, the Board has conducted an evaluation 

of its performance and that of its principal committees during 2019. 

The Company engaged an external facilitator as part of the Board’s 

Strategic Review exercise in 2017, but decided to complete an 

composition changed in the middle of the 

internal assessment process (as adopted in previous years) in 2019. 

year. In addition to the Executive Directors, 

Overall, the Board concluded it had performed satisfactorily in 2019 

and each director had performed effectively whilst giving due 

commitment to their role. 

Neil Carson, Stephen King, Jack Boyer 

and Alison Wood all served throughout 

the year. Anne Thorburn was appointed as 

a Non-executive Director on 1 July 2019. 

Michael Baunton served as a Non-

executive Director until 1 September 2019. 

Stephen King served as Senior 

Independent Non-executive Director 

throughout 2019. We provide full details 

of each Director’s Board and Committee 

meeting attendance on page 58 and 

Directors’ biographies, including the 

Committees they serve on and chair, 

can be found on pages 57 and 58. 

At the time of his appointment as 

Chairman, Neil Carson was considered 

to be independent in accordance with the 

provisions of the Code and is considered 

to have been independent throughout his 

term of office. All the remaining Non-

executive Directors are also considered 

to be independent as defined by the Code.

In accordance with the Company’s 

Articles of Association, Directors must 

offer themselves for re-election at 

the first Annual General Meeting held 

following their initial appointment, and 

every three years after that. However, 

continuing the best practice first adopted 

at the 2013 AGM, all Directors will retire 

and, if eligible, offer themselves for 

re-election at the forthcoming AGM. 

This practice will continue in the future, 

to ensure compliance with the 

requirements of the Code. Following 

formal performance evaluation, the Board 

has concluded that the performance of 

each Director continues to be effective 

and to demonstrate commitment to the 

role. The Notice of AGM sets out details 

of the key areas of contribution made by 

each of the Directors in providing 

leadership to the Company.

Directors’ performance 
evaluation

In accordance with the Code, the 
performance of individual Directors 
was also evaluated during 2019.

For the Non-executive Directors, the 
output from a private meeting held 
between the Chairman and the Executive 
Directors formed the basis for individual 
appraisals held by the Chairman with 
each Non-executive Director. This also 
provided an opportunity to discuss any 
issues which had arisen from either their 
individual assessments or those of the 
Board and its principal Committees. 
For the Chairman’s performance, the 
other Non-executive Directors, led by 
the Senior Independent Non-executive 
Director, and with input from the Chief 
Executive Officer and Chief Financial 
Officer, met privately to discuss this, 
with the outcomes being fed back to 
the Chairman by the Senior Independent 
Director for discussion.

At the beginning of the year, we set 
each Executive Director challenging 
performance objectives, and reviewed 
progress against these as the year 
progressed. Both the Executive Directors 
take part in the Group’s performance 
management programme which, 
together with a review of progress 
against agreed goals and objectives, 
is used to assess performance and to 
set clear objectives and developmental 
plans for the following year (which 
are closely aligned with the Group’s 
strategic priorities and values). The Chief 
Executive Officer meets with the Chief 
Financial Officer at the beginning of each 
year to discuss and review performance 
against objectives. The Chairman 
conducted the performance evaluation 
of the Chief Executive Officer, taking 
account of the output from the Group’s 
performance management programme 
together with feedback provided by 
the other Non-executive Directors at 
a private meeting held to discuss 
this and any other matters which the 
Non-executive Directors wished to raise.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

67

Conclusions

Areas of focus for 2020

• Excellent governance processes, 
with a common understanding of 
TT strategy and culture

• Communication between executive 

• Increase engagement between 
Non-executive Directors and 
Divisional/Operations teams 
(including non-EMB Personnel)

and Non-executive Directors is 
open, honest and constructive

• Work to embed the ESG agenda 
more fully into the TT strategy

• There is an environment of trust, 

and transparency and 
mutual support

• The Board understands the 

strengths of individual Board 
members and anticipates concerns 
of individuals well in advance

• The Board has responded to 

initiatives in a collaborative manner 
and has operated “at pace” 
whenever required

• Strong levels of engagement exist 

between Committee chairs and the 
relevant functions within TT

• Minimise the impact of significant 
changes at Board and Committee 
level in 2020 (appointment of a 
new Board Chairman, Audit Chair 
and external Auditor)

• Continue the focus on recruitment 

and succession-planning

• Provide investors with increased 
exposure to TT’s capabilities and 
how we can combine technologies 
to provide tangible opportunities 
for our customers 

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Nominations Committee

Neil Carson 
Chair, Nominations Committee

Nominations committee

Membership

Neil Carson (Chair)

Stephen King

Jack Boyer

Alison Wood

Anne Thorburn

Principal responsibilities
•  Regularly review the structure, size and 

composition of the Board as a whole and 
make recommendations for any changes 
to the Board. 

•  Review the overall leadership needs 
of the organisation by considering 
succession planning for Non-executive 
Directors (having due regard to their 
length of service), Executive Directors 
and members of the EMB and make 
recommendations to the Board.

•  Manage the search for, and selection of, 
suitable candidates for the appointment 
of replacement or additional Directors and 
nominate candidates for the approval of 
the Board.

Committee meetings in 2019
During 2019, the Committee held three 
formal meetings. The Committee has 
held one meeting to date during 2020. 

2019 review
As disclosed in last year’s Annual Report, 
the Committee engaged external search 
consultants in the latter part of 2018 to 
start the recruitment process for a new 
Non-executive Director. This was the 
Committee’s key priority for 2019, given 
the fact that Michael Baunton would 
reach his ninth anniversary as a NED 
in September 2019 and, from that point 
onwards, would no longer be considered 
“independent” for the purposes of the 
UK Corporate Governance Code. The 
Committee specified a number of key 
criteria as part of the recruitment 
process, which included: (i) the selection 
of a candidate who would enhance the 
diversity of experience at the Board level, 
(ii) a career profile which was closely 
aligned with the Group’s key markets, 
international outlook and strategic 
priorities, and (iii) a listed company 
background in finance and accounting, 
such that the successful candidate 
would be regarded as having “recent and 
relevant financial experience” (as defined 
in the Code). The interview process, 
which was led by the Chairman and 
involved each of the ongoing members 
of the Committee, took place in the first 
half of 2019 and culminated in the 
appointment of Anne Thorburn to the 
Board in July 2019. As stated in the 
Chairman’s statement, it is anticipated 
that Anne Thorburn will take over from 
Stephen King as Chair of the Audit 
Committee in due course. 

Whilst this NED appointment process 
represented the main area of focus for 
the Committee in the past year, the 
Committee also evaluated the existing 
structure of the Board, together with the 
succession planning options at both 
an Executive Director and EMB level. 
The Committee’s succession planning 
activities were undertaken in conjunction 
with the Board’s annual talent review 
exercise, which identified several 
candidates across the business with the 
potential for promotion to EMB and/or 
Executive Director roles in the future. 
In relation to the existing NED structure, 
the Committee concluded that TT 
Electronics had in place a group of highly 
experienced individuals with the skills 
and competencies to meet the strategic 
and operational needs of the business in 
its core markets. 

As stated earlier in this section, 
as a result of increasing external 
commitments, Neil Carson will be 
standing down from the Board in 2020 
once his successor as Chairman has 
been appointed. The formal process to 
select his replacement has commenced, 
which is being led by Jack Boyer using 
independent search consultants. 
Other than this recruitment exercise, 
the Committee has decided that it will 
not be looking to recruit a new NED in 
the immediate future, on the basis that 
Anne Thorburn would be taking on 
Stephen King’s responsibilities as 
Chair of the Audit Committee on his 
retirement from the Board. In addition 
to succession planning activities, the 
Committee undertook a review of its 
terms of reference during 2019. 

68 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

At all times during 2019, the Committee 
has sought to ensure that the Board of 
TT Electronics is balanced and effective, 
with diverse skills, knowledge and 
experience. The Committee attaches a 
high degree of importance to diversity 
at all levels across the Group and is 
committed to recruiting the best talent 
available, based on merit, and assessed 
against objective criteria of skills, 
knowledge, independence and 
experience. However, we do not 
advocate a forced approach to diversity 
at any level of the organisation. This is 
the rationale that has been applied to the 
NED recruitment exercise conducted 
during 2019 and this approach will 
continue to be applied in the future. 
Female representation on the Board 
now stands at over 25 per cent, which 
the Committee believes will have a 
positive impact on the Board’s 
governance processes and sends out a 
strong message across the Group of the 
importance of a diverse workforce to 
the future success of the business.

Details of the number of employees, 
senior managers and Directors of each 
gender are given in the “Our People” 
corporate responsibility section on 
page 47.

All Board members complete a Conflicts 
of Interest questionnaire and are required 
to inform the Board of any new or 
potential conflicts that may arise during 
the year. In addition, all Directors must 
obtain approval from the Board for any 
new external appointments to boards of 
listed companies to ensure that Directors 
are not overstretched in terms of 

commitments. To assist in this process, 
the Nominations Committee tracks 
and reviews the number of external 
appointments held by each director, 
including the number of chairmanships 
and executive director roles held. 
This tracking schedule facilitates 
the decision-making process when 
reviewing whether a new external 
appointment would lead to overboarding. 

Performance evaluation
As described further on pages 66 
and 67, the Committee assessed its 
performance in 2020 by reviewing its 
activities during the year against its 
terms of reference. It concluded that 
it had performed satisfactorily and is 
structured appropriately to provide 
effective support to the Board.

Neil Carson 
Chair, Nominations Committee

Anne Thorburn Induction
The Company provides all directors 
of the Board with a comprehensive 
Directors’ Induction Pack which is 
available at all times on the electronic 
portal used for Board information. 
The pack sets out all relevant 
information about the Company, 
including its strategy, its policies and 
processes, directors’ duties and 
responsibilities, and the structure and 
role of the Board and its Committees. 
Since Anne joined the Board in July 
2019 she has attended the Board 
meeting held across two of our sites, 
Hartlepool and Bedlington. This 
two-day visit allowed Anne to complete 
site tours and speak directly with the 
workforce and management team at 
both sites. Anne has also independently 
completed two further site tours in 
Rogerstone and Barnstaple in 
November 2019. At both sites 
Anne held meetings with the senior 
management teams to discuss the 
business’ operations and strategies. 
One-to-one meetings with the CEO and 
the CFO were held very early on so that 
Anne could have an open dialogue with 
the Executive Directors regarding the 
day-to-day running of the business. 
Anne has also attended dinners, 
along with other Board members, the 
Executive Management Board and the 
Suzhou management team during their 
visit to the UK. We were particularly 
pleased to have Anne on board in time 
for her to be a part of the audit 
re-tender process, during which her 
previous experience and expertise in 
this area was invaluable.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

69

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Audit Committee

Stephen King 
Chair, Audit Committee

Audit committee

Membership

Stephen King (Chair)

Jack Boyer

Anne Thorburn

Alison Wood

Principal responsibilities
•  Monitor the integrity of the financial 

statements and the results 
announcements of the Group.

•  Recommend the appointment and 
remuneration of the Auditor, assess 
their effectiveness, and monitor 
provision of non-audit services. 
•  Assess the content of the Auditor’s 
transparency report, concerning 
Auditor independence in providing both 
audit and non-audit services.

•  Review the scope, performance and 

effectiveness of the internal audit and 
other internal control functions and the 
Auditor’s assessment of it.

•  Review changes to accounting policies 

and procedures, decisions of judgement 
affecting financial reporting, compliance 
with accounting standards and with the 
Companies Act 2006.

•  Review risk management processes, 

including principal risks and 
internal control findings highlighted 
by management or internal and 
external audit.

•  Review the Group’s whistleblowing 

arrangements and procedures.

Committee meetings in 2019
During 2019, the Committee held four 
scheduled meetings.

The Committee met with the Group’s 
Auditor, KPMG LLP, on three occasions 
during 2019, without executives of the 
Company being present. During the year, 
the Committee also met representatives 
of the outsourced internal control 
function once, without other executives 
of the Company being present.

The Committee has held one meeting  
to date during 2020.

The Code requires at least one member 
of the Audit Committee to have recent 
and relevant financial experience. Both 
Stephen King and Anne Thorburn fulfil 
this requirement.

2019 review
To allow the Audit Committee to fulfil 
its duties regarding the integrity of the 
financial statements and other financial 
data, the Chief Financial Officer and 
the Group Director of Financial Control 
attend Committee meetings, presenting 
reports and providing analysis and 
explanations for queries raised. The 
external Auditor also attends, and 
presents reports on their audits. They 
address matters including an overview 
of the financial statements, key 
accounting judgements, accounting 
policies, audit differences and internal 
control matters. On occasion, at the 
request of the Committee, the Chairman 
and the CEO also attend for part of the 
scheduled Committee meetings.

The Group conducts its internal audit 
activities under a directed outsource 
arrangement, resourced by PwC and 
directed by our Group Director of 
Financial Projects and Risk. The Director 
of Financial Projects and Risk attends 

Audit Committee meetings to provide 
updates on: progress on the internal audit 
plan; findings and recommendations; and 
team and methodology improvements. 
The Committee also regularly receives 
updates on the Group’s risk 
management framework, to allow 
members to review principal risks and 
the effectiveness of risk management 
processes. As part of this process, the 
Committee noted the outputs of the 
internal audit reviews conducted during 
2019, which are undertaken both on a 
site-specific basis (with each principal 
TT site being reviewed at least once 
every three years) and on targeted 
functional areas. In addition, a detailed 
review was undertaken of the Group’s 
Business Continuity and Disaster 
Recovery processes during 2019, which 
was focused in particular on the Group’s 
IT-related activities. The Committee 
has continued to pay close attention  
in the past year to the progress made  
in developing the Group-wide Controls 
Framework programme and its 
application in driving business 
performance across TT, particularly in 
the context of the financial integration 
of newly acquired businesses and the 
impact of behavioural factors on the 
controls environment. 

In the first half of 2019, the Committee 
decided that, as KPMG would have 
reached its tenth anniversary as auditors 
to the Company by July 2020, it would 
initiate an audit re-tender exercise during 
the second half of the year using defined 
selection criteria which included audit 
quality, independence, understanding of 
the Company’s business, audit team, 
audit approach, price, value for money 
and transition plan. Four audit firms were 
invited to pitch for the Group’s external 
audit work (including the existing 
auditors, KPMG, and one firm sitting 
outside the “Big 4”). Following a 

70 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

comprehensive due diligence process, 
which involved the submission of 
detailed presentations and a rigorous 
series of interviews involving members 
of the Audit Committee, the CEO, the 
CFO and representatives of the Divisional 
management teams, KPMG and Deloitte 
were selected to proceed to the final 
stage of the re-tender exercise, 
presenting to a sub-committee of 
the Audit Committee. This process 
resulted in a final determination by 
the Audit Committee that it would be 
recommending the appointment of 
Deloitte as new auditors to the Company, 
to take effect following the completion 
of the 2019 year-end audit process, 
which was approved by the Board. 
The Directors will be formally proposing 
the appointment of Deloitte as the new 
auditors to the Company at the Annual 
General Meeting in May 2020. Actions 
have already commenced to replace 
Deloitte as advisers to the Company on 
remuneration issues and M&A activities, 
to ensure that auditor independence is 
maintained on appointment. 

During 2019, the EMB conducted a 
detailed review of possible emerging 
risks (in consultation with the Internal 
Audit function), which were not currently 
addressed in the Group risk register, but 
could have application in the future to an 
international business operating in TT’s 
sector. The outputs of this analysis were 
discussed further at both the Board and 
Audit Committee level. 

In addition to the usual standing agenda 
items and further matters detailed in 
the table below, the Committee also 
reviewed and challenged the form and 
content of the Group’s Annual Report 
and Accounts and Financial Statements 
for the last financial year. In conducting 
its review, the Committee considered 
reports prepared by management and 
the external Auditor. These reports 
covered analyses of the judgements 
and sources of estimation uncertainty 
involved in applying the accounting 
policies as described in note 1(h) to 
the financial statements. During 2019, 
the Committee also considered and 
challenged the assumptions relating 
to goodwill, the carrying value of fixed 
assets and the level of provisions held 
on the balance sheet (as detailed below). 
In addition, as part of the Committee’s 
planning for the 2019 year-end audit 
process, a detailed assessment was 
undertaken (in conjunction with the 
external auditors) of the FRC’s key areas 
of focus, as outlined in its Annual Review 
of Corporate Governance Reporting 
2018/19, published in October 2019. 
The Committee also focused its 
attention on critical judgements, 
estimates and accounting policies; the 
viability statement and risk reporting; 
strategic reporting; Alternative 
Performance Measures; the impact 
of Brexit; IFRS 16; the Group’s pension 
scheme obligations/funding 
requirements; and KPMG’s approach to 
the audit work undertaken in respect of 
the Group’s operations in China in light 
of the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020. 

Significant issues considered in 
relation to the financial statements 
The main areas of judgement and 
estimation are set out in the accounting 
policies on pages 116 to 124.

The Committee received and reviewed 
reports from management and the 
external Auditor setting out the 
significant issues in relation to the 2019 
financial statements, which related to:

• Underlying profit

• Provisions (including taxation and 

product warranties)

•  Defined benefit pension obligations 

and

• Going concern and viability.

They discussed these issues (which are 
considered in more detail below) with 
management during the year and with 
the external Auditor at the time the 
Committee reviewed and agreed the 
external Auditor’s Group audit plan; when 
the external Auditor reviewed the half-year 
results in July 2019; and also at the 
conclusion of the audit of the financial 
statements. The Committee is also 
satisfied that the significant assumptions 
used for determining the value of assets 
and liabilities have been appropriately 
scrutinised and challenged, and are 
sufficiently robust. The Group’s approach 
to provisioning (with particular reference 
to the areas of taxation and product 
warranty claims) is considered by the 
Committee to have been the area of most 
significant external audit focus in 2019.

Committee activities in 2019

Financial reporting

Governance

Internal audit and risk 
and assurance

External audit

•  Monitored and reviewed the 
Group’s financial statements 
and results announcements
•  Reviewed significant financial 

reporting and accounting issues 

•  Reviewed going concern and 
viability statements, including 
appropriate sensitivity analysis
•  Reviewed the fair, balanced and 
understandable process for the 
financial reports

•  Reviewed and discussed 2019 H1 
and year-end accounting issues
•  Detailed review of IFRS 16 and its 

impact on Group results

•  Reviewed the Financial 

•  Received a report at each 

•  Discussed and approved the 

Reporting Council’s letter of 
October 2019 in relation to 
2018/2019 Corporate 
Governance reporting

•  Reviewed Terms of Reference
•  Received and considered 
whistleblowing matters 
reported through the Group’s 
multi-lingual, anonymous 
Ethics and Integrity portal 

•  Undertook an internal 

evaluation on the effectiveness 
of the Committee

•  Considered Group distributable 

reserves as part of M&A 
planning activities

•  Considered new areas of audit 
disclosure under UK legislation/
regulation

meeting on the internal audit 
and risk assurance plan 

•  Agreed the remit of the internal 

audit programme of work
•  Considered the results of the 
2019 internal audit activities
•  Reviewed and approved the 

2020 internal audit plan

•  Conducted the annual review 
of the Group’s internal auditor
•  Presentation on Finance team 
initiatives from the VP Finance 
for Power Electronics 

•  Review of the application of 
Group policy in the area of 
inventory and overheads

external audit plan and audit fee

•  Reviewed and confirmed the 
independence of the external 
auditor as part of the 2019 review

•  Assessed the quality and 
effectiveness of the audit 
programme, including the 
performance of the Auditor 
relative to prior year

•  Oversaw audit re-tender process 
leading to the appointment of 
new auditors

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

71

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Audit Committee

Audit committee 
continued

Underlying profit
As further explained in note 8 to the 
financial statements, the Group reports 
non-trading income or expenditure 
outside of underlying profit when the 
size, nature or function of an item or 
aggregation of similar items is such that 
separate presentation is relevant to an 
understanding of its financial position. 
The Committee challenged the items 
that were excluded from underlying 
profit and were satisfied that these were 
in accordance with the Group’s disclosed 
accounting policy and gave a true and 
fair view of the Group’s underlying 
financial position.

The Auditor explained to the Committee 
the work they had conducted and the 
results of their audit procedures on 
significant items recorded outside 
underlying profit. 

Provisions
(i) Taxation
Current tax provisions held in respect 
of tax risks are included within current 
tax liabilities depending on the 
underlying circumstances of the 
provision. Management confirmed to the 
Committee that the provisions recorded 
at 31 December 2019 represent their 
best estimate of the potential financial 
exposure faced by the Group. The 
Committee reviewed each significant 
provision and challenged the basis of 
management’s judgement and 
concurred with the estimates. 

The Auditor explained to the Committee 
the work they had conducted during 
the year, including how their audit 
procedures were focused on those 
provisions with the highest level of 
judgement on recognition criteria  
and/or measurement. 

(ii) Warranty provisions
As further explained in note 2 to the 
financial statements, a provision is 
recognised in the financial statements 
when the Group has a present legal or 
constructive obligation as a result of 
a past event and it is probable that 
an outflow of resources, that can be 
reliably measured, will be required to 
meet the obligation.

Provisions are recognised at an amount 
equal to management’s best estimate 
of the expenditure required to meet the 
Group’s liability taking into account the 
time value of money, where this is 
considered material. 

Management has confirmed to the 
Committee that the provisions recorded 
at 31 December 2019 represent their 
best estimate of the potential financial 
exposure faced by the Group. The 
Committee reviewed each significant 
provision and challenged the basis of 
management’s judgement and concurred 
with management’s estimates.

The Auditor explained to the Committee 
the work they had conducted during 
the year, including how their audit 
procedures were focused on those 
provisions with the highest level of 
judgement on recognition criteria and/or 
measurement.

Further information about the specific 
categories of provisions held by the 
Group is set out in note 20.

Defined benefit pension obligations
Following the merger of the Stadium 
Group scheme and the TT Group 
scheme with effect from 29 March 2019 
the Group now operates one significant 
defined benefit scheme. There are three 
other small defined benefit schemes, 
one in the UK and two in the US. 

The Scheme exposes the Group to 
actuarial risks such as longevity risk, 
currency risk, inflation risk, interest rate 
risk and market (investment) risk. The 
Group is not exposed to any unusual, 
entity specific or scheme specific risks, 
but given the material nature of the TT 
Group scheme, the Group has developed 
a comprehensive strategy to manage 
the financial risk. This strategy includes 
maintaining a long-term working 
partnership with the Trustee to ensure 
strong governance of risks within the 
TT Group scheme and implementing a 
prudent investment strategy seeking 
risk-rewarded long-term returns whilst 
removing the majority of liability 
mismatching unrewarded risks. 

The Committee reviewed the key 
assumptions supporting the valuation 
of the retirement benefit obligations 
noting the advice that management 
had received from third party advisers. 
The Committee also considered the 
adequacy of disclosures in respect 
of the sensitivity of the balances to 
changes in these key assumptions 
(see note 23 to the financial statements 
on pages 151 to 155). 

The Auditor explained to the Committee 
the work they had conducted during the 
year in this area. 

Other items
Legal, divestment and 
restructuring provisions
As further explained in note 2 to the 
financial statements, a provision is 
recognised in the financial statements 
when the Group has a present legal or 
constructive obligation as a result of 
a past event and it is probable that 
an outflow of resources, that can be 
reliably measured, will be required to 
meet the obligation.

Provisions are recognised at an amount 
equal to management’s best estimate 
of the expenditure required to meet 
the Group’s liability taking into account 
the time value of money, where this 
is considered material. On legal and 
contractual exposures, the Committee 
received periodic reports from the 
Group General Counsel and Company 
Secretary outlining the open legal and 
contractual disputes and best estimates 
of the expected costs associated with 
such matters. 

Management has confirmed to the 
Committee that the provisions recorded 
at 31 December 2019 represent their 
best estimate of the potential financial 
exposure faced by the Group. The 
Committee reviewed each significant 
provision and challenged the basis of 
management’s judgement and concurred 
with management’s estimates.

The Auditor explained to the Committee 
the work they had conducted during the 
year in this area. Further information 
about the specific categories of 
provisions held by the Group is set out 
in note 20.

72 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

In 2019, audit service fees paid to KPMG 
were £1.1 million, while non-audit service 
fees paid to KPMG totalled approximately 
£60,000. This comprised assurance 
services relating to the half-year review. 
During 2019, non-audit service fees paid 
to KPMG represented approximately 
5.5 per cent of audit service fees paid 
to them during the same period, an 
increase compared to 2018. The 
Committee believes that, for these 
particular areas, KPMG was best placed 
to provide a comprehensive and effective 
service to the Company.

Stephen King 
Chair, Audit Committee

Misstatements
Management has confirmed to the 
Committee that they were not aware of 
any material misstatements or immaterial 
misstatements made intentionally to 
achieve a particular presentation. The 
Committee confirms that it is satisfied 
that the external Auditor has fulfilled 
their responsibilities with diligence and 
professional scepticism.

After reviewing the presentations 
and reports from management and 
consulting where necessary with the 
Auditor, the Audit Committee is satisfied 
the financial statements appropriately 
address the critical judgements and 
key estimates (both for the amounts 
reported and the disclosures). 

Fair, balanced and understandable
In accordance with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code, the Board requested 
the Committee to advise them on 
whether it believed the Group’s Annual 
Report, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced 
and understandable, and provides the 
information necessary for shareholders 
to assess the Company’s position and 
performance, business model and 
strategic plan. Procedures are in place 
to facilitate the appropriate and timely 
review of the drafts of the Annual Report 
and specifically to highlight evidence of  
a fair and balanced representation, which 
supports input and challenge from all 
Independent Non-executive Directors, 
the external Auditor and other external 
advisers. On careful review of the Annual 
Report for the year ended 31 December 
2019, and the basis for the statement 
made by the Board on “Fair, balanced 
and understandable” on page 102, 
the Audit Committee recommended 
to the Board that, taken as a whole, 
the Annual Report is fair, balanced 
and understandable and provides the 
information necessary for shareholders 
to assess the Company’s position and 
performance, business model and 
strategic plan.

Auditor’s independence, objectivity 
and effectiveness 
The Audit Committee assesses the 
independence of the Auditor annually to 
ensure suitable policies and procedures 
are in place to safeguard the Auditor’s 

independence and objectivity, having 
regard to length of tenure, provision  
of non-audit services and the existence 
of any conflicts of interest. 

The Committee has formally reviewed the 
independence of the Auditor as part of the 
2019 review. KPMG has provided a letter 
to the Committee confirming they remain 
independent within the meaning of the 
relevant regulations and in accordance 
with their professional standards.

The Committee also reviewed the 
quality and effectiveness of the audit 
programme during the year, including 
the performance of the Auditor. The use 
of an evaluation questionnaire and an 
auditor assessment survey (completed 
by heads of finance across the Group’s 
operations), together with information 
provided by the Auditor, assisted 
in ensuring that a comprehensive 
assessment was undertaken. We 
identified areas for improvement and 
communicated them to the Auditor for 
action, recognising the transition of 
Auditor to Deloitte LLP for the financial 
year ending 31 December 2020, following 
the recent audit re-tender exercise.

Policy on non-audit services
The Company has an established policy 
regarding the provision of non-audit 
services by external auditors. This states 
that we may obtain non-audit services 
from the most appropriate source, 
having regard to expertise, availability, 
knowledge and cost. Non-audit services 
where fees are expected to exceed 
£25,000 should be approved, in advance, 
by the Chair of the Audit Committee or, 
in his absence, by another member of 
the Audit Committee. There is also a 
restriction such that fees for non-audit 
services will not exceed those for audit 
services, paid to the same service 
provider, for more than two consecutive 
years, unless specifically recommended 
by the Audit Committee and agreed by 
the Board. The overriding preference 
of the Committee is not to engage the 
Auditor for additional non-assurance 
services, unless there are compelling 
reasons to the contrary, such as 
capability, time or cost.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

73

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Directors’ remuneration report

Alison Wood 
Chair, Remuneration Committee

Directors’ remuneration report

Membership

Alison Wood (Chair)

Jack Boyer

Neil Carson

2019 Highlights

•  Review of Remuneration Policy including requirements of the UK Corporate Governance 

Code and legislative changes.

•  Shareholder consultation on changes to Remuneration Policy.
•  Review of workforce remuneration, CEO pay ratio and UK gender pay.
•  Review the total remuneration levels for the Chairman, Executive Directors and 

Senior Managers.

•  Reviewed outcomes, awards and performance targets of incentive schemes.
•  Incentive scheme rules updated to reflect best practice for malus and clawback.

Directors’ remuneration report

Annual statement

Future Remuneration Policy overview

Remuneration at a glance

Remuneration Policy report

Annual report on remuneration

Implementation of the Policy for 2020

Implementation of the Policy for 2019

•  Total single figure remuneration

•  Salary and benefits

•  Short-term incentive for 2019

•  Long-term incentive

Directors’ share interests

See our KPIs on pages 20–21 
Read our full Remuneration policy in the 2016 Annual Report at 
www.ttelectronics.com/investors

Page

74–77

78–79

80

81–90

91–98

91–92

92–98

92

93

93–94

94–95

96

74 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

2019 was another 
year of strong 
performance.”

Chair’s statement
On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to 
introduce the Directors’ Remuneration 
report for the year ended 31 December 
2019. The report sets out our philosophy 
and the proposed policy for Directors’ 
remuneration, together with the 
key activities of the Remuneration 
Committee. Our Directors’ Remuneration 
Policy (the “Policy”) was last approved 
by shareholders at the AGM in 2017 
and this report includes details of the 
proposed changes which shareholders 
will be able to vote on at the AGM on 
6 May 2020. 

Context and business performance
2019 was another year of strong 
performance with good revenue growth, 
double-digit improvement in underlying 
operating profit and further margin 
enhancement despite the macro 
challenges in some of our markets. 

• Underlying profit before tax was 
£36.3 million, up by 15 per cent.

• Free cash flow was £9.7 million,  

up by 14 per cent.

•  Underlying EPS was 18.7p, up by 

15 per cent. 

Since 2015, the Group has undergone 
significant transformation and is 
continuing to become a higher quality, 
better-balanced business with increasing 
exposure to the structural growth 
markets of aerospace, defence and 
medical. We have made significant 
progress across our strategic priorities. 
During the year, our business 
development focus has resulted in 
new customer wins, growth in our key 
accounts and now increased cross-
selling successes between divisions 
(see pages 16 to 17 for more details). 

Our R&D investment has been increased 
again and is split between near-term 
new product development for existing 
customers and markets, and in the year 
included a longer-term initiative to 
develop our first entire power assembly 
for the aerospace market. We have 
focused our operational excellence 
activities at sites where our operational 
performance has been below TT 
benchmark levels and continue to 
work on optimising our cost base. 
We have launched a new self-help 
programme to underpin further margin 
progression, improved efficiency and 
reduced carbon footprint (see pages 50 
to 52 for more details). 

During the year, we announced two 
acquisitions, extending our power supply 
capabilities in the US across our core 
markets. Power Partners extends our 
technology roadmap for power products 
while improving our medical market 
access in the US and the Power 
Solutions business of Excelitas based in 
Covina, USA expands our capabilities for 
providing advanced power solutions to 
our aerospace and defence customers 
while giving us enhanced access to the 
large and growing US market. 

We have introduced a new strategic 
priority, bringing together all the 
environment and sustainability activities 
inside the Group under one strategic 
banner, to allow more focus on 
maintaining our commitment to 
delivering sustainable value for all our 
stakeholders (see more on page 17).

How do we report on Directors’ 
remuneration?
Our aim is to be open and transparent 
so stakeholders can assess whether 
remuneration paid to executives is 
appropriate, given the financial, 
operational and strategic performance 
of the Company and executives’ 
individual performance. We have 
reviewed feedback from last year’s 
report and have enhanced how we 
analyse and describe executives’ 
individual performance. 

Policy Review
2019 has been an appropriate time 
to review and propose changes to the 
Remuneration Policy. Since the Policy 
was last approved by over 99 per cent 
of our shareholders at the AGM in 2017, 
the Company has continued its strategy 
of portfolio transformation while 
delivering organic and inorganic growth 
which has fundamentally changed the 
scale, business complexity and value of 
the Group. This strategy will continue 
into the next Policy period. In reviewing 
the Policy, we have proposed changes 
to ensure the Policy is “fit for purpose” 
to align both shareholders’ and our 
Executive Directors’ focus and 
interests during the next phase of the 
strategy. At the same time, we have 
taken into account the changes to 
the UK Corporate Governance Code, 
legislative changes and developments 
in good practice.

Whilst we have undertaken a full review 
of our Policy, we believe that it has 
served us well to date and therefore 
we consider the proposed changes to 
be an evolutionary re-alignment rather 
than fundamental. In proposing the 
changes we have engaged with and 
sought feedback from our largest 
institutional shareholders and the 
major investor bodies; their feedback 
is reflected in our final proposals. 
I was encouraged with the level of 
engagement we received, and I would 
like to thank them for the time taken 
and for their constructive feedback.

The main changes to the Policy, which 
are set out in detail in the Remuneration 
Policy Report, are as follows:

• Alignment of the pension provision for 
newly appointed Executive Directors 
to those available to the majority of the 
local workforce in which the Executive 
is employed. This is currently 7 per 
cent of salary in the UK. The current 
Executive Directors will retain their 
existing contractual pension provision 
of 15 per cent of salary. The Committee 
notes investor sentiment and will 
continue to annually review market 
trends and developments in respect 
of the contractual pension provision 
to the existing Executive Directors;

Principal responsibilities 
• Determine the Remuneration Policy 
for Directors for approval at least 
every three years.

• Determine remuneration packages 

and terms and conditions of 
employment for the Executive 
Directors, Senior Managers and 
the Chairman of the Board.

• Approve the design, performance 
measures, targets and outturns of 
incentive schemes for the Executive 
Directors and Senior Managers.

• Set remuneration policy within the 

wider context of remuneration trends 
across the workforce.

• Produce an annual report of the 
implementation of the Directors’ 
Remuneration Policy in the 
last financial year and for the 
forthcoming year.

Areas of focus 2020 
• Approve the design, performance 
measures, targets and outturns of 
incentive schemes for the Executive 
Directors and Senior Managers, 
including the impact on incentives 
of further portfolio development.

• Monitor market developments, 
developments in good practice 
and the alignment of remuneration 
strategy to deliver the business 
strategy within the context of wider 
workforce remuneration.

• Further enhance oversight of the 
workforce remuneration policies 
and framework to ensure they 
support the strategic objectives, 
culture and TT values.

• Build on the existing mechanisms 
to improve workforce engagement 
on remuneration.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

75

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Directors’ remuneration report

Directors’ remuneration report 
continued

• Introduction of a material post 

• Short-term incentive for Executive 

cessation of employment share 
ownership requirement. Executive 
Directors will be required to hold for 
two years post-employment the lower 
of 50 per cent of the share ownership 
requirement or the shareholding at 
cessation. The Committee will 
continue to review market trends 
and developments in respect of 
post cessation share ownership 
requirements;

• Re-alignment of incentive opportunity 
and rebalancing of our incentive mix 
which will continue to be weighted 
towards the long-term strategic 
agenda. To reflect the ongoing 
business transformation, scale and 
business complexity the maximum 
short-term incentive opportunity will 
be increased for the Executive Directors 
by 25 per cent to 125 per cent of salary; 

• Introduction of short-term incentive 

deferral, with 20 per cent of the 
incentive earnt deferred into shares 
for two years; and

• Incorporation and alignment of 

additional malus and clawback triggers 
in the short-term incentive, deferred 
short-term incentive and long-term 
incentive plan rules.

Review of performance for the year
The Group continued to deliver strong 
growth and profit improvement 
throughout the year, reflecting the 
strategy to capture the opportunities 
from “Electronics Everywhere” in the 
structural growth markets of aerospace, 
defence, medical and high-end industrial. 
The Company has delivered another 
strong year of progress, despite softer 
macroeconomic uncertainty in some 
of our markets.

In reviewing performance, we have 
carefully considered the overall 
performance of the Company and 
the shareholder experience during the 
year in determining appropriate incentive 
outcomes. We believe that the following 
outcomes are a fair reflection of the 
business and personal performance 
of the Executive Directors:

Directors comprises 75 per cent based 
on financial measures (50 per cent 
underlying profit before tax and 25 per 
cent Group free cash flow) and 25 per 
cent on the achievement of strategic 
objectives. For the year ended 31 
December 2019, underlying profit 
before tax grew 15 per cent to £36.3 
million which continues the growth 
trend of the business. Despite this 
strong growth, performance was 
slightly below the stretching on-target 
performance hurdle. Free cash flow 
performance was again strong at 
£9.7 million with an underlying cash 
conversion of 98 per cent. The 
Executive Directors delivered another 
year of strategic progress with further 
actions remaining to fully deliver the 
business strategy and the Group’s 
transformation. The overall strong 
performance led to an incentive 
payment of 64 per cent of the maximum 
for the Executive Directors. Detail of 
the short-term incentive outcome is 
presented on pages 93 to 94, including 
the full range of performance levels 
for each of the financial measures and 
commentary on performance against 
the strategic objectives.

• The 2016 Long-term Incentive Plan 
(LTIP) awards part vested in March 
2019. The awards were based on two 
equally weighted measures, absolute 
underlying Earnings Per Share (EPS) 
and relative Total Shareholder Return 
(TSR) performance. The EPS element 
vested in full as reported last year. The 
TSR performance over the three-year 
period was 41 per cent. The TSR 
element vested in part at 73 per cent 
as presented on page 94. 

• The 2017 LTIP awards vest in March 
2020 based on performance against 
EPS and TSR. Following the strong 
performance of the Group over the 
three years to 31 December 2019, 
the EPS performance measure was 
met in full with a compound annual 
growth rate of 33.8 per cent. The TSR 
performance measure concludes in 
March 2020. TSR performance is 
anticipated to finalise around the 
maximum performance target and will 
be disclosed in next year’s Directors’ 
remuneration report. Further detail is 
presented on page 94.

76 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

CEO Pay Ratio 
Following the changes to the UK 
Corporate Governance Code the CEO 
pay ratio is included in this report. 
Full details can be found on page 97. 
We believe that our median pay ratio of 
59:1 is consistent with our approach to 
remuneration across the Company and 
the types of roles held by our employees 
across the UK. A significant proportion 
of our Chief Executive’s total 
remuneration is in performance 
dependent variable pay and therefore 
we expect the pay ratio to vary from 
year to year dependent on the outcome 
of both our short-term and long-term 
incentive plans.

UK Gender Pay
Creating a positive work environment 
where all employees can develop and 
build their expertise is of paramount 
importance to TT. We strive to build a 
supportive, diverse and engaging place 
to work built around the “TT Way”. We 
are confident that our people policies 
and approaches to recruitment, training, 
development and remuneration are fair 
and free of bias. Across the Group we 
are broadly evenly split by gender and 
are delighted to have improved our 
gender diversity at the Executive level 
with the appointment of Anne Thorburn. 
We acknowledge that further progress is 
required to improve the gender balance in 
our professional and management roles. 

Our UK gender pay reports show that 
women hold fewer senior positions within 
the UK than men, for both managerial, 
professional and technical roles. As with 
other employers in our sector we believe 
that closing the pay gap will occur over 
the longer-term. Our gender pay reports 
outline our initiatives to actively engage 
our local communities to encourage 
more women to pursue technical and 
engineering based careers, and the 
positive actions that are being taken to 
encourage all employees to develop their 
careers within the Company. 

Full details of our UK Gender Pay 
disclosures can be found on 
www.ttelectronics.com.

Remuneration in the upcoming year
In line with the proposed new Policy 
and following a total remuneration 
review of the Executive Directors and 
Senior Managers, the Committee has 
agreed the following:

• Base salaries for the Executive 

Directors will be maintained at their 
current level. In making the decision, 
the Committee took account of the 
proposed approach for the UK 
workforce, expected to average around 
2 per cent, retention risks and the 
request made by the Executive 
Directors not to receive an increase, 
recognising the changes to some of 
our external markets and the actions 
taken within the Company. Fees for the 
Chairman and Non-executive Directors 
will also remain unchanged;

• The short-term incentive will continue 

to comprise 75 per cent based on 
financial measures (50 per cent 
underlying profit before tax and 25 per 
cent Group free cash flow) and 25 per 
cent on the achievement of strategic 
objectives. In line with our proposed 
new Policy, subject to shareholder 
approval, the maximum short-term 
incentive opportunity for 2020 will be 
increased from 100 per cent to 125 per 
cent of base salary, with 20 per cent of 
the earnt incentive deferred into shares 
for a period of two years. The targets 
and performance against all of the 
performance measures will be fully 
disclosed in next year’s Directors’ 
remuneration report. The strategic 
priorities for 2020 will include a 
component on the development and 
integration of the Group ESG strategy.

• LTIP awards are planned to be made 
in March 2020 and will continue to 
be made on two equally weighted 
performance measures, EPS and TSR. 
As in 2019 the awards for the CEO 
and CFO are expected to be set at 
150 per cent and 135 per cent of 
salary respectively.

Discretion and independent judgement 
As a Committee, we are willing to 
exercise discretion and judgement 
when determining remuneration 
outcomes for the Executive Directors. 
Before agreeing performance outcomes 
we reflect on whether the Company’s 
overall performance is appropriately 
represented by the performance 
measures we have set, by taking into 
account performance against non-
financial measures, environmental, 
social and governance (ESG) matters, 
the demonstration of leadership qualities 
and living our values.

During the year the Committee applied 
its judgement to amend short-term 
incentive scheme performance 
measures for exceptional items, changes 
to accounting standards and portfolio 
development. Changes ensured that 
targets remained “fit for purpose” and 
materially neither easier nor more 
difficult to achieve. In respect of the 
acquisition of Power Partners Inc., the 
financial performance measures in the 
short-term incentive were adjusted to 
reflect the budgeted performance of 
the acquisition. The Committee also 
reviewed the methodology of measuring 
performance outturns at budget 
exchange rates to ensure the actual 
outcomes are assessed in line with 
the approach to target setting. 

Workforce remuneration 
TT Electronics’ over-arching 
remuneration framework is commonly 
applied across the Group and supports 
the people strategy to create an 
inclusive, equitable and performance 
related organisational culture. It is 
designed to underpin the business’ 
core purpose, delivery of strategic 
priorities and enables it to attract, 
retain and motivate talented people by 
applying consistent yet locally driven 
remuneration principles across the 
Group. Where practicable, remuneration 
practices are aligned with those of 
Executive Directors to ensure alignment 
of focus and motivation.

Enabling Colleagues to become 
shareholders 
We feel strongly in the positive benefits 
of our colleagues being shareholders in 
the business and have been running all 
employee share schemes in both the UK 
and US for almost ten years. In recent 
years participation has been increasing 
and we are delighted that over 25 per 
cent of employees from across the 
UK and US participate in our schemes. 
Our existing all-employee share schemes 
are coming to the end of their ten-year 
lifespans and replacements to these 
share schemes are included in the 2020 
AGM voting resolutions.

Developments for 2020
As the Company continues to 
transform, the Committee, working 
with management, will continue to 
assess and ensure the alignment of 
remuneration arrangements with TT’s 
strategy, business results and market 
demands. In particular, we will consider 
how the Group purpose and ESG 
strategy align with our remuneration 
programmes, and we will test and 
challenge the alignment of pay for 
performance programmes across the 
workforce. We will build on the existing 
mechanisms to engage the workforce 
on our approach to remuneration and 
continue to provide oversight of the 
workforce remuneration policies to 
ensure they support the strategic 
objectives, culture and TT values.

As always, we would welcome any 
feedback or comments on this Report. 
The Committee remains firmly 
committed to the principle of pay for 
performance, ensuring that rewards 
to the senior leadership team are 
aligned with the sustainability of the 
Company and the returns to long-term 
shareholders. If you would like to 
discuss any further aspect of our 
remuneration strategy I would 
welcome your views. I can be contacted 
at alison.wood@ttelectronics.com.

Alison Wood 
Chair, Remuneration Committee

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

77

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Future Remuneration Policy overview

Future Remuneration Policy overview

Future Remuneration Policy 
The Remuneration Policy supports and rewards the achievement of the Group’s strategy to deliver profitable and sustainable 
growth over the short and longer term. This is driven and evaluated by how the Group performs against a variety of KPIs both 
financial and non-financial. Our Directors’ Remuneration Policy was last approved by shareholders at the AGM in 2017 and this 
overview outlines the proposed key changes which shareholders will be able to vote on at the 2020 AGM and how this would 
be applied. The Policy is set out in full on pages 81 to 90.

Executive Director remuneration for 2020

Element

Maximum

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Fixed Pay

Salary

Benefits

Pension

Variable  
Pay

Short-term 
incentive plan

Market competitive. 
Increases set with 
reference to the wider 
workforce.

Salary paid.

Market competitive.

Benefits paid.

Aligned to those available 
to majority of local 
workforce for newly 
appointed Executives. 
15% of salary for existing 
Executive Directors.

CEO/CFO 125% of salary. 
80% cash and 20% in 
deferred shares.

Pension 
provision paid.

Annual 
performance 
conditions 
apply. Majority 
weighting on 
Group financial 
targets, 
minority to 
strategic 
objectives.

Cash element 
paid (80% 
of earnt 
incentive).

2-year share deferral (20% of 
earnt incentive).

Long-term 
incentive plan

CEO 150% of salary, CFO 
135% of salary. 2-year 
holding period applies.

Based on financial and/or share price measures 
over a three-year performance period.

2-year holding period.

Governance Share ownership 

200% of salary.

Executive Directors required to build and maintain the share ownership requirement. 
CEO share ownership is 375% of salary, CFO is 383% of salary.

requirement

Malus 
(withholding) 
and clawback 
(recovery)

Post-employment 
share ownership

All incentives.

Malus: incentive plans allow for the Committee to exercise discretion and make 
adjustments to formulaic outcomes. 

Clawback: misstatement, serious misconduct, serious reputational damage, error in 
calculation and corporate failure.

100% of salary.

Holding requirement for shares until two years after cessation of employment.

78 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Outline of key Policy changes

Element

Current Policy

Proposed Policy

Rationale

Fixed Pay

Pension

Current policy for Executive 
Directors is up to 15% 
of salary.

The maximum contribution for the 
existing Executive Directors will be up to 
15% of salary. 

To align pension provision of newly 
appointed Executive Directors with 
the workforce.

The pension provision for newly appointed 
Executive Directors will be aligned with 
those available to the majority of the 
local workforce in which the Executive 
is employed.

Variable  
Pay

Short-term 
incentive 
opportunity

The maximum potential is 
100% of base salary in respect 
of any financial year.

The maximum potential is 125% of base 
salary in respect of any financial year.

The Committee recognises the 
Code requirement and the desire of 
shareholders to see the alignment 
of pension provision to that of the 
workforce. The Committee is 
mindful of the current Executive 
Director contractual commitments 
and has not reduced their pension 
contributions. The Committee will 
continue to monitor developments 
in market practice.

The Committee believes the level 
of incentivisation better reflects the 
ongoing business transformation, 
scale, business complexity and 
value of the Group.

To further incentivise the annual 
delivery of financial and strategic 
goals as the Group continues to 
execute its growth strategy.

Governance Short-term 

No current formal policy.

incentive 
deferral

Post-
cessation 
shareholding

Malus 
(withholding) 
and 
Clawback 
(recovery)

No current formal policy.

80% of earnt incentive will be paid in cash. 
20% of earnt incentive will be deferred 
into shares for a period of 2 years. 
Dividend equivalents will accrue in respect 
of deferred shares.

The Committee believes that 
deferral into shares strengthens the 
alignment between the long-term 
interests of Executive Directors and 
shareholders.

Introduction of a post-cessation of 
employment shareholding requirement 
of 50% of the minimum shareholding 
required for 2 years following cessation. 
The requirement will apply to share awards 
made under the LTIP and the short-term 
incentive deferral following the approval 
of the policy.

The Committee recognises the 
Code requirement and the desire 
of shareholders. The Committee 
believes that the proposal 
strengthens alignment between 
the long-term interests of Executive 
Directors and shareholders.

Malus and clawback applies 
to both the short-term and 
long-term incentive.

Malus provisions apply to the short-term 
plan, short-term incentive deferral and 
long-term incentive plan.

STIP: Clawback provisions 
apply for material 
misstatement.

LTIP: Clawback provisions 
apply during the two-year 
holding period. Clawback 
provisions apply for material 
misstatement, misconduct 
and calculation error.

Malus provisions across all plans allow 
the Committee to exercise discretion and 
make adjustments to formulaic outcomes 
prior to payment or vesting.

Clawback provisions apply to all plans. 
For two years after the payment date of 
the short-term incentive and for three years 
after the vesting in the short-term incentive 
deferral and long-term incentive plan.

The Committee recognises the 
Code requirement and the need 
to ensure that incentive payments 
are appropriate and that the 
schemes enable the recovery 
and/or withholding of awards in 
circumstances where it would be 
appropriate to do so.

Changes to Malus and Clawback 
were introduced for the 2019 
incentive awards.

Clawback provisions apply for material 
misstatement, misconduct, calculation 
error, reputational damage and 
corporate failure.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

79

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Remuneration at a glance

Remuneration at a glance 

Aligning our principles with reward

Richard Tyson (2020)

Mark Hoad (2020)

Fixed Pay

19.0%

17.8%

30.4%

31.6%

19.0%

17.8%

7.9%

7.9%

15.8%

8.2%

16.4%

8.2%

Underlying profit before tax (short-term incentive)

Group free cash flow (short-term incentive)

Strategic objectives (short-term incentive)

Underlying earnings per share (long-term incentive)

Total Shareholder Return (long-term incentive)

Key performance indicators for 2019
Our remuneration arrangements have a clear link to our key performance indicators that are aligned with our business strategy.

Short-term  
incentive plan1

Long-term  
incentive plan2

Financial

Strategic  
objectives 

Underlying profit before tax (50%)

£36.4m
40% of max

Group free cash flow (25%)

£8.3m
100% of max

Strategic growth preparation  
in North America (12.5%)

Performance between target  
and stretch 76% of max

Operational efficiency (12.5%)

Performance between target  
and stretch 76% of max

Financial

Underlying earnings per share 
(50%)

33.8% compound annual growth rate 
100% of max

Share price 

Total shareholder return (50%)

66 percentile 
73% of max

1  Target and actual performance are assessed at constant budget exchange rates.
2  EPS performance measure relates to the 2017 LTIP award (performance period from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019), TSR performance measure relates to the 2016 LTIP 

award (performance period from 16 March 2016 to 15 March 2019).

The Committee believes that performance measures should be both motivational and stretching. In 2019, the Executive 
Directors grew underlying profit before tax by 15 per cent and delivered strong cash flow performance. Against the stretching 
targets, the overall short-term incentive awards to the CEO and CFO were 64 per cent of salary. See pages 93 to 94 for more 
detail. Further detail in respect of the Long-Term Incentive Plan vesting can be found on page 94.

Executive Director remuneration for 2019

Salary
£’000

Fixed pay

Benefits
£’000

Variable pay

Pensions
£’000

STIP
£’000

LTIP
£’000

Other
£’000

Total remuneration
£’000

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

Executive Directors

Richard Tyson 

Mark Hoad

478

359

455

348

23

20

22

20

72

54

68

52

306

230

425

325

655

453

1,248

732

0

0

4

4

1,534

2,222

1,116

1,481

See page 92 for more detail

80 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Remuneration Policy report

Remuneration objectives and key principles

The following pages detail the Directors’ Remuneration Policy which we intend to apply, subject to shareholders approval at the 
2020 AGM and how it differs from that approved by shareholders at the 2017 AGM. As a Committee, we believe that the proposed 
Policy will be “fit for purpose” to align both shareholders’ and our Executive Directors’ focus and interests during the next phase 
of the Company strategy. In proposing the changes we have sought feedback from our largest institutional shareholders and the 
major investor bodies; their feedback is reflected in our final proposals.

Summary of the key changes from the previous Policy
The key differences between the Policy approved by shareholders in 2017 and the proposed Policy are as follows:

• Alignment of the pension provision for newly appointed Executive Directors to those available to the majority of the local 

workforce in which the Executive is employed. This is currently 7 per cent of salary in the UK. The current Executive Directors 
will retain their existing contractual pension provision of 15 per cent of salary; 

• Introduction of a material post cessation of employment share ownership requirement. Executive Directors will be required 
to hold for two years post-employment the lower of 50 per cent of the share ownership requirement or the shareholding 
at cessation;

• Re-alignment of incentive opportunity and rebalancing of our incentive mix which will continue to be weighted towards the 
long-term strategic agenda. To reflect the ongoing business transformation, scale, business complexity and value of the 
Group the maximum short-term incentive opportunity will be increased by 25 per cent to 125 per cent of salary; 

• Introduction of short-term incentive deferral, with 20 per cent of the incentive earnt deferred into shares for two years; and

• Incorporation and alignment of additional malus and clawback triggers in the short-term incentive, deferred short-term incentive 

and long-term incentive plan rules. 

The proposed Policy represents an evolutionary re-alignment of the current Policy rather than a fundamental change. 
The Committee continues to believe that the remuneration arrangements should be aligned with the Executives’ underlying 
commitment to act in the best interests of maximising sustainable long-term shareholder value creation, whilst ensuring 
that behaviours remain consistent with the governance and values of the business.

Key Policy objectives
To deliver a remuneration package:

• to attract, retain and motivate high calibre executives in a challenging and competitive business environment;

• that delivers an appropriate balance between fixed and variable compensation for each executive;

• that places a strong emphasis on performance, both short-term and long-term;

• strongly aligned to the achievement of strategic objectives and the delivery of sustainable value to shareholders; and

• that seeks to avoid creating excessive risks in the achievement of performance targets.

Remuneration principles
• Performance-related: the majority of the Executive and Senior Manager remuneration packages should be determined based 

on the performance of the Group. A significant proportion of this is aligned with shareholder interests, such as measures 
based on EPS and TSR. Failure to reach performance thresholds leads to no pay-out under the Group’s short-term or long-term 
incentive arrangements.

• Transparency: to engender a fair and collaborative culture, total remuneration frameworks should be clear and openly 

communicated.

• Competitive: through a combination of base salaries and competitive performance-related incentive schemes, the Committee 
aims to provide competitive total remuneration in return for superior performance. Base salaries are designed to reflect the 
requirements of the role and responsibility, together with the overall level of individual performance and taking account of 
prevailing market and economic conditions, and remuneration levels across the Group.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

81

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Remuneration Policy report

Remuneration Policy report 
continued

Operation and scope of Remuneration policy 
The future Remuneration policy is intended to apply to the Executive Directors and Non-executive Directors from the close of the 
Company’s AGM on 6 May 2020, subject to approval by shareholders.

The Committee has written this Policy principally in relation to remuneration arrangements for the Executive Directors, whilst 
taking into account the possible recruitment of a replacement or additional Executive Director during the operation of this Policy. 
The Policy is intended to operate for the full Policy term. However, the Committee may after due consideration, seek to change the 
Policy during this period if it believes it is appropriate to do so for the long-term success of the Company, after consultation with 
shareholders and having sought shareholder approval at a general meeting.

The Committee reserves the right to make any remuneration payments and/or payments for loss of office (including exercising 
any discretions available to it in connection with such payments) notwithstanding that they are not in line with the Policy where 
the terms of the payment were agreed:

(i)  before AGM 2014 (the date the Company’s first shareholder-approved Directors’ Remuneration Policy came into effect); 

(ii)  before the future Policy comes into effect, provided that the terms of the payment were consistent with the shareholder-

approved Directors’ Remuneration Policy in force at the time they were agreed; or 

(iii) at a time when the relevant individual was not a Director of the Company and, in the opinion of the Committee, the payment 

was not in consideration for the individual becoming a Director of the Company. For these purposes “payments” includes the 
Committee satisfying awards of variable remuneration and, in relation to an award over shares, the terms of the payment are 
“agreed” at the time the award is granted.

Future Remuneration Policy table
Subject to shareholder approval at the Company’s AGM on 6 May 2020, the Remuneration Policy for each remuneration element 
will be as outlined in the following Policy tables. From time to time, the Committee may consider it appropriate to apply judgement 
and discretion in respect of the approved Policy. This is highlighted where relevant in the Policy, and the use of discretion will 
always be in the spirit of the approved Policy.

Salary

Purpose and link  
to strategy

To provide a core 
reward for the role.

Set at an 
appropriate level 
to attract, motivate 
and retain high 
calibre individuals 
needed to deliver 
the Group’s 
strategic priorities.

Operation

Opportunity

Performance measures

No material change

Not applicable, although 
the overall performance of 
the individual is taken into 
account when determining 
salary increases.

Salary is normally reviewed annually, typically effective 
from 1 January each year. Salaries are normally paid in 
the currency of the Executive Director’s home country.

The Committee consider a number of factors in setting 
salaries, including but not limited to: 

•  Broader Company policy in respect of salaries applied 

to all employees.

•  Individual’s role and scope, skills, experience and 

performance.

•  Competitiveness to independently sourced data 

compared to relevant comparator groups such as 
companies of similar complexity, sector and size.
•  Set at an appropriate level to ensure an appropriate 
level of basic fixed income and avoids excessive 
risk arising from over reliance on variable income.

There is no prescribed maximum 
annual increase although increases 
are generally aligned with the general 
increase received by the broader 
employee base in which the Executive 
operates and market movement.

Higher increases may be made at the 
Committee’s discretion in certain 
circumstances such as a significant 
change in responsibility, in the scale of 
their role or in the size and complexity of 
the Group. Larger increases may also be 
considered for progression if a Director 
has been initially appointed to the 
Board at a lower than typical salary.

Current base salary levels are set 
out in the Directors’ Annual 
Remuneration Report.

82 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

No material change

Performance measures

Not applicable.

Benefits

Purpose and link  
to strategy

To provide market 
competitive and 
cost-effective 
benefits to attract 
and retain 
high-calibre 
individuals

Operation

Opportunity

There is no prescribed maximum as 
benefit costs can fluctuate depending 
on changes in provider cost and 
individual circumstances.

Details of the current benefit costs 
are set out in the Directors’ Annual 
Remuneration Report.

Executive Directors are eligible to receive benefits, 
which typically may include but are not limited to:

•  Cash allowance in lieu of company car benefit.
•  The provision of private medical insurance, 

health screening.

•  life assurance, income protection and critical 

illness cover.

In line with the policy for other employees, 
Executive Directors may be eligible to receive 
relocation or overseas relocation benefits 
and allowances as appropriate. 

Benefit provision is tailored to reflect geographic 
market practice in which the Executive Director is 
based and different policies may apply if Executive 
Directors are based in a different country.

Pension

Purpose and link  
to strategy

Operation

Opportunity

To provide a market 
competitive level of 
retirement income 
and assist 
attraction and 
retention.

Pension arrangements for Executive Directors are 
structured in accordance with the provisions available 
to the majority of the local workforce in which the 
Executive is employed. Where the individual chooses 
not to become a member of the pension plan, cash in 
lieu of the relevant pension contribution is paid instead.

Executive Directors in the UK are entitled either to join 
the defined contribution pension plan and/or to receive 
a cash pension in lieu of the pension contribution.

In line with market practice, pensionable pay for 
Executive Directors in the UK includes basic salary only.

The pension provision for newly 
appointed Executive Directors will 
be aligned with those available to 
the majority of the local workforce 
in which the Executive is employed.

The pension provision for incumbent 
Executive Directors is up to 15 per cent 
of basic salary.

Alignment to workforce pension 
provision for newly hired 
Executive Directors

Performance measures

Not applicable.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

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Remuneration Policy report 
continued

Short-term incentive plan

Purpose and link  
to strategy

Operation

To incentivise and 
recognise execution 
of the achievement 
of the business 
strategy on an 
annual basis.

Rewards the 
achievement of 
stretching annual 
financial measures 
and strategic 
business targets 
aligned to business 
strategy.

Performance measures and targets are typically set at 
the start of each financial year and are aligned with the 
strategic business priorities. Financial targets are set 
with reference to the budget.

Incentive awards are assessed and determined by the 
Committee based on performance against the targets.

20 per cent of any earnt incentive is automatically 
deferred pre-tax into shares for a period of two years. 
Deferred shares are eligible for dividend equivalents 
up to the date of vesting and release. Deferred awards 
(after any sales to pay associated tax withholdings) 
must be retained until the share ownership guideline 
and/or post-cessation of employment share ownership 
guidelines are met. 

The Committee may apply judgement in making 
appropriate adjustments to incentive outcomes to 
ensure they reflect underlying business performance 
and shareholder interests.

Awards are subject to malus and clawback provisions.

Long-term incentive plan

Purpose and link  
to strategy

Operation

To incentivise and 
recognise delivery 
of longer-term 
sustainable 
business 
performance, 
aligning Executive 
Directors’ interests 
with those of 
shareholders.

In addition, to 
provide a retention 
element, encourage 
long-term 
shareholding 
and discourage 
excessive risk 
taking.

Award of shares, either as nil cost options or conditional 
awards, made annually with vesting dependent on the 
achievement of performance conditions measured over 
three years. Vested shares (after any sales to pay tax) 
are subject to an additional two-year holding period.

Performance measures and targets are set at the 
Committee’s discretion, there may be a single target 
range to be met at the end of the three-year period 
or annual target ranges to be met throughout the 
three-year period. Targets are set for each award 
with reference to the business plan.

Awards are eligible for dividend equivalents up to the 
date of vesting and release.

The Committee may apply judgement to adjust the 
formulaic vesting outcomes (either up or down) to 
ensure they reflect underlying business performance 
and shareholder interests over the performance period.

Awards are subject to malus and clawback provisions.

Change to opportunity and 
introduction of deferral

Opportunity

Performance measures

The maximum opportunity for Executive 
Directors is 125 per cent of basic salary.

For target performance, the incentive 
award will be 50 per cent of the 
maximum opportunity.

Based on a combination 
of financial and strategic 
performance measures with 
at least 75 per cent of the 
incentive assessed against 
Group financial measures. 
The specific measures 
and weighting between 
measures will be determined 
each year to ensure 
alignment with Company 
strategy and budgets. 
The Committee may use 
its discretion to set financial 
measures that it considers 
appropriate in each 
financial year.

Specific performance 
measures and weightings 
will be included in the 
relevant year’s Annual 
Report on Remuneration.

No material change

Opportunity

Performance measures

The maximum award which may be 
granted under the LTIP in any one 
year is up to 150 per cent of basic 
salary for the Executive Directors.

Awards vest based on a 
variety of financial and/or 
shareholder value creation 
measures.

The amount that is paid out 
for achievement of threshold 
performance will be no more 
than 25 per cent of the maximum. 
The minimum vesting is 0 percent.

The specific measures 
and weighting between 
measures will be determined 
each year to ensure 
alignment with Company 
strategy and business plan. 
The Committee may use its 
discretion to set measures 
that it considers appropriate 
each year. Specific 
performance measures 
and weightings will be 
included in the relevant 
year’s Annual Report.

LTIP performance is 
currently measured 
over three years based 
on financial (e.g. EPS) and/
or share price measures 
(e.g. relative TSR). 

84 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

All-employee share plans

Purpose and link  
to strategy

Operation

Opportunity

To encourage 
employee share 
ownership and 
increase alignment 
with shareholders.

A number of all-employee share plans are operated 
across the Group.

In accordance with prevailing legislative 
and plan limits.

Executives are entitled to participate in all-employee 
share plans (Sharesave in the UK, Employee Share 
Purchase Plan in the USA) on the same terms as all 
other eligible employees. 

No material change

Performance measures

Not applicable.

Share ownership guidelines

Purpose and link  
to strategy

Operation

Executive Directors are required to build and maintain 
significant shareholdings over time. 

To align the 
interests of 
Executive Directors 
with those of 
shareholders.

Introduction of post cessation 
requirement

Performance measures

Not applicable.

Opportunity

Executive Directors are required to 
build and maintain a shareholding 
in employment of 200 per cent of 
basic salary.

Post-cessation of employment, 
Executive Directors are required 
to maintain for two years, a shareholding 
of half the in employment requirement 
or maintain their actual holding if lower.

The post-cessation requirement will 
be calculated based on the basic salary 
at the leave date and applies to shares 
that vest (after any sales to pay tax) 
under the long-term incentive plan and 
the deferred share bonus plan (DSBP) 
following the approval of this 
Remuneration Policy.

Malus (withholding) and Clawback (recovery)

Updated to reflect good practice

The Committee may apply judgement to adjust formulaic incentive outcomes (either up or down) prior to payment/vesting to ensure they reflect 
underlying business performance and shareholder interests. Malus and clawback events include material misstatement, misconduct of the participant, 
vesting/payments based on erroneous or misleading data, serious reputational damage and corporate failure.

The Committee may enact clawback up to three years from the vesting of share awards under the LTIP (2019 awards onwards) and the DSBP. Clawback 
of the cash incentive may be enacted up to two years after payment. In the event that clawback is enacted the Committee has the discretion to require 
repayment or to reduce any unvested or unpaid award made under any Employees’ Share Scheme or the short-term incentive plan. In addition, if a 
participant in the DSBP, which shareholders are asked to approve at the 2020 AGM, is subject to investigation, then the vesting of their award may be 
delayed until the outcome of that investigation.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

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Remuneration Policy report 
continued

Future Remuneration Policy Table – Non-executive Directors (NEDs)

No material change

Performance measures

Not applicable.

Opportunity

There is no prescribed maximum fee 
level, increases are generally aligned 
with the general increase received 
by the broader employee base and 
market movement.

Non-executive Director fees

Purpose and link  
to strategy

Operation

To attract NEDs 
who have a broad 
range of experience 
and skills to oversee 
the implementation 
of our strategy.

NED fees (excluding those of the Chairman) are set by 
the Chairman and Executive Directors. The Chairman 
fee is set by the Committee.

NEDs receive a basic fee paid monthly in respect of their 
Board duties.

Further fees are paid in respect of Board committee 
chair fees and the role of Senior Independent Director. 
No additional fees are payable for membership of a 
Board committee.

Fees are reviewed annually and set by reference to 
independently sourced data compared to relevant 
comparator groups such as companies of similar 
complexity, sector and size. Fee reviews are typically 
effective from 1 January each year. Fees are 
normally paid in the currency of the Non-executive’s 
home country.

Non-executives are eligible for the reimbursement 
of Company-related expenses (grossed up for tax 
where appropriate) relating to the performance of 
their duties including travel, accommodation and 
subsistence.

Notes to the Policy table
Performance measures and targets
The Committee believes the choice of performance measures for the short-term and long-term incentive plans represent an 
appropriate balance between the short-term and long-term focus of the Group’s strategic aims and key performance indicators, 
as well as an appropriate balance between internal and external assessment of performance. Performance measures for the 
short-term incentive are tied to the Company’s delivery of key financial metrics and strategic objectives. The measures applicable 
to the LTIP reward the delivery of long-term returns to shareholders and the Group’s financial growth being consistent with the 
Company’s objective of delivering superior levels of long-term value to shareholders. When setting targets, the Committee takes 
into account a variety of factors, including but not limited to market practice, market expectations and internal business plans 
and forecasts. In setting the targets, the Committee ensures that they are sufficiently stretching and that there is an appropriate 
balance between incentivising Executive Directors to meet targets for the year, whilst ensuring that they do not drive unacceptable 
levels of risk and encourage inappropriate behaviours.

86 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Consideration of remuneration arrangements throughout the Group
In setting the Remuneration policy the Committee considers the remuneration arrangement across the Group and the relativity 
of Executive Director remuneration. When considering annual salary adjustments, the Committee takes account of the expected 
increases for the broader employee base.

Remuneration arrangements across the Group are based on the same principles that remuneration should support the delivery 
of the business strategy and should be sufficient to attract, motivate and retain talent. Although the remuneration offered to 
the Executive Directors has a stronger emphasis on variable performance-related pay than that offered to other employees, 
to the extent practicable, remuneration practices are cascaded down the organisation, such that employees are aligned towards 
common goals. 

The Group operates in a number of different geographic territories and has many employees who carry out a range of diverse roles. 
The ratio of fixed to variable pay differs by employee level and the structure of remuneration varies by local market, consisting:

• Salary and benefits (including pension/retirement) are tailored to the local market.

• Short-term incentive plans are operated across the Group, typically on differing metrics aligned to the Company strategy which 

may include financial performance, operational delivery, HSE, individual or team performance. 

• Long-term incentive plan awards are made annually to senior leadership roles across the Group on the same terms as those for 

Executive Directors.

• All employee share plans are available to all UK and US employees.

While employees have not been formally consulted in respect of the Remuneration policy, the Company conducts regular 
employee surveys which include feedback on remuneration matters. The Committee anticipates that the wider developments of 
employee forums across the Group and the interlinkages with the Board will provide the opportunity to engage employees more 
widely in remuneration matters. 

Recruitment Policy
When considering the recruitment of a new Executive Director, the Committee will apply the prevailing Remuneration Policy at the 
time of appointment.

The Committee will determine remuneration on a case-by-case basis depending on the role, the market from which they will 
operate, their skills and experience. Total remuneration levels will be set to attract the most appropriate candidate and will take 
into account remuneration levels amongst relevant comparator groups. Where appropriate, salaries may initially be set below 
mid-market levels to allow for future development in the role with the Committee retaining discretion to award increases in excess 
of those of the wider workforce to bring the salary to the market level over time.

Benefit and pension arrangements will be set in accordance with the terms of the approved Remuneration Policy in force at the 
time of appointment. The Committee may also agree that the Company will meet certain costs associated with the recruitment, 
for example legal fees, and the Committee may agree to provide relocation benefits.

It is anticipated that new Executive Directors will participate in short and long-term incentive plans on the same arrangements 
as existing Directors. In certain circumstances, the performance measures associated with these awards, in the year of joining, 
may be granted with different measures and/or targets to the other Directors. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

87

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Remuneration Policy report 
continued

For an externally appointed Executive Director, the Company may offer additional remuneration that it considers necessary to 
buy out current entitlements from the existing employer that will be lost, as may be required in order to achieve a successful 
recruitment when the Committee considers these to be in the best interests of the Company and shareholders. The Company 
is mindful of the sensitivity relating to recruitment packages and will seek to minimise buy out remuneration. The overriding 
principle for any such remuneration would be that any replacement buy out award should be of comparable commercial value 
to the terms, incentives and other compensation which have been forfeit. In order to facilitate buy out arrangements, existing 
incentive arrangements will be used to the extent possible, although if necessary awards may be granted as permitted under 
the Listing Rules exemption 9.4.2.

For an internal executive Director appointment or a new Director following acquisition or merger, any variable pay element 
awarded in respect of their prior role may be determined according to the original terms, adjusted as relevant to take into account 
the appointment. In addition, any other ongoing remuneration obligations existing prior to appointment may continue on their 
original terms.

The Committee retains discretion to make appropriate remuneration decisions outside the standard Policy to meet the individual 
circumstances of recruitment when:

• an interim appointment is made to fill an Executive Director role on a short-term basis; or

• exceptional circumstances require that the Chairman or a Non-executive Director takes on an executive function on a 

short-term basis.

In the event that a Non-executive Director takes on an executive role for a temporary period, the Non-executive Director will be 
remunerated in line with the prevailing Executive Director Remuneration Policy in force at the time of appointment.

If appropriate, on the recruitment of a new Executive, the Committee may agree to an initial notice period in excess of 12 months, 
reducing to 12 months over a specified period.

Fees for a new Chairman or Non-executive Directors will be set in line with the approved Policy in force at the time of 
appointment. It is not intended that variable pay, day rates or benefits in kind be offered, although in exceptional circumstances 
such remuneration may be required in currently unforeseen circumstances.

The Committee will include in future Remuneration Reports details of the implementation of the Policy as utilised during the 
Policy period in respect of any such recruitment to the Board.

Service contracts/letters of appointment 
Executive Directors service contracts are terminable by either party with 12 months’ notice and allow for the Company to impose 
a six-month non-competition clause.

The Chairman and Non-executive Directors do not have service contracts but have letters of appointment with the Company. 
Notice periods are normally set at one month for the Chairman and Non-executive Directors.

88 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Loss of office policy
In the event that an Executive Director’s employment with the company terminates, the following policies and payments will apply.

Element of Remuneration

Loss of office payment policy

Fixed Pay

Up to 12 months’ annual salary payable. The contracts contain provision, at the Board’s discretion, for payment in lieu 
of notice. In calculating any termination payment, the Board would take into account the commercial interests of the 
Company and apply usual common law and contractual principles. 

Short-term incentive plan

Generally, benefits will continue to apply until cessation. The Committee may make payments in connection with an 
existing legal obligation or in respect of any claim relating to the cessation of employment. This may include fees for 
outplacement assistance, legal and/or professional advice.

No award would generally be payable if on the date the payment is declared an individual is no longer employed by 
the Company, or has received or given notice to leave the Group. However, the Committee retains discretion to deem 
an individual a good leaver*, in which case it may provide a time pro-rated award, determined against the relevant 
performance conditions. Any award would normally be payable at the normal payment date. In determining the level 
of short-term incentive to be paid, the Committee may, at its discretion, take into account performance up to the date 
of cessation or over the financial year as a whole based on appropriate performance measures as determined by the 
Committee.

Deferred share bonus plan

Deferred short-term incentive awards are governed by the plan rules which are subject to shareholder approval.

Unvested awards will normally lapse unless the individual is deemed a good leaver1 in which case the awards will 
vest in full on the original vesting date. The Committee retains discretion, in exceptional circumstances, to determine 
an early vesting date.

In the event of change of control, awards will vest or may be exchanged for new awards.

Long-term incentive plan

Long-term incentive plan awards are governed by the plan rules which have been approved by shareholders. 

Unvested awards will normally lapse unless the individual is deemed a good leaver1 in which case the awards will 
normally vest on the original vesting date, subject to the satisfaction of the relevant performance conditions and be 
pro-rated for time. The Committee retains discretion to determine that awards vest at cessation (for example in the 
case of death) and/or to disapply time-based pro-rating. 

In the event of change in control, and unless participants agree with the acquiring company to exchange their awards, 
awards will vest subject to the satisfaction of the relevant performance conditions and be pro-rated for time. 
However, the Committee has discretion to disapply time pro-rating.

1  For example: death, disability, redundancy, retirement or other circumstances at the discretion of the Committee.

External appointments
Executive Directors, with the prior approval of the Board, may accept one external appointment as a Non-executive Director 
of another company. Experience as a board member of another company is considered to be valuable personal development, 
which is of value to the Company. The retention of any related fees by the Executive Director or remission to the Company will 
be determined on a case by case basis.

Illustration of total remuneration opportunity 
The following charts illustrate the future total remuneration for each Executive Director in respect of the proposed remuneration 
opportunity to be granted under the future Remuneration Policy for approval at the 2020 AGM. The charts indicate the minimum, 
on-target and maximum remuneration that could be received. Underlying assumptions follow the charts.

£1,000’s

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

£1,230

29%

24%

47%

£572

100%

£1,887

31%

26%

25%

£2,246

40%

27%

33%

Fixed Pay

Short-term incentive

Long-term incentive

£898

27%

24%
49%

£432

100%

£1,365

29%

27%

27%

£1,607

40%

27%

33%

Minimum

On-Target

Maximum Maximum with 50%
share price growth

Minimum

On-Target

Maximum

Maximum with 50%
share price growth

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

89

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Remuneration Policy report 
continued

All scenarios:
• Base salary to be paid in 2020.

• Benefits in kind and pension received in 2019 as shown in the Single Total Figure of Remuneration table.

• Short-term incentive is based on 125 per cent of salary, as proposed under the future Remuneration Policy. 

• Long-term incentive is based on the multiples for 2020 of 150 per cent and 135 per cent of salary for the CEO and CFO respectively. 

• Dividend equivalents are not included in respect of deferred awards under the short-term incentive or awards under the 

long-term incentive plan.

Fixed:
•  Fixed pay consists of salary, pension and benefits in kind as provided under the Remuneration policy. 

On-target:
•  For the short-term incentive 50 per cent of the maximum would be payable. For the long-term incentive 50 per cent vesting 

is assumed. 

Maximum:
• It is assumed that the short-term incentive would be payable at maximum and the that the long-term incentive award would 

vest in full.

Maximum with share price growth:
• Calculated as per the maximum but for the long-term incentive award which includes a 50 per cent share price growth assumption. 

Discretion
The Committee has discretion in numerous areas of the Policy as set out in the report. The Committee may also exercise 
administrative and operational discretion under incentive plan and share plan rules. The Committee may make minor amendments 
to the Policy set out in this Policy Report (for regulatory, exchange control, tax or administrative purposes or to take account of a 
change in legislation) without obtaining shareholder approval for that amendment.

The Committee may vary or waive any performance condition(s) if an event occurs which causes it to determine that the original 
condition(s) have ceased to be appropriate, provided that any such variation or waiver is fair, reasonable and not materially less 
difficult to satisfy than the original condition would have been but for the event in question (in its opinion). The Committee may 
also adjust the calculation of performance targets and vesting outcomes (for instance for material acquisitions, investments or 
disposals and events not foreseen at the time the targets were set) to ensure they remain a fair reflection of performance over 
the relevant period. In the event that the Committee were to make an adjustment of this sort, a full explanation would be provided 
in the next Directors’ Annual Remuneration Report. The Committee will also consider shareholder consultation in respect of 
material adjustments. 

90 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Annual report on remuneration

Implementation of the Remuneration Policy for the year ending 31 December 2020
A summary of how the Directors’ Remuneration Policy will be applied during the year ending 31 December 2020 is set out below.

Basic salary
The Remuneration Committee agreed that the base salaries of the Executive Directors would remain unchanged for 2020. In 
making the decision the Committee took into account the proposed approach for the wider workforce, retention risks and the 
request made by the Executive Directors not to receive an increase, recognising the changes to some of our external markets 
and the actions taken within the Company. 

Executive

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

2020

2019

 Increase

£478,218

£358,731

£478,218

£358,731

0.0%

0.0%

The Group’s UK employees, in general, are expected to receive pay rises averaging 2 per cent depending on location, promotional 
increases and individual performance.

Pension and Benefits
There are no changes to the pension (15 per cent of salary) or benefits for current Executive Directors. The Committee will review 
annually the market trends and developments in respect of the contractual pension provision to the existing Executive Directors.

Short-term Incentive Plan
The Committee believes it is important for Executive Directors that a significant proportion of their remuneration is performance-
related and the performance conditions applying to incentive arrangements support the delivery of the Company’s strategy. 
In line with our proposed new Policy, the intention is that the maximum short-term incentive opportunity for 2020 will be 
increased from 100 per cent to 125 per cent of base salary, with 20 per cent of earnt incentive deferred into shares for a period 
of two years. The split of targets continues to be based on the Group’s financial results, being Group underlying profit before tax 
(50 per cent weighting), Group underlying free cash flow (25 per cent weighting) and strategic objectives (25 per cent weighting) 
based on the Company’s priorities for the forthcoming year. 

Targets are set taking account of internal and external forecasts relating to the Company’s performance and reflecting the 
Board’s expectation of year-on-year development of the Group. The strategic objectives element has been set to reflect the 
creation of sustainable value for all our stakeholders with a focus on delivery of critical operational and strategic goals of the 
business for the year. No award will be payable in respect of the strategic objectives unless specific underlying performance 
measures are reached.

Targets are considered commercially sensitive until the year end and will be disclosed retrospectively in the Directors’ Annual 
Remuneration report for 2020. 

Long-term Incentive Plan
It is intended that LTIP awards of shares worth 150 per cent of salary for the CEO and 135 per cent of salary for the CFO will 
be made in March 2020. The performance measures will be equally weighted and will consist of relative TSR and growth in the 
Group’s EPS. It is anticipated that the following financial targets will apply to the 2019 LTIP awards:

Performance measures

EPS compound annual growth over the three-year performance period

Weighting

50%

Threshold 
(25% vesting)

Maximum
(100% vesting)

5.0%

12.0%

Relative TSR performance against the FTSE SmallCap (excluding Investment Trusts)

50%

Median rank

Upper quartile
 rank or above

The awards will vest on the third anniversary of grant to the extent the performance targets have been satisfied, followed by 
a two-year holding period. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

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Annual report on remuneration 
continued

The performance measures chosen ensure the alignment of senior management’s and shareholders’ interests. Target ranges 
for the 2020 awards have been set taking into account the latest internal and external forecast for the business, including 
both economic and political uncertainty and TT’s principal risks. The Committee believes that the EPS performance growth 
targets pose a similar level of stretch to those of prior years with maximum performance aligning with upper quartile sector 
growth forecasts. 

The Committee will continue to consider the impact of any significant future portfolio development on the outstanding 
performance targets at the time of the capital deployment. Any further changes to the performance targets in these 
circumstances will be communicated to shareholders.

Fees for Non-executive Directors
Non-executive Directors’ remuneration is set by the Board taking account of the time and responsibility involved in each role, 
including where applicable for the Chair of Board Committees. For 2020, the Chairman’s fee and the Non-executive Directors’ 
fees will remain unchanged in line with those of the Executive Directors.

2020

2019

Increase

Chairman

Base fee

Additional fees:

Senior Independent Director

Audit Committee Chair

Remuneration Committee Chair

£188,455

£188,455

£45,145

£45,145

£6,000

£8,000

£8,000

£6,000

£8,000

£8,000

Implementation of the Remuneration Policy for the year ending 31 December 2019
Single figure for total remuneration (audited)
Directors’ remuneration for the year ended 31 December 2019 was as follows:

£’000

Executive Directors

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

Chairman

Neil Carson

Non-executive Directors

Stephen King

Jack Boyer

Alison Wood

Anne Thorburn1

Former Directors

Michael Baunton2

Salary/
fees

Taxable
 benefits

Pension

Short-term
 Incentive

Long-term
 Incentive

Other

Malus and
 Clawback

23

22

20

20

72

68

54

52

306

425

230

325

655

1,248

453

732

4

4

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2019

2018

478

455

359

348

188

184

59

58

45

44

53

52

23

30

44

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

Total

1,534

2,222

1,116

1,481

188

184

59

58

45

44

53

52

23

30

44

1  Anne Thorburn’s fees reflect the period following her appointment as a Non-executive Director, 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019.
2  Michael Baunton’s fees reflect the period before he stepped down as a Non-executive Director, 1 January 2019 to 31 August 2019.

92 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Base salary/fees
Base salaries for Executive Directors were reviewed in December 2018 and were increased by 5 per cent and 3 per cent with 
effect from 1 January 2019 for the CEO and CFO respectively.

Base fees for Non-executives were reviewed in January 2019 and were increased by 2.5 per cent with effect from 1 January 2019. 
Additional fees were unchanged.

Taxable benefits
The Executive Directors’ taxable benefits consist of a car allowance and insurance benefits.

Pensions
Employer contributions are paid at 15 per cent of base salary, as defined contribution pension and/or a cash supplement.

Short-term incentive 
Short-term incentive payments were based on performance against Group underlying profit before tax (up to 50 per cent 
of salary) and Group free cash flow (up to 25 per cent of salary) measured at constant budget exchange rates and strategic 
objectives (up to 25 per cent of salary) as measured over the 2019 financial year.

During the year the Company acquired Power Partners Inc.; in line with common market practice both the financial targets 
of Group underlying profit before tax and Group free cash flow were restated to include the pro-rata budget performance. 
The financial performance targets were also restated for the impact of unbudgeted cash flows for exceptional items and to 
drive growth in future years ahead of budget.

The outcomes of the short-term incentive awards for financial and individual strategic performance in 2019 are summarised 
in the table below:

Short-term incentive payments for 20191

Performance measure

Group underlying profit before tax

Group free cash flow

Strategic objectives

Total

Threshold 
potential 
(% of salary)

Maximum 
potential 
(% of salary)

Required for 
threshold
 bonus (£m)

Required for 
maximum
 bonus (£m)

Outturn for
 incentive plan
 purposes (£m)

Achievement
 (% of salary)

5%

2.5%

n/a

50%

25%

25%

100%

34.3

(0.1) 

39.0 

6.7 

Further detail below

36.4

8.3

20.00%

25.00%

19.00%

64.00%

1  Short-term incentives are measured using constant budget exchange rates.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

93

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Annual report on remuneration

Annual report on remuneration 
continued

The strategic objectives of the Executive Directors focused on the strategic development of the Group and improving operational 
efficiency. Performance against these is set out in the table below.

Strategic objective

Performance Commentary

Maximum potential
(% of salary)

Execution of portfolio strategy

•  Groundwork completed with external stakeholders to enable the successful 

12.5%

execution of the next phase of the Group portfolio strategy. 

•  Group prepared to successfully enable acquisition in the strategic growth 

markets.

•  Execution of acquisitions of Power Partners Inc. in March 2019 and the 

aerospace and defence power supply business of Excelitas Technologies 
Corp in January 2020. Significant progress/engagement in several potential 
opportunities. 

•  Improved financial performance in lower performing businesses and growth 
divisions offsetting challenging market conditions in some areas of the Group.
•  Action taken to mitigate challenging market conditions in some external markets.
•  Analysis of facility footprint review and commencement of efficiency actions.

Improve operational efficiency

Summary

Achievement

9.5%
 Between target 
and stretch

12.5%

9.5% 
Between target 
and stretch

The Executive Directors delivered another year of strong results with continued strategic progress, despite softer market conditions. Financial 
performance has continued to improve, and progress benchmarks favourably against peers with organic and inorganic revenue growth of 4 per cent 
and 11 per cent respectively. Operating profit has similarly been strong with operating margin improving from 7.8 per cent to 8.4 per cent.

In addition to the performance against the strategic objectives, the Executive Directors have overseen continued progress across the Group with the 
integration of the newly acquired businesses, business development/sales functions driving revenue growth and bringing a number of new customers 
to the Group, and progress on our product capabilities to deliver value-added product solutions. There has been continued focus and prioritisation of 
investment in R&D, progress on our people talent agenda and significant improvement in HSE performance.

In carrying out a thorough review of the achievement of the strategic objectives, the Committee determined that whilst the Executive Directors have 
delivered another good year of performance, there remains further actions to fully deliver the business strategy and the Group’s transformation.

As a result, the Remuneration Committee concluded that the strategic objectives have been achieved between on target and maximum.

The Committee considered whether the formulaic outcome of the financial and strategic assessment was reflective of the 
performance of the Group during 2019. The Committee was satisfied that this was the case and that no discretion was required 
to the formulaic outcome.

Long-term incentive 
LTIP awards vest depending on performance against two equally weighted measures over separate three-year performance 
periods. The EPS performance condition is over the three-year period aligned with the Group’s financial year. The TSR 
performance condition is over a separate three-year performance period, ending on the third anniversary of the award date. 
Accordingly, the performance periods of the two performance conditions end in separate reporting years. Both the 2016 and 
2017 LTIP awards had performance periods that ended on or by 31 December 2019 which are therefore included in the single 
figure for total remuneration for 2019. LTIP values shown in the single figure include dividend equivalents; the value attributable 
to share price appreciation for the CEO and CFO is £215,992 and £146,385 respectively.

Award year and performance measure

2016 LTIP award1: Relative TSR performance against the FTSE SmallCap 
(excluding Investment Trusts)

Threshold
(25% vesting)

Maximum 
(100% vesting)

Median
rank

Upper quartile
rank or above

2017 LTIP award2, 3: EPS compound annual growth over the three-year 
performance period 

10%

17.5%

Percentage
 of maximum
 achievement

73%

100%

Outcome

66 Percentile
 (Between 
threshold and 
upper quartile)

33.8%
(Above upper
quartile)

1  2016 LTIP award (vested March 2019): The EPS performance period ended on 31 December 2018 and a maximum level of vesting was achieved as described in last year’s Remuneration 
Report. The 2018 single figure for total remuneration has been restated to reflect the vested value of the shares subject to the EPS performance measure which vested on 18 March 2019. 
The TSR performance period for this award ended on 15 March 2019 and a maximum level of vesting was achieved as indicated in the above table. The vested value of the shares subject 
to EPS performance measure is included in the 2019 single figure for total remuneration. In both cases the vested shares have been valued at 230.5p.

2  2017 LTIP award (vests March 2020): The EPS performance period for this award ended on 31 December 2019 and a maximum level of vesting was achieved as indicated in the above 
table. An estimate of the vested value of the shares subject to the EPS performance measure is included in the 2019 single figure for total remuneration with that estimate based on the 
average share price in the final quarter of 2019 (236.8p). This estimate will be restated for the actual vested value in the next remuneration report. The TSR performance period ends in 
March 2020 and the value of the vested awards subject to the TSR performance measures will be included in the 2020 single figure for total remuneration.

3  As disclosed in last year’s Directors’ annual remuneration report, the EPS targets were reviewed for the effect of portfolio developments during 2018 in respect of the acquisition of Stadium Group 
and Precision Inc.. Following that review, the EPS targets were increased from a threshold target of 5% compound annual growth and a maximum target of 12% compound annual growth.

94 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

As part of the portfolio development strategy the Committee has agreed principles for the adjustment of LTIP performance 
conditions in relation to capital deployment. During the year, the acquisition of Power Partners Inc. for an initial cash consideration 
of $1.6 million (£1.2 million), with an additional performance-based amount of up to $1.3 million (£1.0 million), was reviewed 
against the principles and the financial impact was deemed to be below the materiality threshold.

Other
The amount shown in 2018 relates to Sharesave options granted on 28 September 2018 over 8,372 shares. The value shown is 
the difference between the option price and the share price on the date of the award.

Malus and clawback
No malus or clawback events occurred during 2019.

Long-term incentives granted during the financial year (audited)
On 11 March 2019, the following LTIP awards were granted to Executive Directors. Awards are subject to a three-year vesting 
period plus an additional two-year holding period.

Executive

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

Basis of award 
granted 
(% of salary)

Share price at 
date of grant 
(pence)1

150%

135%

201.5

201.5

Number 
of shares over 
which award 
was granted

355,993

240,340

Face value 
of award 
(£)

717,326

484,285

% of face value 
that would vest 
at threshold 
performance

Performance 
period end date

25%

25%

10/03/2022

10/03/2022

1  The share price used to determine the number of shares granted was the average share price over the three trading days prior to grant.

Performance measures for LTIP awards granted during the financial year (audited)
Awards to Executive Directors during 2019 are subject to two equally weighted measures of EPS and TSR as follows.

Performance measures

EPS compound annual growth over the three-year period

Relative TSR performance against the FTSE SmallCap (excluding Investment Trusts)

Weighting

50%

50%

Threshold 
(25% vesting)

Maximum
(100% vesting)

6%

13.5%

Median 
rank 

Upper quartile
 rank or above

Executive Director interests in shares subject to Company performance conditions
The table below sets out details of outstanding LTIP share awards held by the Executive Directors at 31 December 2019.

Executive

Richard Tyson

Total outstanding

Mark Hoad

Total outstanding

Date of grant

1 January 
2019

15/03/2017

266,5652

14/03/2018

294,1523

Granted 
during the 
year

Lapsed

Vested

31 December 
2019

Market 
value at 
31 December 
2019 
(£)1

Market 
price at 
grant date 
(pence)

Vesting 
date

266,565

666,413

167 15/03/2020

294,152

735,380

232 14/03/2021

11/03/2019

355,993

355,993

889,982

202 11/03/2022

15/03/2017

203,8442

14/03/2018

202,4463

916,710

2,291,775

203,844

509,610

167 15/03/2020

202,446

506,115

232 14/03/2021

11/03/2019

240,340

240,340

600,850

202 11/03/2022

646,630

1,616,575

1  The market value at 31 December 2019 represents the total number of shares awarded multiplied by 250.0 pence, being the share price on 31 December 2019. The calculation does not 

take into account dividend equivalents or the likelihood of vesting.

2  The performance condition attached to 50% of the award is based on EPS. As disclosed in last year’s Annual Report on Remuneration, the EPS targets were reviewed for the effect of 
portfolio developments during 2018 in respect of the acquisition of Stadium Group and Precision Inc.. Following that review, the EPS targets were increased. 25% of the shares subject 
to this part of the award will vest for EPS growth of 10% (previously 5%) compound per annum, increasing on a straight-line basis to 100% vesting for EPS growth for the year ending 
31 December 2019 of 17.5% (previously 12%) compound per annum. The performance condition attached to the other 50% of the award is based on TSR performance against the 
FTSE SmallCap (excluding Investment Trusts) during the three-year performance period from the date of award. 25% of the shares subject to this part of the award will vest at median 
performance increasing on a straight-line basis to 100% vesting at the upper quartile of the comparator group.

3  The performance condition attached to 50% of the award is based on EPS. 25% of the shares subject to this part of the award will vest for EPS growth of 6% compound per annum, 

increasing on a straight-line basis to 100% vesting for EPS growth for the year ending 31 December 2020 of 13.5% compound per annum. The performance condition attached to the 
other 50% of the award is based on TSR performance against the FTSE SmallCap (excluding Investment Trusts) during the three-year performance period from the date of award. 
25% of the shares subject to this part of the award will vest at median performance increasing on a straight-line basis to 100% vesting at the upper quartile of the comparator group.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

95

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Annual report on remuneration

Annual report on remuneration 
continued

TT Electronics plc Sharesave scheme

Executive

Richard Tyson

Date of grant

1 January 
2019

01/10/2018

8,372

Mark Hoad

01/10/2018

8,372

Granted 
during the 
year

Lapsed

Exercised

31 December 
2019

Potential 
gain at 
31 December
 2019 
(£)1

8,372

2,930

8,372

2,930

Option 
price 
(pence)

Exercisable 
between/
 exercised on

215 01/11/2021-
30/04/2022

215 01/11/2021-
30/04/2022

1  The potential gain at 31 December 2019 represents the total number of shares under the option multiplied by 250.0 pence, being the share price on 31 December 2019.

Payments to past Directors (audited)
No payments were made in 2019.

Payments for loss of office (audited)
No payments were made in 2019.

Statement of Directors’ shareholding and share interests (audited)
The Executive Directors are required to build and hold a shareholding of 200 per cent of salary. Executive Directors must retain 
50 per cent of the net of tax value of any vested LTIP shares until the guideline is met. At 31 December 2019, the Executive 
Directors were compliant with the requirement.

Beneficially
 owned at 
1 January 
2019

Beneficially
 owned at 
31 December
 2019

Unvested share 
awards subject 
to Company 
performance 
conditions

Outstanding 
share awards 
under all 
employee share 
plans as at 
31 December 
2019

Shareholding 
as a % of 
salary at
 31 December 
2019

Value of 
beneficially 
owned at 
31 December 
2019 
(£)

Basic salary at 
31 December 
2019

560,896

454,438

717,251

550,090

916,710

646,630

8,372

8,372

375.0%

383.4%

1,793,128

1,375,225

478,218

358,731

190,000

190,000

100,000

71,588

0

0

123,000

82,588

0

45,000

99,598

104,598

Executive

Executive Directors

Richard Tyson

Mark Hoad

Chairman

Neil Carson

Non-executive Directors

Stephen King

Jack Boyer

Alison Wood

Anne Thorburn

Former Directors

Michael Baunton

There have been no changes to shareholdings between 31 December 2019 and the date of this report. 

The closing middle market prices for an Ordinary share of 25 pence of the Company on 31 December 2018 and 31 December 
2019 as derived from the Stock Exchange Daily Official List were 195.8 pence and 250.0 pence respectively. During 2019, the 
middle market price of TT Electronics plc Ordinary shares ranged between 178.0 pence and 265.0 pence.

Performance graph and table
The following graph shows the cumulative Total Shareholder Return of the Company over the last ten financial years relative to 
the FTSE SmallCap Index (excluding Investment Trusts). The FTSE SmallCap Index has been selected for consistency as it is the 
index against which the Company’s Total Shareholder Return is measured for the purposes of the LTIP. In addition, the Company 
is a constituent of the Index.

96 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

500

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50
Dec 09

Dec 10

Dec 11

Dec 12

Dec 13

Dec 14

Dec 15

Dec 16

Dec 17

Dec 18

Dec 19

TT Electronics (Re-based to 100)

FTSE Small Cap excluding investment trusts (Re-based to 100)

The graph above shows the value, by 31 December 2019, of £100 invested in TT Electronics plc on 31 December 2009 compared 
with the value of £100 invested in the FTSE SmallCap Index (excluding Investment Trusts).

Total remuneration figures for the Chief Executive Officer
The total remuneration figures for the Chief Executive Officer during each of the last ten financial years are shown in the table 
below. The total remuneration figures include the short-term incentive based on that year’s performance and LTIP awards based 
on three-year performance periods ending in the relevant year.

Total remuneration (£’000)

2010

771

2011

2012

1,576

1,684

Short-term incentive (% of maximum)

96.0

96.0

LTIP vesting (% of maximum)

0.0

100.0

50.0

94.0

2013

1,154

53.0

89.6

20141

20142

249

0.0

39.6

401

25.0

n/a

2015

1,151

90.8

0.0

2016

1,152

2017

2018

2019

1,794

2,189

1,534

100.0

100.0

93.3

0.0

50.0

100.0

64.0

86.5

1  Relates to previous Chief Executive Officer who was in position until 30 June 2014.
2  Relates to current Chief Executive Office who joined on 1 July 2014.

Percentage change in the Remuneration of Directors and Employees
The table below shows the percentage change in Director remuneration (excluding the value of any LTIP and pension benefits 
receivable in the year) between the financial year ending 31 December 2018 and 31 December 2019, compared to that of the 
average for UK employees of the Group.

CEO

Average of UK employees1

Salary

5.0%

1.0%

Benefits

Annual bonus

4.1%

-7.9%

(28.0)%

(45.9)%

1  For comparison purposes, data is on a like-for-like basis with 2018 including joiners during 2018 from Stadium Group plc. The decrease in annual bonus is representative of the profit and 

operational performance of our UK facilities against the stretching performance goals in our site-based profit share schemes. 

Pay ratio of the Chief Executive Officer
The table below shows the ratio of the total remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer to that of the UK employees of the Group. 
The CEO’s pay is based on the single figure of remuneration set out on page 92 of this report. In line with our remuneration 
principles, the majority of the remuneration opportunity is performance-related variable pay. The CEO’s pay ratio is heavily 
dependent on the outcomes of the short-term and long-term incentive plans and, in the case of long-term share-based awards, 
share price movements. As such it is expected that there will be considerable year-to-year changes in the CEO pay ratio. Context 
to the CEO total remuneration is set out on pages 92 to 95. The Committee believe that the pay ratio is appropriate and is 
reflective of the roles undertaken by employees in the UK. 

Method for calculation

Pay Ratio

Remuneration Values2, 3

Year

Lower quartile

Median

Upper quartile

Lower quartile

Median

Upper quartile

2020 Total Remuneration

B1

67:1

59:1

41:1  

22,853

26,182

37,307

1  Method B has been selected as the basis of the disclosure as permitted under The Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018. This method was selected due to the 

administration complexities associated with Method A. 

2  Under method B, representative quartile employees are selected utilising the Gender Pay reporting datasets which is a snapshot of pay on 6 April 2019. Adjustments may be made to 

ensure quartiles are representative. Employees must have been employed on 31 December 2019 and employee data is based on full-time equivalent pay, and calculated in accordance 
with the single figure of remuneration. Employee earnings include the forecast value of any incentive payments to relevant employees, the forecast will be restated for the actual vested 
value in the next remuneration report and pay ratios updated accordingly.

3  Across the UK, the majority (80%) of the workforce undertake operational roles in our facilities. The employee lower quartile and median remuneration values are generally reflective of the 

roles held by our semi-skilled/skilled operators.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

97

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Annual report on remuneration

Annual report on remuneration 
continued

Relative importance of spend on pay
The following table shows the Company’s actual spend on pay for all employees relative to dividends. Dividend figures relate to 
amounts payable in respect of the relevant financial year.

Staff costs (£’m)

Dividends (£’m)1

2018

126.9

10.5

2019

135.6

11.4

Change

6.9%

8.6%

1  The spend on dividends has increased in line with the number of shares and the progressive dividend policy. 

Advisers to the Remuneration Committee
The Committee received advice during 2019 from Deloitte LLP (Deloitte) and FIT Remuneration Consultants LLP (FIT). During the year 
the Committee undertook a review of the Remuneration Adviser in accordance with the change to the Company Auditor to Deloitte 
LLP. FIT was appointed as the independent external consultants, to advise on remuneration matters, effective November 2019. Prior 
to their appointment Deloitte continued to provide advice having been appointed in 2016 as the independent external consultants.

Both FIT and Deloitte are members of the Remuneration Consultants Group and have signed up to that group’s code of conduct. 
The Committee is satisfied that the advice it received during the year was objective and independent and that the provision of 
other services in the year by Deloitte in no way compromised their independence. During the year Deloitte provided services in 
respect of mergers and acquisitions due diligence support.

Work undertaken by Deloitte in their role as independent advisers to the Committee included advice in respect to the 
Remuneration Policy and developments in good governance, advice relating to malus and clawback provisions and the provision 
of market information for the Executive Directors and other Senior Managers, and other governance matters. The fees paid to 
Deloitte for providing advice in relation to executive remuneration over the financial year amounted to £46,080. FIT were 
appointed late in 2019 and did not provide any material advice to the Committee during the year.

The Company’s approach to the Chairman’s and Executive Directors’ remuneration is determined by the Board on the advice of 
the Remuneration Committee. The Committee considers the views of the Chairman on the performance of the CEO, and of the 
CEO on the performance and remuneration of the other members of the Executive Management Board. The Committee is also 
supported by the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary who acts as Secretary to the Committee, the CFO, the EVP 
Human Resources and the Group Reward Director who attend meetings at the invitation of the Committee. No Committee 
members or attendees take part in any discussions relating to their own remuneration.

Shareholder voting
The Remuneration Committee considers shareholder feedback received in connection with the AGM each year at a meeting 
immediately following the AGM and at other times of the year. This feedback is considered as part of the Company’s annual 
review of the Remuneration report and Remuneration Policy. In addition, the Remuneration Committee endeavours to consult 
directly with the largest shareholders and their representative bodies on proposals ahead of any significant changes. 

At the Annual General Meeting held on 9 May 2019 the resolution pertaining to the Directors’ Remuneration report was passed on 
a show of hands. Proxy votes cast in respect of this resolution and the most recent resolution to approve the Remuneration Policy 
were as follows:

Number of votes

Remuneration report 
(approved at the 2019 AGM)

Remuneration Policy 
(approved at the 2017 AGM)

For &
 Discretionary

For & 
Discretionary 
(%)

Against

115,835,135 

93.44%

 8,131,369 

Against 
(%)

6.56%

Withheld

Total 
vote

49,550 

124,016,054 

 125,506,296 

99.35%

 821,753 

0.65%

 58,879 

 126,386,928 

A full schedule in respect of shareholder voting on the above and all resolutions at the 2019 AGM is available at 
www.ttelectronics.com.

The Directors’ Remuneration report has been approved by the Board on 3 March 2020 and signed on its behalf by:

Alison Wood 
Chair, Remuneration Committee

98 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Other statutory disclosures

This Annual Report and Accounts 
includes the Directors’ report and the 
audited financial statements for the 
year ended 31 December 2019. Certain 
information required to be disclosed in 
the Directors’ report is provided in other 
sections of this Annual Report. This 
includes the overview, the operating 
and financial reviews, the Corporate 
Governance and Remuneration reports 
and specific elements of the Financial 
statements noted below. The table below 
lists items that are relevant to this report, 
and which are incorporated by reference, 
including information required in 
accordance with the UK Companies 
Act 2006 and Listing Rule 9.8.4R:

Current and future 
dividend waiver

Page 101

Employee engagement

Pages 47–48

Future developments in 
the business

Pages 10–15

Going Concern 

Page 62

Greenhouse gas emissions Page 51

S172 Statement 

Page 62

Subsidiary undertakings

Pages 168–170

Viability Statement

Page 43

Results and dividends 
The Group’s profit on ordinary activities 
after taxation was £17.3 million (2018: 
£13.4 million). The audited financial 
statements of the Group and the 
Company are set out on pages 111 
to 171. Further details of the Group’s 
activities are set out in the Strategic 
report on pages 1 to 53. 

The Directors are recommending a final 
dividend of 4.9 pence per share for the 
year ended 31 December 2019 (2018: 
4.55 pence), to be paid on 15 May 2020 
to shareholders on the register at 24 April 
2020. This, together with the interim 
dividend of 2.1 pence per share paid on 
17 October 2019 (2018: 1.95 pence), 
makes a total for the year of 7.0 pence 
(2018: 6.5 pence).

Tax Principles & Strategy
The Group applies a conservative 
approach to tax and seeks to comply 
with the OECD Transfer Pricing 
guidelines, which should ensure that 
profits are taxed where value is created 
and business risks are managed. 
The Group’s full Tax Principles & 
Strategy document is published  
on the Group’s website.

Acquisitions and disposals
On 12 November 2018, TT (through 
its wholly-owned subsidiary Welwyn 
Components Limited) and UniRoyal 
Electronics Industry (Kunshan) Co., Ltd 
(“UniRoyal”) announced an agreement 
to establish a joint venture, focused on 
thick-film, thin-film and metal-based 
resistors. The transaction was 
conditional on the completion of various 
conditions precedent, including the 
establishment of a 100 per cent owned 
trading company in China and the 
granting of associated operating permits 
by Chinese authorities. By 1 November 
2019, the relevant conditions precedent 
had not been satisfied and Welwyn 
Components Limited formally 
notified UniRoyal of the termination 
of the joint venture agreement with 
immediate effect.

On 28 October 2019, the Company’s 
wholly-owned subsidiary, TT Electronics 
Power Solutions (US) Inc, signed an 
Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire 
the aerospace and defence power supply 
business of Excelitas Technologies 
Corp based in Covina, California, 
for a consideration of US$17.7 million 
(£13.7 million), subject to typical 
conditions precedent (including 
customary regulatory approvals) 
and a post-completion working capital 
adjustment. The transaction completed 
on 3 January 2020.

On 22 March 2019 the Group acquired 
the entire equity share capital of 
Power Partners Inc. for an initial 
cash consideration of $1.6 million 
(£1.2 million). An additional $1.3 million 
(£1.0 million) may become payable 
subject to business performance over 
the next two years.

Directors
Rules for the appointment and 
replacement of Directors are set out in 
the Company’s Articles of Association. 
Directors are appointed by the Board on 
the recommendation of the Nominations 
Committee. Directors may also be 
appointed or removed by the Company 
by ordinary resolution at a general 
meeting of holders of Ordinary shares. 
The office of a Director shall be vacated 
if his or her resignation is requested by 
all the other Directors, not being fewer 
than three in number. Further details 
of the activities of the Nominations 
Committee are set out on page 68.

There are no agreements between the 
Company and its Directors or employees 
providing for compensation for loss 
of office or employment that occurs as 
a result of a takeover bid except that 
provisions of the Company’s share plans 
may cause options and awards granted 
under such schemes to vest on takeover, 
subject to the satisfaction of any 
performance conditions. Further details 
of the Executive Directors’ service 
contracts can be found in the Directors’ 
Remuneration Policy. Copies of the 
Executive Directors’ service contracts 
and letters of appointment of the 
Non-executive Directors are available 
for inspection by any person at the 
Company’s registered office, during 
normal business hours on any weekday 
(other than public holidays) and at the 
Annual General Meeting from 15 minutes 
before the start of the AGM until 
its conclusion.

The Group maintains Directors’ 
and Officers’ Liability insurance. 
The Directors of the Company also 
benefit from a qualifying third party 
indemnity provision in accordance 
with Section 234 of the Companies 
Act 2006 and the Company’s Articles 
of Association. The Company has 
provided a pension scheme indemnity 
within the meaning of Section 235 of 
the Companies Act 2006 to directors 
of associated companies.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

99

Governance and Directors’ reportOther statutory disclosures continued

Auditor
In 2019, the Company undertook a 
competitive re-tender exercise for 
external audit services, following which 
it was determined that Deloitte LLP 
(Deloitte) would be appointed in such 
capacity for the financial year 2020 
onwards. KPMG LLP (KPMG) was 
appointed as Auditor in 2010 following 
a competitive tender process and 
KPMG’s appointment as Auditor will 
end following the report on the 2019 
financial statements at the 2020 AGM. 
A resolution will be proposed at the 
AGM to appoint Deloitte as external 
Auditor. See pages 70 to 71 for further 
details on the Auditor re-tender and 
transition process. 

The Auditor’s responsibilities are set 
out on page 110 and should be read in 
conjunction with those of the Directors 
as set out at the end of this report.

Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the 
Company will be held on 6 May 2020 
at the offices of Allen & Overy LLP, 
One Bishops Square, London E1 6AD at 
10.00 am. The Notice of the Company’s 
Annual General Meeting accompanies 
this document.

Research and development
The Group carries out research and 
development in order to develop 
new products and processes and to 
substantially improve existing products 
and processes. Further details are 
given in note 16 to the consolidated 
financial statements.

Significant agreements relating to 
change of control
The Group has a number of borrowing 
facilities provided by various banking 
groups. Some of these facility 
agreements include change of control 
provisions which, in the event of a 
change in ownership of the Company, 
could result in renegotiation or 
withdrawal of these facilities.

There are a number of other agreements 
that may be renegotiated upon a change 
of control of the Company. None is 
considered to be significant in terms of 
their potential impact on the business of 
the Group as a whole.

Employment
The Group is committed to the fair and 
equal treatment of all its employees 
regardless of gender, race, age, religion, 
disability or sexual orientation. Where 
existing employees become disabled, 
the policy of the Group is to provide 
continuing employment and training 
wherever practicable.

The Group makes significant efforts to 
ensure it maintains high standards of 
employee welfare in all its operations, 
irrespective of where in the world, and of 
local market conditions. Together with 
many other global companies operating 
in its sector, the Group is a member 
of the Responsible Business Alliance 
(formerly the Electronic Industry 
Citizenship Coalition), a leading industry 
organisation promoting best practice 
in corporate responsibility, which is 
committed to raising standards of 
employee welfare in all jurisdictions 
and at all levels of the supply chain 
for electronic products. Further details 
on the Group’s policies relating to its 
employees are given on pages 46 to 48.

Political contributions
The Group made no political 
contributions during the year.

Share capital
The Company’s issued share capital 
comprises a single class of share capital 
divided into Ordinary shares of 25 pence 
each. All issued shares are fully paid. The 
share capital during the year is shown in 
note 24 to the consolidated financial 
statements. The rights and obligations 
attaching to the Company’s Ordinary 
shares are set out in the Company’s 
Articles of Association, a copy of which 
can be obtained from Companies House 
in the United Kingdom or by writing to 
the Group General Counsel & Company 
Secretary. Subject to applicable statutes, 
shares may be issued with such rights 
and restrictions as the Company may 
decide by ordinary resolution, or (if there 
is no such resolution or so far as it does 
not make specific provision) as the 
Board may decide.

Holders of Ordinary shares are entitled 
to speak at general meetings of the 
Company, to appoint one or more proxies 
and, if they are corporations, to appoint 

corporate representatives and to exercise 
voting rights. Holders of Ordinary shares 
may also receive a dividend, and on a 
liquidation may share in the assets of 
the Company. In addition, holders of 
Ordinary shares are entitled to receive 
the Company’s Annual Report and 
Accounts. Subject to meeting certain 
thresholds, holders of Ordinary shares 
may require a general meeting of the 
Company to be held or the proposal of 
resolutions at Annual General Meetings.

Authority to allot shares and disapply 
statutory pre-emption rights
The Directors will be seeking to renew 
their authorities to allot unissued shares 
and to disapply statutory pre-emption 
rights at the Annual General Meeting, 
to be held on 6 May 2020. During 2019, 
this authority was used primarily in 
connection with the allotment of shares 
resulting from the operation of the 
Group’s share schemes. 

Purchase of own shares
At the Annual General Meeting held on 
9 May 2019, the Company was given 
authority to purchase up to 16,342,759 
of its Ordinary shares until the date of its 
next AGM. Other than market purchases 
made by the Employee Benefit Trust, 
no purchases were made during the year 
by the Company. The Directors will be 
seeking a new authority for the Company 
to purchase its Ordinary shares at the 
forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Further details regarding the authority 
to allot shares and disapply statutory 
pre-emption rights and the purchase 
of own shares are set out in the 
Notice of the Annual General Meeting, 
which accompanies this document 
and is available to view on the 
Company’s website.

Shares held by the Employee 
Benefit Trust
The Company has established an 
employee benefit trust (“EBT”), the 
trustee of which is Sanne Fiduciary 
Services Limited (previously Sanne Trust 
Company Limited), part of Sanne Group. 
As at 31 December 2019, the trustee 
held 1,011,123 shares with a nominal 
value of £252,780.75 and an aggregate 
purchase price of £2.38 per share, 
representing 0.616 per cent of the total 

100 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Governance and Directors’ report | Other statutory disclosuresDisclosure of information to Auditor
To the best of each Director’s knowledge 
and belief, there is no audit information 
relevant to the preparation of the 
Auditor’s report of which the Auditor is 
unaware and each Director has taken all 
steps which might be expected, to be 
aware of such relevant information and 
to establish that the Auditor is also aware 
of that information.

Approved by the Board on 3 March 2020 
and signed on its behalf by:

Lynton Boardman 
Group General Counsel  
& Company Secretary

issued share capital at that date. These 
shares will be used to satisfy awards 
made under the TT Electronics plc 
Restricted Share Plan (“RSP”), the  
TT Electronics plc Long-Term Incentive 
Plan (“LTIP”) or other employee share 
schemes. The maximum number of 
shares held by the EBT during the year 
was 1,145,679. The voting rights in 
relation to these shares are exercisable 
by the trustee. However, in accordance 
with investor protection guidelines, the 
trustee abstains from voting. A dividend 
waiver is in place under which the 
trustee waived its right to receive 
dividends on the shares it held during 
the year, and any future dividends. The 
Executive Directors, as employees of the 
Company, are potential beneficiaries of 
shares held by the EBT. 

Voting rights and restrictions on 
transfer of shares
On a show of hands at a general meeting 
of the Company, every holder of Ordinary 
shares present in person or by proxy, and 
entitled to vote, has one vote and on a 
poll, every member present in person 
or by proxy, and entitled to vote, has one 
vote for every Ordinary share held. You 
can find further details regarding voting 
at the Annual General Meeting in the 
Notice of the Annual General Meeting 
which accompanies this document. 
None of the Ordinary shares carries 
any special rights with regard to control 
of the Company. Electronic and 
paper proxy appointments and voting 
instructions must be received by the 
Company’s Registrars not later than 
48 hours before a general meeting. 
A shareholder can lose their entitlement 
to vote at a general meeting where 
that shareholder has been served with 
a disclosure notice and has failed to 
provide the Company with information 
concerning interests in those shares. 
The Directors may refuse to register a 
transfer of a certificated share which is 
not fully paid, provided the refusal does 
not prevent dealings in shares in the 
Company from taking place on an open 
and proper basis. The Directors may 
also refuse to register a transfer of a 
certificated share unless the instrument 
of transfer: (i) is lodged, duly stamped 
(if stampable), at the registered office of 
the Company or any other place decided 

by the Directors accompanied by the 
certificate for the share to which it 
relates and/or such other evidence as 
the Directors may reasonably require to 
show the right of the transferor to make 
the transfer; (ii) is in respect of only  
one class of shares; (iii) is in favour of  
a person who is not a minor, bankrupt  
or a person in respect of whom an order 
has been made on the grounds that  
such person is suffering from a mental 
disorder or is otherwise incapable of 
managing their affairs; or (iv) is in favour 
of not more than four transferees.

Transfers of uncertificated shares must 
be carried out using CREST and the 
Directors can refuse to register a transfer 
of an uncertificated share in accordance 
with the regulations governing the 
operation of CREST.

The Directors may decide to suspend 
the registration of transfers for up to 
30 days a year, by closing the register 
of shareholders. The Directors cannot 
suspend the registration of transfers 
of any uncertificated shares without 
obtaining consent from CREST.

There are no other restrictions on the 
transfer of Ordinary shares in the 
Company except: certain restrictions 
may from time to time be imposed 
by laws and regulations (for example, 
insider trading laws or the Market Abuse 
Regulations 2015); pursuant to the 
Company’s share dealing code whereby 
the Directors and certain employees 
of the Group require approval to deal 
in the Company’s shares; and where a 
shareholder with at least a 0.25 per cent 
interest in the Company’s certificated 
shares has been served with a disclosure 
notice and has failed to provide the 
Company with information concerning 
interests in those shares.

The Company is not aware of any 
agreements between shareholders that 
may result in restrictions on the transfer 
of Ordinary shares or on voting rights.

Articles of Association
The Company’s Articles of Association 
may only be amended by special 
resolution approved at a general  
meeting of the shareholders.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

101

Governance and Directors’ reportGovernance and Directors’ report | Statement of Directors’ responsibilities in respect of the Annual Report and Accounts

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities in respect 
of the Annual Report and Accounts

The Directors are responsible for 
preparing the Annual Report and 
Accounts and the Group and parent 
company financial statements in 
accordance with applicable law 
and regulations. 

Company law requires the Directors 
to prepare Group and parent company 
financial statements for each financial 
year. Under that law they are required to 
prepare the Group financial statements 
in accordance with International 
Financial Reporting Standards as 
adopted by the EU (IFRSs as adopted 
by the EU) and applicable law, and have 
elected to prepare the parent company 
financial statements in accordance with 
UK accounting standards, including FRS 
101 Reduced Disclosure Framework.

Under company law, the Directors must 
not approve the financial statements 
unless they are satisfied that they give 
a true and fair view of the state of affairs 
of the Group and parent company and 
of their profit or loss for that period. 
In preparing each of the Group and 
parent company financial statements, 
the Directors are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies 
and then apply them consistently

• make judgements and estimates 

that are reasonable, relevant, reliable 
and prudent

• for the Group financial statements, 

state whether they have been prepared 
in accordance with IFRSs as adopted 
by the EU

• for the parent company financial 

statements, state whether applicable 
UK accounting standards have been 
followed, subject to any material 
departures disclosed and explained 
in the parent company financial 
statements

• assess the Group and parent 

company’s ability to continue as a 
going concern, disclosing, as applicable, 
matters related to going concern and

• use the going concern basis of 

accounting unless they either intend 
to liquidate the Group or the parent 
company or to cease operations, 
or have no realistic alternative but 
to do so.

The Directors are responsible for keeping 
adequate accounting records that are 
sufficient to show and explain the parent 
Company’s transactions and disclose 
with reasonable accuracy at any time 
the financial position of the parent 
Company and enable them to ensure 
that its financial statements comply 
with the Companies Act 2006. They are 
responsible for such internal control as 
they determine is necessary to enable 
the preparation of financial statements 
that are free from material misstatement, 
whether due to fraud or error, and have 
general responsibility for taking such 
steps as are reasonably open to them 
to safeguard the assets of the Group 
and to prevent and detect fraud and 
other irregularities. 

Under applicable law and regulations, 
the Directors are also responsible for 
preparing a Strategic report, Directors’ 
report, Directors’ Remuneration report 
and Corporate Governance statement 
that complies with that law and those 
regulations. 

The Directors are responsible for 
the maintenance and integrity of the 
corporate and financial information 
included on the Company’s website. 
Legislation in the UK governing the 
preparation and dissemination of 
financial statements may differ from 
legislation in other jurisdictions.

Responsibility statement of the 
Directors in respect of the Annual 
Report and Accounts
We confirm that to the best of our 
knowledge:

• the financial statements, prepared in 
accordance with the applicable set 
of accounting standards, give a true 
and fair view of the assets, liabilities, 
financial position and profit or loss of 
the Company and the undertakings 
included in the consolidation taken 
as a whole and

• the Strategic Report includes a fair 
review of the development and 
performance of the business and 
the position of the Company and 
the undertakings included in the 
consolidation taken as a whole, 
together with a description of the 
principal risks and uncertainties that 
they face.

We consider the Annual Report and 
Accounts, taken as a whole, is fair, 
balanced and understandable and 
provides the information necessary 
for shareholders to assess the Group’s 
position and performance, business 
model and strategy.

The coordination and review of Group-
wide input into the Annual Report is 
a key element of the control process 
upon which the Directors rely and is 
an exercise which spans a period wider 
than the timetable for compiling the 
Annual Report itself. This control 
process incorporates the controls the 
Group operates throughout the year to 
identify key financial and operational 
issues and includes:

• Strategy meetings, held as part of most 
Board meetings, at which the entire 
Board is present, resulting in a clear 
agreement of the Group’s strategy. 

102 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

• The identification of the key milestones 

• A planned Audit Committee sign-off 

process which incorporates meetings 
of the Chair of the Audit Committee 
with the Executive Directors, the Risk 
and Assurance function and external 
Auditor to identify and timetable 
potential issues of significance to 
be addressed.

• A process for internal distribution 

and comment on the Annual Report, 
including those of the members of the 
Board, the Executive Management 
Board, key advisers and external Auditor.

By order of the Board:

Lynton Boardman 
Group General Counsel  
& Company Secretary

3 March 2020

and the related key performance 
indicators to be monitored and 
measured throughout the period.

• Monthly reviews of business 

performance conducted by executive 
management (in consultation with 
divisional management), supplemented 
by reports highlighting key issues and 
analysis of the main variances from 
budget and prior year.

• Preparation of a detailed budget, 

reviewed and agreed by management 
and then the Board, which is used to 
calibrate strategy implementation 
and against which actual performance 
is measured.

• A timetabled process coordinating 
input from each division, identifying 
significant market issues and key 
elements of performance for each 
business area, and appropriately 
incorporating them into the structure 
of the Annual Report.

• The identification of key risks from the 

risk management process, for inclusion 
within the Annual Report, ensuring a 
consistency of approach with regard 
to the risks and the ongoing review 
programme.

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

103

Governance and Directors’ reportIndependent auditor’s report to the  
members of TT Electronics plc 

1  Our opinion is unmodified 
We have audited the financial statements 
of TT Electronics plc (“the Company”) 
for the year ended 31 December 2019 
which comprise the consolidated 
income statement, consolidated 
statement of comprehensive income, 
consolidated statement of financial 
position, consolidated statement of 
changes in equity, consolidated cash 
flow statement, company statement of 
financial position, company statement 
of changes in equity and the related 
notes, including the accounting policies 
in note 1 and note 2 to the consolidated 
and company financial statements. 

In our opinion: 

• the financial statements give a true and 
fair view of the state of the Group’s and 
of the parent Company’s affairs as at 
31 December 2019 and of the Group’s 
profit for the year then ended; 

• the Group financial statements have 

been properly prepared in accordance 
with International Financial Reporting 
Standards as adopted by the 
European Union; 

• the parent Company financial 

statements have been properly 
prepared in accordance with UK 
accounting standards, including 
FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure 
Framework, and 

• the financial statements have been 
prepared in accordance with the 
requirements of the Companies 
Act 2006 and, as regards the Group 
financial statements, Article 4 of 
the IAS Regulation. 

Basis for opinion 
We conducted our audit in accordance 
with International Standards on Auditing 
(UK) (“ISAs (UK)”) and applicable law. 
Our responsibilities are described below. 
We believe that the audit evidence we 
have obtained is a sufficient and 

appropriate basis for our opinion. 
Our audit opinion is consistent with 
our report to the audit committee. 

We were first appointed as auditor by 
the directors on 1 July 2010. The period 
of total uninterrupted engagement 
is for the 10 financial years ended 
31 December 2019. We have fulfilled 
our ethical responsibilities under, and 
we remain independent of the Group 
in accordance with, UK ethical 
requirements including the FRC 
Ethical Standard as applied to listed 
public interest entities. No non-audit 
services prohibited by that standard 
were provided.

Overview

Materiality: 
group financial 
statements as 
a whole

Coverage

4.5% (2018: 4.5%) of 
normalised Group 
profit before tax from 
continuing operations

77% (2018: 77%) of 
Group profit before 
tax from continuing 
operations

79% (2018: 80%) of 
Group revenue from 
continuing operations

73% (2018: 87%) of 
Group assets from 
continuing operations

Key audit matters

vs 2018

Recurring risks for the group

The impact of uncertainties 
due to the UK exiting the 
European Union

Tax provisioning

The presentation of ‘underlying’ 
operating profit, ‘underlying’ 
profit before tax and ‘underlying’ 
earnings per share from 
continuing operations

Warranty and other 
product provisions

Recurring risks for the 
Parent Company

Recoverability of parent 
company’s investment in and 
amounts due from subsidiaries

2  Key audit matters: Including our 
assessment of risks of material 
misstatement
Key audit matters are those matters that, 
in our professional judgement, were of 
most significance in the audit of the 
financial statements and include the 
most significant assessed risks of 
material misstatement (whether or not 
due to fraud) identified by us, including 
those which had the greatest effect on: 
the overall audit strategy; the allocation 
of resources in the audit; and directing 
the efforts of the engagement team. 
We summarise below the key audit 
matters in arriving at our audit opinion 
above, together with our key audit 
procedures to address those matters 
and, as required for public interest 
entities, our results from those 
procedures. These matters were 
addressed, and our results are based 
on procedures undertaken, in the context 
of, and solely for the purpose of, our audit 
of the financial statements as a whole, 
and in forming our opinion thereon, 
and consequently are incidental to 
that opinion, and we do not provide 
a separate opinion on these matters. 

The impact of uncertainties due to 
the UK exiting the European Union 
on our audit 

Refer to pages 44–45 (principal risks), 
page 43 (viability statement), page 70 
(Audit Committee Report), page 119 
(accounting policy) and page 111 
(financial disclosures). 

The risk – Unprecedented levels 
of uncertainty 
All audits assess and challenge 
the reasonableness of estimates, 
in particular as described in the 
recoverability of parent company’s 
investments in and amounts due 
from subsidiaries key audit matter 
below, and related disclosures and the 
appropriateness of the going concern 
basis of preparation of the financial 
statements (see below). All of these 
depend on assessments of the future 
economic environment and the group’s 
future prospects and performance. 

104 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statementsIn addition, we are required to consider 
the other information presented in the 
Annual Report including the principal 
risks disclosure and the viability 
statement and to consider the directors’ 
statement that the annual report and 
financial statements taken as a whole is 
fair, balanced and understandable and 
provides the information necessary for 
shareholders to assess the Group’s 
position and performance, business 
model and strategy.

Brexit is one of the most significant 
economic events for the UK and its 
effects are subject to unprecedented 
levels of uncertainty of consequences, 
with the full range of possible  
effects unknown. 

Our response:
We developed a standardised firm-wide 
approach to the consideration of the 
uncertainties arising from Brexit in 
planning and performing our audits. 
Our procedures included: 

• Our Brexit knowledge: We considered 
the directors’ assessment of Brexit-
related sources of risk for the group’s 
business and financial resources 
compared with our own understanding 
of the risks. We considered the 
directors’ plans to take action to 
mitigate the risks; 

• Sensitivity analysis: When addressing 

recoverability of parent company’s 
investments in and amounts due from 
subsidiaries key audit matter and other 
areas that depend on forecasts, we 
compared the directors’ sensitivity 
analysis to our assessment of the full 
range of reasonably possible scenarios 
resulting from Brexit uncertainty and, 
where forecast cash flows are required 
to be discounted, considered 
adjustments to discount rates for the 
level of remaining uncertainty; 

• Assessing transparency: As well as 
assessing individual disclosures as 
part of our procedures on going 
concern, warranty and other provisions, 
tax provisions, carrying value of 
goodwill and recoverability of parent 

company’s investments in and 
amounts due from subsidiaries key 
audit matters we considered all of the 
Brexit related disclosures together, 
including those in the strategic report, 
comparing the overall picture against 
our understanding of the risks. 

Our results:
As reported under recoverability of 
parent company’s investment in and 
amounts due from subsidiaries key  
audit matter, we found the resulting 
estimates and related disclosures and 
disclosures in relation to going concern 
to be acceptable. However, no audit 
should be expected to predict the 
unknowable factors or all possible future 
implications for a company and this is 
particularly the case in relation to Brexit 
(2018: acceptable).

Tax provisioning (£7.3 million, 2018: 
£10.9 million)

Refer to page 70 (Audit Committee 
section of the Directors’ Report and 
Notes 1h, 2t and 9 (accounting policy 
and financial disclosures)).

The risk – Dispute outcome 
Provisions for tax contingencies require 
the directors to make judgements and 
estimates in relation to tax issues and 
exposures given that the Group operates 
in a number of tax jurisdictions, the 
complexities of transfer pricing and other 
international tax legislation and the time 
taken for open tax matters to be agreed 
with the tax authorities. 

The effect of these matters is that, 
as part of our risk assessment, 
we determined that tax provisioning 
levels have a high degree of estimation 
uncertainty. The amount provided and 
assessed may not reflect the eventual 
outcome and there is a potential range 
of reasonable outcomes greater than 
our materiality for the financial 
statements as a whole, and possibly 
many times that amount. The financial 
statements (note 9) disclose the range 
estimated by the Group.

Our response: 
Our procedures included:

• Our tax expertise: Assessing together 
with our own international and local tax 
specialists the Group’s tax positions, 
its exposure to future cash outflows 
that may arise from the tax issues 
and analysing and challenging the 
assumptions used to determine tax 
provisions based on our knowledge 
and experience of the application of 
tax legislation by relevant authorities;

• Test of details: Inspecting the Group’s 
correspondence with the relevant tax 
authorities and its external tax advisers 
and compared it to management’s 
assumptions forming the basis of 
estimates in this matter;

• Assessing transparency: Assessing 

the adequacy of the Group’s 
disclosures in respect of tax and 
uncertain tax positions.

Our results:
We found the level of tax provisioning 
to be acceptable (2018: acceptable). 

The presentation of ‘underlying’ 
operating profit, ‘underlying’ profit 
before tax and ‘underlying’ earnings 
per share from continuing operations 
(£40.0 million, 2018: £33.4 million)

Refer to page 70 (Audit committee 
section of the Directors’ Report and 
Notes 1c, 1d and 8 (accounting policy 
and financial disclosures)).

The risk – Presentation 
appropriateness
The Group discloses its earnings in 
accordance with the requirements 
of EU Adopted IFRS. It also presents 
a measure of underlying profit and 
earnings as defined in note 8, which 
excludes a number of separately 
disclosed items of income and 
expenditure. The identification of 
non-underlying items and the 
presentation of underlying profit 
and earnings measures that show a 
consistent and balanced view of the 
underlying performance of the Group 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

105

Financial statementsIndependent auditor’s report to the  
members of TT Electronics plc continued

involves significant judgement. 
Significant judgement is also involved 
in ensuring that undue prominence is not 
given to underlying financial information, 
which could be misleading to the readers 
of the financial statements.

The effect of these matters is that, 
as part of our risk assessment, we 
determined that the presentation of 
underlying operating profit requires  
a high degree of judgement.

Our response: 
Our procedures included:

• Assessing principles: Assessing 

whether the Group’s accounting policy 
for non-underlying items is consistent 
with the FRC’s thematic reviews and 
ESMA guidelines on alternative 
performance measures; 

• Tests of details: For a sample of the 
items identified as non-underlying 
inspect the available supporting 
documentation to assess the nature 
of the items and consider if they have 
been appropriately excluded from 
underlying profit based on the 
Group’s accounting policy; assess 
the completeness of non-underlying 
income by considering the nature of 
a sample of credit items and if they 
have been appropriately included in 
underlying profit based on the Group’s 
accounting policy;

• Assessing application: Considering 

whether the policy for non-underlying 
items has been applied consistently 
between periods by comparing both 
the policy and the nature of these items 
in the two years ended 31 December 
2019 taking into account the basis of 
our understanding of the results gained 
throughout the audit process;

• Assessing balance and transparency: 

Assessing whether ‘underlying’ 
operating profit is clearly and 
accurately defined in the financial 
statements and that a reconciliation to 
IFRS financial information is presented. 
Evaluating the extent to which the 
relative prominence given to underlying 

measures, including related 
commentary and adopted IFRS could 
be misleading in the form and context 
in which it appears.

Our results:
We found the Group’s presentation 
of non-underlying transactions to be 
acceptable (2018: acceptable). 

Warranty and other product provisions 
(£2.2 million, 2018 £3.5 million)

Refer to page 70 (Audit Committee 
section of the Directors’ Report and 
Notes 1h, 2u and 20 (accounting policy 
and financial disclosures)).

The risk – Dispute outcome
The Group’s products are used in a 
variety of complex applications and 
if they do not perform in the manner 
specified, the Group may be exposed to 
warranty claims from customers of the 
continuing and discontinued operations. 
Assessing if such claims are likely and 
when received, if they are valid, as well as 
estimating the likely outflow of economic 
benefit, requires judgement and involves 
making estimates and assumptions. 

The effect of these matters is that, 
as part of our risk assessment, we 
determined that the warranty and other 
product provisions of £2.2m has a high 
degree of estimation uncertainty, with a 
potential range of reasonable outcomes 
greater than our materiality for the 
financial statements as a whole. The 
financial statements (note 20) disclose 
the range estimated by the Group.

Our response: 
Our procedures included: 

• Enquiries of lawyers: Corresponding 

with the Group’s external legal counsel 
and discussions with the Group’s 
internal legal counsel as well as 
with the Group’s and business units 
directors to identify actual and 
potential customer claims and the 
reasonableness of the estimated 
liability with respect to those claims;

• Test of details: Considering relevant 

available information used by Directors 
to assess the validity of claims and 
challenging the methodology of 
calculating the provisions including the 
assumptions used and how estimation 
uncertainty was assessed;

• Historical comparisons: Evaluating 

the historical track record of warranty 
and other product claims against 
the Group in order to help assess the 
appropriateness of provisions held at 
the period end; 

• Assessing transparency: Evaluating 

the adequacy of the Group’s 
disclosures in respect of these 
provisions in line with accounting 
standards, and in particular the 
disclosure of the estimation 
uncertainty and the quantification of 
that uncertainty where appropriate. 

Our results:
We considered the warranty and other 
product provisions recognised to be 
acceptable (2018: acceptable).

Recoverability of parent company’s 
investment in and amounts due from 
subsidiaries (Investment in subsidiaries 
– £189.3 million, 2018: £188.3 million. 
Amounts owed by subsidiary 
undertakings – £190 million, 2018: 
£115.5 million)

Refer to Notes 1d, 3 and 4 (accounting 
policy and financial disclosures) of the 
Company financial statements.

The Risk – Low risk, high value
The carrying amount of the parent 
company’s investments in, and amounts 
due from, subsidiaries represents 46% 
(2018: 55%) and 46% (2018: 34%) of the 
company’s total assets respectively. 
Their recoverability is not at a high risk 
of significant misstatement or subject to 
significant judgement. However, due to 
their materiality in the context of the 
parent company financial statements, 
this is considered to be the area that had 
the greatest effect on our overall parent 
company audit.

106 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statementsOur response: 
Our procedures included:

• Tests of detail: Comparing the carrying 
amount of 100% of investments and 
100% of amounts owed by subsidiary 
undertakings, with the relevant 
subsidiaries’ draft balance sheet to 
identify whether their net assets, 
being an approximation of the 
minimum recoverable amount of the 
related investments and amounts 
owed by subsidiary undertakings, were 
in excess of their carrying amount, and 
assessing whether those subsidiaries 
have historically been profit-making; 

• Assessing subsidiary audits: Where 

indicators of impairment are identified, 
assessing the work performed by the 
group reporting subsidiary audit teams 
on those subsidiaries and considering 
the results of that work on those 
subsidiaries’ profits and net assets;

• Our sector experience: For those 
subsidiaries where the carrying 
amount exceeded the net asset value, 
comparing the carrying amount of the 
investment with the expected value of 
the business, which is the subsidiary’s 
value in use based on the present 
value of the cash flows expected to 
be generated;

2019 (2018) 

Audits for group reporting purposes 

• Benchmarking assumptions: 

Comparing the relevant subsidiary 
investment’s forecast cash flow 
assumptions to externally derived 
data in relation to key inputs such 
as projected economic growth and 
(using our valuation specialists) 
discount rates.

Our results:
We found the directors’ assessment 
of the recoverability of the investment 
in subsidiaries and amounts due from 
subsidiaries to be acceptable (2018: 
acceptable). 

3  Our application of materiality and 
an overview of the scope of our audit 
Materiality for the group financial 
statement as a whole was set at 
£1.4 million (2018: £1.2 million), 
determined with reference to a 
benchmark of Group profit before tax 
from continuing operations normalised 
to exclude this year’s restructuring and 
other acquisition related costs as 
disclosed in note 8 of £16.8m (2018: 
£12.1m), of which it represents 4.5% 
(2018: 4.5%). 

Materiality for the parent company 
financial statements as a whole was 
set at £0.8 million (2018: £1.2 million), 
determined with reference to a 
benchmark of company total assets, 
of which it represents 0.2% (2018: 0.3%). 

We agreed to report to the Audit 
Committee any corrected or uncorrected 
identified misstatements exceeding 
£0.07 million (2018: £0.06 million) for 
items impacting the income statement 
and £0.14 million (2018: £0.06 million) 
for items in respect of the balance sheet 
misclassification, in addition to other 
identified misstatements that warranted 
reporting on qualitative grounds. 

Of the group’s 181 (2018: 144) reporting 
components, we subjected 34 (2018: 44) 
to full scope audits for group purposes 
and 3 (2018: 5) to specified risk-focused 
audit procedures. The latter were not 
individually financially significant 
enough to require a full scope audit 
for group purposes, but did present 
specific individual risks that needed to 
be addressed. 

The components within the scope of 
our work accounted for the following 
percentages of the Group’s results:

Number of 
components

Group revenue 
from continuing 
operations

Group profit 
before tax from 
continuing 
operations

Total assets

34 (44)

60% (55%)

74% (78%)

60% (79%)

Specified risk focused audit procedures on significant working capital balances, 
non-current assets, revenue, cost of sales and administrative expenses. 

Total 

3 (5)

20% (25%)

3% (7%)

13% (8%)

37 (49)

79% (80%)

77% (85%)

73% (87%)

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

107

Financial statementsIndependent auditor’s report to the  
members of TT Electronics plc continued

The remaining 21% (2018: 20%) of group 
revenue from continuing operations, 
18% (2018: 13%) of group profit before 
tax from continuing operations and 
15% (2018: 13%) of total group assets is 
represented by 181 (2018: 114) reporting 
components, none of which individually 
represented more than 4% of any 
of group revenue from continuing 
operations, group profit before tax from 
continuing operations or total group 
assets. For these residual components, 
we performed analysis at an 
aggregated group level to re-examine 
our assessment that there were 
no significant risks of material 
misstatement within these components.

The Group team instructed component 
auditors as to the significant areas to 
be covered, including the relevant risks 
detailed above and the information to 
be reported back. The Group team 
approved the component materialities, 
which ranged from £0.1 million (2018: 
£0.01 million) to £0.8 million (2018: 
£1.1 million), having regard to the mix 
of size and risk profile of the Group 
across the components. The work on 
13 of the 37 components (2018: 19 of 
the 49 components) was performed 
by component auditors and the rest, 
including the audit of the parent 
company, was performed by the Group 
team. The group team performed 
procedures on the items excluded from 
normalised group profit before tax on 
continuing operations. 

The Group team visited 5 (2018: 6) 
component locations in the USA and 
the UK (2018: USA, China and the UK) 
to assess the audit risk and strategy. 
Telephone conference meetings were 
also held with the component auditors 
throughout the audit. At these visits and 
meetings, the findings reported to the 
Group team were discussed in more 
detail, and any further work required by 
the Group team was then performed by 
the component auditor. 

Following the coronavirus outbreak 
in China the group audit team were 
unable to visit China to review the work 
performed by the Chinese component 
audit teams in respect of two 
components representing, in aggregate, 
25% of group revenue. As a mitigation to 
this we extended our oversight of these 
component teams.

4  We have nothing to report  
on going concern 
The Directors have prepared the financial 
statements on the going concern basis 
as they do not intend to liquidate the 
Company or the Group or to cease their 
operations, and as they have concluded 
that the Company’s and the Group’s 
financial position means that this is 
realistic. They have also concluded that 
there are no material uncertainties that 
could have cast significant doubt over 
their ability to continue as a going 
concern for at least a year from the date 
of approval of the financial statements 
(“the going concern period”). 

Our responsibility is to conclude on 
the appropriateness of the Directors’ 
conclusions and, had there been a 
material uncertainty related to going 
concern, to make reference to that in 
this audit report. However, as we cannot 
predict all future events or conditions 
and as subsequent events may result 
in outcomes that are inconsistent with 
judgements that were reasonable at the 
time they were made, the absence of 
reference to a material uncertainty in 
this auditor’s report is not a guarantee 
that the Group and the Company will 
continue in operation. 

In our evaluation of the Directors’ 
conclusions, we considered the inherent 
risks to the Group’s and Company’s 
business model and analysed how 
those risks might affect the Group’s and 
Company’s financial resources or ability 
to continue operations over the going 
concern period. The risks that we 
considered most likely to adversely 
affect the Group’s and Company’s 
available financial resources over this 
period were:

• The impact on electronic component 

volumes of a broad economic 
downturn; 

• The impact of a significant business 
continuity issue, including the effects 
of the COVID19 virus, affecting the 
Group’s manufacturing facilities or 
those of its suppliers;

• The impact of Brexit on the Group’s 

supply chain.

As these were risks that could potentially 
cast significant doubt on the Group’s 
and the Company’s ability to continue 
as a going concern, we considered 
sensitivities over the level of available 
financial resources indicated by the 
Group’s financial forecasts taking 
account of reasonably possible (but 
not unrealistic) adverse effects that 
could arise from these risks individually 
and collectively and evaluated the 
achievability of the actions the Directors 
consider they would take to improve 
the position should the risks materialise. 
We also considered less predictable 
but realistic second order impacts, 
such as the erosion of customer or 
supplier confidence, which could 
result in a rapid reduction of available 
financial resources.

Based on this work, we are required to 
report to you if:

• we have anything material to add or 
draw attention to in relation to the 
directors’ statement in Note 1 to the 
financial statements on the use of the 
going concern basis of accounting with 
no material uncertainties that may cast 
significant doubt over the Group and 
Company’s use of that basis for a 
period of at least twelve months from 
the date of approval of the financial 
statements; or

• the related statement under the Listing 
Rules set out in the Governance report 
is materially inconsistent with our audit 
knowledge.

We have nothing to report in these 
respects, and we did not identify going 
concern as a key audit matter.

108 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements5  We have nothing to report on the 
other information in the Annual Report 
The directors are responsible for the 
other information presented in the 
Annual Report together with the financial 
statements. Our opinion on the financial 
statements does not cover the other 
information and, accordingly, we do 
not express an audit opinion or, except 
as explicitly stated below, any form of 
assurance conclusion thereon. 

Our responsibility is to read the other 
information and, in doing so, consider 
whether, based on our financial 
statements audit work, the information 
therein is materially misstated or 
inconsistent with the financial 
statements or our audit knowledge. 
Based solely on that work we have 
not identified material misstatements 
in the other information. 

Strategic report and directors’ report 
Based solely on our work on the other 
information: 

• we have not identified material 
misstatements in the strategic 
report and the directors’ report; 

• in our opinion the information given 
in those reports for the financial 
year is consistent with the financial 
statements; and 

• in our opinion those reports have 
been prepared in accordance with 
the Companies Act 2006. 

Directors’ remuneration report 
In our opinion the part of the Directors’ 
Remuneration Report to be audited has 
been properly prepared in accordance 
with the Companies Act 2006. 

Disclosures of emerging and principal 
risks and longer-term viability 
Based on the knowledge we acquired 
during our financial statements audit, 
we have nothing material to add or draw 
attention to in relation to: 

• the directors’ confirmation within the 
Viability Statement on page 43 that 
they have carried out a robust 
assessment of the emerging and 
principal risks facing the Group, 
including those that would threaten its 
business model, future performance, 
solvency and liquidity; 

• the Principal Risks and Uncertainties 

disclosures describing these risks and 
explaining how they are being 
managed and mitigated; and 

• the directors’ explanation in the Viability 
Statement of how they have assessed 
the prospects of the Group, over what 
period they have done so and why 
they considered that period to be 
appropriate, and their statement as 
to whether they have a reasonable 
expectation that the Group will be 
able to continue in operation and meet 
its liabilities as they fall due over the 
period of their assessment, including 
any related disclosures drawing 
attention to any necessary 
qualifications or assumptions. 

Under the Listing Rules we are required 
to review the Viability Statement. We 
have nothing to report in this respect. 

Our work is limited to assessing these 
matters in the context of only the 
knowledge acquired during our financial 
statements audit. As we cannot predict 
all future events or conditions and as 
subsequent events may result in 
outcomes that are inconsistent with 
judgments that were reasonable at the 
time they were made, the absence of 
anything to report on these statements 
is not a guarantee as to the Group’s and 
Company’s longer-term viability.

Corporate governance disclosures 
We are required to report to you if: 

• we have identified material 

financial statements audit and the 
directors’ statement that they consider 
that the annual report and financial 
statements taken as a whole is fair, 
balanced and understandable and 
provides the information necessary 
for shareholders to assess the Group’s 
position and performance, business 
model and strategy; or 

• the section of the annual report 
describing the work of the Audit 
Committee does not appropriately 
address matters communicated by 
us to the Audit Committee.

We are required to report to you if the 
Corporate Governance Statement does 
not properly disclose a departure from 
the provisions of the UK Corporate 
Governance Code specified by the 
Listing Rules for our review. 

We have nothing to report in these 
respects. 

6  We have nothing to report on the 
other matters on which we are required 
to report by exception 
Under the Companies Act 2006, we are 
required to report to you if, in our opinion: 

• adequate accounting records have not 
been kept by the parent Company, or 
returns adequate for our audit have 
not been received from branches not 
visited by us; or 

•  the parent Company financial 
statements and the part of the 
Directors’ Remuneration Report to be 
audited are not in agreement with the 
accounting records and returns; or 

•  certain disclosures of directors’ 

remuneration specified by law are 
not made; or 

•  we have not received all the information 
and explanations we require for our audit. 

inconsistencies between the 
knowledge we acquired during our 

We have nothing to report in these 
respects. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

109

Financial statementsfinancial statements, the less likely the 
inherently limited procedures required 
by auditing standards would identify it. 
In addition, as with any audit, there 
remained a higher risk of non-detection 
of irregularities, as these may involve 
collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, 
misrepresentations, or the override of 
internal controls. We are not responsible 
for preventing non-compliance and 
cannot be expected to detect non-
compliance with all laws and regulations.

8  The purpose of our audit work and  
to whom we owe our responsibilities 
This report is made solely to the 
Company’s members, as a body, in 
accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 
of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit 
work has been undertaken so that we 
might state to the Company’s members 
those matters we are required to state 
to them in an auditor’s report and for 
no other purpose. To the fullest extent 
permitted by law, we do not accept or 
assume responsibility to anyone other 
than the Company and the Company’s 
members, as a body, for our audit work, 
for this report, or for the opinions we 
have formed. 

Mike Barradell  
(Senior Statutory Auditor)  
for and on behalf of KPMG LLP,  
Statutory Auditor 
Chartered Accountants 
15 Canada Square 
London 
E14 5GL

3 March 2020 

Independent auditor’s report to the  
members of TT Electronics plc continued

7  Respective responsibilities 
Directors’ responsibilities 
As explained more fully in their 
statement set out on page 102, the 
directors are responsible for: the 
preparation of the financial statements 
including being satisfied that they give a 
true and fair view; such internal control 
as they determine is necessary to enable 
the preparation of financial statements 
that are free from material misstatement, 
whether due to fraud or error; assessing 
the Group and parent Company’s 
ability to continue as a going concern, 
disclosing, as applicable, matters related 
to going concern; and using the going 
concern basis of accounting unless 
they either intend to liquidate the Group 
or the parent Company or to cease 
operations, or have no realistic 
alternative but to do so. 

Auditor’s responsibilities 
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable 
assurance about whether the financial 
statements as a whole are free from 
material misstatement, whether due to 
fraud or other irregularities (see below), 
or error, and to issue our opinion in an 
auditor’s report. Reasonable assurance 
is a high level of assurance, but does not 
guarantee that an audit conducted in 
accordance with ISAs (UK) will always 
detect a material misstatement when 
it exists. Misstatements can arise from 
fraud, other irregularities or error and 
are considered material if, individually 
or in aggregate, they could reasonably 
be expected to influence the economic 
decisions of users taken on the basis of 
the financial statements. 

A fuller description of our responsibilities 
is provided on the FRC’s website at 
www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. 

Irregularities – ability to detect
We identified areas of laws and 
regulations that could reasonably 
be expected to have a material effect 
on the financial statements from 
our general commercial and sector 
experience, through discussion with 
the directors as required by auditing 
standards, and from inspection of 
the group’s regulatory and legal 
correspondence and discussed with 
the directors the policies and procedures 

regarding compliance with laws and 
regulations. We communicated identified 
laws and regulations throughout our 
team and remained alert to any 
indications of non-compliance 
throughout the audit. This included 
communication from the group to 
component audit teams of relevant laws 
and regulations identified at group level.

The potential effect of these laws and 
regulations on the financial statements 
varies considerably.

Firstly, the Group is subject to laws 
and regulations that directly affect the 
financial statements including financial 
reporting legislation (including related 
companies legislation), distributable 
profits legislation and taxation 
legislation, and we assessed the extent 
of compliance with these laws and 
regulations as part of our procedures 
on the related financial statement items. 

Secondly, the Group is subject to many 
other laws and regulations where the 
consequences of non-compliance 
could have a material effect on 
amounts or disclosures in the financial 
statements, for instance through the 
imposition of fines or litigation or the 
loss of the Group’s license to operate. 
We identified the following areas as 
those most likely to have such an effect: 
health and safety, anti-bribery and 
corruption and employment law 
recognising the nature of the Group’s 
activities. Auditing standards limit the 
required audit procedures to identify 
non-compliance with these laws and 
regulations to enquiry of the directors 
and inspection of regulatory and legal 
correspondence, if any. These limited 
procedures did not identify actual or 
suspected non-compliance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an 
audit, there is an unavoidable risk that 
we may not have detected some 
material misstatements in the financial 
statements, even though we have 
properly planned and performed our 
audit in accordance with auditing 
standards. For example, the further 
removed non-compliance with laws and 
regulations (irregularities) is from the 
events and transactions reflected in the 

110 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements 
Consolidated income statement 
For the year ended 31 December 2019 

£million (unless otherwise stated) 

Revenue 

Cost of sales 

Gross profit 

Distribution costs 

Administrative expenses 

Other operating income 

Operating profit 

Analysed as: 

Underlying operating profit 

Restructuring and other 

Acquisition related costs 

Finance income 

Finance costs 

Profit before taxation 

Taxation 

Profit from continuing operations 

Discontinued operations 

Profit from discontinued operations 

Profit for the period attributable to the owners of the Company 

EPS attributable to owners of the Company (pence) 

Basic 

Continuing operations 

Discontinued operations 

Diluted 

From continuing operations 

From discontinued operations 

Note 

3a 

3a 

8 

8 

6 

6 

9 

5 

11 

11 

11 

11 

2019 

478.2 

(361.4) 

116.8 

(28.1) 

(71.3) 

1.4 

18.8 

40.0 

(13.2) 

(8.0) 

0.9 

(4.6) 

15.1 

(1.2) 

13.9 

3.4 

17.3 

8.5 

2.1 

10.6 

8.4 

2.0 

10.4 

2018 

429.5 

(318.8) 

110.7 

(26.4) 

(69.5) 

1.7 

16.5 

33.4 

(4.9) 

(12.0) 

0.5 

(2.4) 

14.6 

(1.6) 

13.0 

0.4 

13.4 

8.0 

0.3 

8.3 

7.8 

0.3 

8.1 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

111 
111

Financial statementsConsolidated statement of comprehensive income 
for the year ended 31 December 2019 

£million 

Profit for the year 

Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the year after tax 

Items that are or may be reclassified subsequently to the income statement: 

Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations 

(Loss)/gain on hedge of net investment in foreign operations 

Gain/(loss) on cash flow hedges taken to equity less amounts taken to income statement 

Items that will never be reclassified to the income statement: 

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes 

Tax on remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes 

Total comprehensive income for the year attributable to the owners of the Company 

Note 

23 

9 

2019 

17.3 

(4.9) 

(2.0) 

0.1 

(9.1) 

1.7 

3.1 

2018 

13.4 

6.3 

1.7 

(2.4) 

9.5 

(1.6) 

26.9 

112 
112 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Financial statements 

Consolidated statement of financial position 
at 31 December 2019 

£million 

ASSETS 

Non-current assets 

Right-of-use assets 

Property, plant and equipment 

Goodwill 

Other intangible assets 

Deferred tax assets 

Pensions 

Total non-current assets 

Current assets 

Inventories 

Trade and other receivables 

Income taxes receivable 

Derivative financial instruments 

Cash and cash equivalents 

Total current assets 

Total assets 

LIABILITIES 

Current liabilities 

Lease liabilities 

Derivative financial instruments 

Trade and other payables 

Income taxes payable 

Provisions 

Total current liabilities 

Non-current liabilities 

Borrowings 

Lease liabilities 

Deferred tax liability 

Pensions 

Other non-current liabilities 

Total non-current liabilities 

Total liabilities 

Net assets 

EQUITY 

Share capital 

Share premium 

Other reserves 

Hedging and translation reserve 

Retained earnings 

Equity attributable to owners of the Company 

Non-controlling interests 

Total equity 

Approved by the Board of Directors on 3 March 2020 and signed on their behalf by: 

Richard Tyson  
Director 

Mark Hoad 
Director 

Note 

2019 

2018 

13 

14 

15 

16 

9 

23 

17 

18 

22 

21 
22 

19 

20 

21 

21 

9 

23 

19 

24 

24 

12.8 

51.1 

136.1 

51.3 

7.5 

21.2 

280.0 

102.8 

78.6 

4.3 

0.9 

60.2 

246.8 

526.8 

3.8 

2.1 

103.9 

8.0 

5.2 

– 

51.7 

137.9 

55.0 

6.1 

24.9 

275.6 

96.4 

76.2 

1.6 

0.4 

40.6 

215.2 

490.8 

0.4 

2.1 

96.0 

13.2 

4.4 

123.0 

116.1 

111.7 

13.8 

4.6 

4.6 

0.2 

134.9 

257.9 

268.9 

41.0 

4.1 

1.2 

32.3 

188.3 

266.9 

2.0 

268.9 

81.7 

0.2 

4.8 

8.4 

0.1 

95.2 

211.3 

279.5 

40.8 

3.4 

2.7 

39.1 

191.5 

277.5 

2.0 

279.5 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

113 
113

Financial statements 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Consolidated statement of changes in equity 
for the year ended 31 December 2019 

£million 

At 1 January 2018 

Profit for the period 

Other comprehensive income 

Exchange differences on translation 
of foreign operations 

Gain on hedge of net investment in 
foreign operations 

Loss on cash flow hedges taken to equity 
less amounts taken to income statement 

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension 
schemes 

Tax on remeasurement of defined benefit 
pension schemes 

Total other comprehensive income 

Transactions with owners recorded 
directly in equity 

Equity dividends paid by the Company 

Share-based payments 

Deferred tax on share-based payments 

Current tax taken to equity 

Purchase of own shares 

New shares issued 

At 31 December 2018 
Impact of adoption of IFRS 16 

Adjusted balance at 1 January 2019 

Profit for the year 

Other comprehensive income 

Exchange differences on translation 
of foreign operations 

Loss on hedge of net investment in 
foreign operations 

Gain on cash flow hedges taken to equity 
less amounts taken to income statement 

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension 
schemes 

Tax on remeasurement of defined benefit 
pension schemes 

Total other comprehensive income 

Transactions with owners recorded 
directly in equity 

Equity dividends paid by the Company 

Share-based payments 

Deferred tax on share-based payments 

Current tax taken to equity 

Purchase of own shares 

New shares issued 

At 31 December 2019 

Hedging 
and 
translation 
reserve 

Share 
premium 

Other 
reserves 

Retained 
earnings 

Sub- 
total 

Non-
controlling 
interest 

2.9 

– 

33.5 

– 

8.4 

– 

180.0 

265.5 

13.4 

13.4 

2.0 

– 

Share 
capital 

40.7 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

0.1 

40.8 
– 

40.8 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

0.5 

3.4 
– 

3.4 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

0.2 

41.0 

0.7 

4.1 

6.3 

1.7 

(2.4) 

– 

– 

5.6 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

39.1 
– 

39.1 

– 

(4.9) 

(2.0) 

0.1 

– 

– 
(6.8) 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 

32.3 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

(3.8) 

(1.0) 

– 

(0.9) 

– 

2.7 
– 

2.7 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 

0.2 

0.1 

– 
(1.8) 

– 

1.2 

– 

– 

– 

6.3 

1.7 

(2.4) 

9.5 

9.5 

(1.6) 

7.9 

(1.6) 

13.5 

(9.7) 

– 

– 

(0.1) 

– 

– 

(9.7) 

(3.8) 

(1.0) 

(0.1) 

(0.9) 

0.6 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

191.5 
(2.3) 

277.5 
(2.3) 

189.2 

275.2 

17.3 

17.3 

2.0 
– 

2.0 

– 

– 

– 

– 

(4.9) 

(2.0) 

0.1 

(9.1) 

(9.1) 

1.7 

(7.4) 

1.7 
(14.2) 

(10.9) 

(10.9) 

– 

– 

0.1 
– 

– 

0.2 

0.1 

0.1 
(1.8) 

0.9 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 

Total 

267.5 

13.4 

6.3 

1.7 

(2.4) 

9.5 

(1.6) 

13.5 

(9.7) 

(3.8) 

(1.0) 

(0.1) 

(0.9) 

0.6 

279.5 
(2.3) 

277.2 

17.3 

(4.9) 

(2.0) 

0.1 

(9.1) 

1.7 

(14.2) 

(10.9) 

0.2 

0.1 

0.1 

(1.8) 

0.9 

188.3 

266.9 

2.0 

268.9 

114 
114 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Consolidated cash flow statement 
for the year ended 31 December 2019 

£million 

Cash flows from operating activities 

Profit for the year 

Taxation  

Net finance costs 

Restructuring and other 

Acquisition related costs 

Profit from discontinued operations 

Underlying operating profit  

Adjustments for: 

Depreciation  

Amortisation of intangible assets 

Other items 

Increase in inventories 

(Increase)/decrease in receivables 

Increase in payables 

Underlying operating cash flow  

Special payments to pension funds 

Restructuring and acquisition related costs 

Net cash generated from operations 

Net income taxes paid 

Net cash flow from operating activities 

Cash flows from investing activities 

Interest received 

Purchase of property, plant and equipment 

Proceeds from sale of investment property, plant and equipment and grants received 

Development expenditure 

Purchase of other intangibles 

Acquisitions of businesses 

Dividends paid by subsidiary to former shareholders 

Cash with acquired businesses 

Disposal of subsidiaries 

Tax arising on disposal of subsidiaries  

Net cash flow from investing activities 

Cash flows from financing activities 

Issue of share capital 

Interest paid 

Repayment of borrowings 

Proceeds from borrowings 

Payment of lease liabilities 

Other items 

Dividends paid by the Company 

Net cash flow from financing activities 

Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 

Exchange differences 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 

Note 

2019 

2018 

17.3 

1.2 

3.7 

13.2 

8.0 

(3.4) 

40.0 

13.9 

4.1 

2.5 

(9.5) 

(4.0) 

10.4 

57.4 

(8.6) 

(9.2) 

39.6 

(3.7) 

35.9 

0.1 

(14.0) 

0.4 

(3.9) 

(0.7) 

(2.4) 

– 

0.1 

– 

(1.2) 

(21.6) 

0.9 

(4.1) 

– 

30.4 

(4.4) 

(4.6) 

(10.9) 

7.3 

21.6 

40.6 

(2.0) 

60.2 

13.4 

1.6 

1.9 

4.9 

12.0 

(0.4) 

33.4 

9.8 

3.8 

3.5 

(16.2) 

4.6 

9.5 

48.4 

(5.3) 

(11.2) 

31.9 

(6.8) 

25.1 

0.1 

(13.4) 

4.2 

(3.7) 

(2.1) 

(63.9) 

(0.8) 

(3.2) 

1.5 

(2.9) 

(84.2) 

0.6 

(1.7) 

(15.0) 

86.7 

(0.3) 

(7.9) 

(9.7) 

52.7 

(6.4) 

46.5 

0.5 

40.6 

13 

15 

13 

15 

15 

5 

24 

10 

26 

26 

26 

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Financial statements 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  

1 Basis of preparation 
a) Basis of accounting 
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a historical cost basis modified by derivatives held at fair value and 
by the revaluation of certain property, plant and equipment at the transition date to International Financial Reporting Standards 
(‘IFRS’). The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International 
Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’) and interpretations issued by the IFRS Interpretations Committee of the IASB, as adopted by 
the European Union, and in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006. 

The financial statements set out on pages 111 to 161 have been prepared using consistent accounting policies except for the 
adoption of new accounting standards and interpretations noted below.  

b) Basis of consolidation  
The consolidated financial statements set out the Group’s financial position as at 31 December 2019 and the Group’s financial 
performance for the year ended 31 December 2019. 

Subsidiaries are those enterprises controlled by the Group. Control exists when the Group is exposed, or has rights, to variable 
returns from its involvement with the subsidiary and has the ability to affect those returns through its power over the subsidiary. 
Subsidiaries are consolidated from the date on which control is transferred to the Group and cease to be consolidated from the date 
on which control is transferred out of the Group. 

All intercompany balances and transactions, including unrealised profits arising from intra-group transactions, have been eliminated 
in full. Unrealised losses are eliminated in the same way as unrealised gains except that they are only eliminated to the extent that 
there is no evidence of impairment. 

c) Alternative performance measures 
These financial statements include alternative performance measures that are not prepared in accordance with IFRS. These 
alternative performance measures have been selected by management to assist them in making operating decisions because  
they represent the underlying operating performance of the Group and facilitate internal comparisons of performance over time. 

Alternative performance measures are presented in these financial statements as management believe they provide investors  
with a means of evaluating performance of the Group on a consistent basis, similar to the way in which management evaluates 
performance, that is not otherwise apparent on an IFRS basis. These alternative performance measures exclude certain significant 
non-recurring, infrequent or non-cash items that management does not believe are indicative of the underlying operating 
performance of the Group (that are otherwise included when preparing financial measures under IFRS). 

The Directors consider there to be four main alternative performance measures: underlying operating profit, free cash flow, 
underlying EPS and underlying effective tax rate. 

d) Underlying operating profit 
This has been defined as operating profit from continuing operations excluding the impacts of significant restructuring 
programmes; significant one-off items including property disposals, business acquisition and divestment related activity; and the 
amortisation of intangible assets recognised on acquisition. Business acquisition and divestment related items include the writing 
off of the pre-acquisition profit element of inventory written up on acquisition, other direct costs associated with business 
combinations, integration costs and adjustments to contingent consideration related to acquired businesses. Restructuring include 
significant changes in footprint (including movement of production facilities) and significant costs of management changes. 

Other alternative performance measures are defined in note 8. 

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116 

Financial statements 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

1 Basis of preparation continued 
e) Going concern 
The Group’s business activities, together with the factors likely to affect its future development, performance and position are set 
out within the Strategic Report on pages 1 to 53. The Strategic Report analyses the financial position of the Group, its cash flows, 
liquidity position and borrowing facilities. In addition, note 22 to the financial statements includes the Group’s objectives, policies 
and processes for managing its capital; its financial risk management objectives; details of its financial instruments and hedging 
activities; and its exposures to credit risk and liquidity risk. 

The Group had net debt of £69.1 million at 31 December 2019 (2018: £41.7 million), with available undrawn committed and 
uncommitted facilities of £238.6 million (comprising committed facilities of £199.3 million and uncommitted facilities of  
£39.2 million representing overdraft lines and an accordion facility of £30 million). Given the considerable financial resources 
available, together with long-term partnerships with several key customers and suppliers across different geographic areas and 
industries, the Directors believe that the Group is well placed to manage its business risks successfully. 

The Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources and financial headroom to continue  
in operational existence for at least 12 months from the date of signing these financial statements. Thus they confirm that is 
appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements. Further details are 
contained in the Governance and Directors’ Report on page 62. 

f) New standards and interpretations not yet adopted 
The Group does not consider that any standard, amendment or interpretation issued by the IASB, but not yet applicable, will have a 
significant impact on the financial statements. Standards and interpretations issued by the IASB are only applicable if endorsed by 
the EU.  

g) Change in accounting policies 
The Group has implemented IFRS 16 Leases with effect from 1 January 2019. The standard provides a single lessee accounting 
model, requiring lessees to recognise right-of-use assets and lease obligations for all leases unless the lease term is 12 months or 
less or the underlying asset has a low value. The Group has applied IFRS 16 using the modified retrospective approach under which 
the cumulative effect of initial application has been recognised in retained earnings at 1 January 2019 and comparative information 
has not been restated and continues to be reported under IAS 17. 

The Group previously classified leases as operating or finance leases based on whether the lease transferred substantially all  
the risks and rewards of ownership. Under IFRS 16, the Group recognises right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for most leases 
(unless the lease term is 12 months or less or the underlying asset has a low value). 

The Group recognises a lease liability at the lease commencement date (or on initial application), measured as the present value  
of the future lease payments, discounted at the incremental borrowing rate. The weighted average incremental borrowing rate 
applied was 5.0%. A corresponding right-of-use asset is recognised separately on the face of the consolidated balance sheet,  
net of accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. For leases recognised on initial application, the right-of-use asset is  
initially measured at either the carrying amount if IFRS 16 had always been applied, or an amount equal to the initially recognised 
lease liability. 

The Group has applied the following practical expedients on transition: not to reassess whether contracts contained a lease;  
use of hindsight in determining the lease term; exclusion of initial direct costs from the measurement of the right-of-use asset. 

The Group has applied judgement to determine the lease term for contracts that include renewal options. The assessment of 
whether the exercise of such options is reasonably certain impacts the lease term, which significantly affects the amount of  
lease liability and right-of-use asset recognised.  

On transition, the Group recognised £18.0 million of right-of-use assets, £21.3 million of lease liabilities, an adjustment of  
£0.2 million to working capital, an adjustment of £0.8 million to deferred tax and an amount of £2.3 million recognised in  
retained earnings.  

The Group recognised depreciation of £3.5 million and impairment of £2.7 million (reported outside of underlying operating profit)  
in respect of right-of-use assets and interest costs of £1.0 million in respect of leases in the year ended 31 December 2019. 

The Group adopted IFRIC 23 Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments from 1 January 2019. There was no material impact.  

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Financial statements 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

1 Basis of preparation continued 
h) Significant accounting judgements and estimates 
Judgements 
Determining many of the amounts included in the consolidated financial statements involves the use of judgements. These 
judgements are based on management’s best knowledge of the relevant facts and circumstances having regard to prior experience, 
but actual results may differ from the amounts included in the consolidated financial statements. In addition to the key sources  
of estimation uncertainty shown below, in applying the Group’s accounting policies, the Directors have exercised judgement in 
adopting alternative performance measures (as described in note 8). The determination of items of income and expense excluded 
from operating profit to arrive at underlying operating profit requires critical judgement.  

Estimation uncertainty  
The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make estimates and 
assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and 
reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual outcomes could differ from these estimates.  
In particular, information about significant areas of estimation uncertainty made by the Directors in preparing the consolidated 
financial statements is shown below: 

•  Note 9 – Taxation. Accruals for tax contingencies require management to make judgements and estimates in relation to tax audit 
issues and exposures. Amounts accrued are based on management’s interpretation of country-specific tax law and the likelihood 
of settlement. Tax benefits are not recognised unless the tax positions are probable of being sustained. Once considered to be 
probable, management reviews each material tax benefit to assess whether a provision should be taken against full recognition 
of the benefit on the basis of potential settlement through negotiation and/or litigation. These amounts are expected to be 
utilised or to reverse as tax audits occur or as the statute of limitations is reached in the respective countries concerned. The 
recognition of deferred tax assets is dependent on assessments of future taxable income in the relevant countries concerned; 

•  Note 15 – Goodwill. The carrying amount of goodwill has been tested for impairment by estimating the value in use of the 
cash-generating units to which it has been allocated. Note 15 outlines the significant assumptions made in performing the 
impairment tests; 

•  Note 20 – Provisions. The Group makes appropriate provision on a consistent basis for risks of product liability, litigation, 

restructuring, credit risk and other normal trading exposures with estimates being made regarding the timing of future payments; 
and 

•  Note 23 – Defined benefit pension obligations. The defined benefit pension obligations are calculated using a number of 

assumptions, including future inflation, salary increases and mortality and the obligation is then discounted to its present  
value using an assumed discount rate. Note 23 outlines the significant assumptions and associated sensitivities. 

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Financial statements 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

2 Summary of significant accounting policies 
The following significant accounting policies have been applied in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements.  
These accounting policies have been consistently applied across the Group. 

a) Revenue  
Revenue is measured at the fair value of the right to consideration, usually the invoiced value, for the provision of goods and 
services to external customers excluding value added tax and other sales related taxes and is recognised when the customer 
obtains control of goods. In most cases this is at the point in time of transfer of legal title of the goods. Revenue for services 
is recognised as the services are rendered. For sales to customers where a right to return an item is granted, revenue is recognised 
to the extent of the consideration to which the Group ultimately expects to be entitled (i.e. revenue is not recognised for goods 
expected to be returned). Where a service warranty is provided to customers, the associated revenue, based upon an allocation  
of the overall cost of performance, is recognised over the warranty period. 

b) Finance income 
Finance income comprises interest income on funds invested and foreign exchange gains. Interest income is recognised  
as it accrues. 

c) Finance costs 
Finance costs comprise interest expense on borrowings which are not capitalised under the borrowing costs policy, the calculated 
interest income on pension assets net of the calculated interest expense on pension liabilities and foreign exchange losses. 

d) Discontinued operations and assets held for sale 
The Group reports a business as a discontinued operation when it has been disposed of in a period, or its future sale is considered 
to be highly probable at the balance sheet date, and results in the cessation of a major line of business or geographical area of 
operation. An asset is classified as held for sale if it is available for immediate sale in its present condition subject only to terms that 
are usual and customary for sales of such assets and that it is highly probable the asset will be sold within one year from the date 
of classification. 

e) Dividends 
Dividends are recognised as a liability in the period in which they are approved by shareholders. Dividends receivable are recognised 
when the Group’s right to receive payment is established. 

f) Business combinations 
Business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method. Goodwill on business combinations is recognised as the 
fair value of the consideration transferred less the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired and is recognised as  
an asset in the consolidated balance sheet. Costs relating to the acquisition are recognised as expenses in the consolidated income 
statement as incurred. 

Acquisitions and disposals of non-controlling interests that do not result in a change of control are accounted for as transactions 
with owners in their capacity as owners and therefore no goodwill is recognised as a result of such transactions. The adjustments 
to non-controlling interests are based on a proportionate amount of the net assets of the subsidiary. Any difference between the 
price paid or received and the amount by which non-controlling interests are adjusted is recognised directly in equity and attributed 
to the owners of the parent. 

g) Property, plant and equipment  
Initial measurement 
Property, plant and equipment is stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. The cost of a tangible fixed 
asset comprises its purchase price and any costs directly attributable to bringing it into working condition for its intended use. The 
cost of self-constructed assets includes the cost of materials, direct labour and an appropriate proportion of production overheads. 

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Financial statements 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

2 Summary of significant accounting policies continued 
Depreciation 
The cost of each item of property, plant and equipment is depreciated over its useful life. Depreciation is charged to the 
consolidated income statement so as to write-off the cost less estimated residual value on a straight-line basis over the estimated 
useful life of the asset. Depreciation commences on the date the assets are ready for use within the business and the asset 
carrying values are reviewed for impairment when there is an indication that they may be impaired. Freehold land is not depreciated. 

The depreciation rates of assets are as follows 

Freehold buildings 
Leasehold building improvements 
Plant and equipment 

50 years 
50 years (or over the period of the lease, if shorter)  
3 to 10 years 

Borrowing costs directly attributable to the acquisition, construction or production of qualifying assets that take a substantial period  
of time to get ready for their intended use are capitalised as part of the cost of the respective asset. 

h) Investment property 
Property held to earn rental income rather than for the purpose of the Group’s principal activities is classified as investment 
property. Investment property is recorded at cost less accumulated depreciation and any recognised impairment loss. The 
depreciation policy is consistent with that described for other Group properties. The assets’ residual values and useful lives are 
reviewed, and adjusted, if appropriate, at each balance sheet date. 

Investment properties are derecognised when either they have been disposed of or when the investment property is permanently 
withdrawn from use and no future economic benefit is expected from its disposal. The difference between the net disposal 
proceeds and the carrying amount of the asset is recognised in the consolidated income statement in the period of derecognition. 

i) Leases  
In the prior year, finance leases, which transfer to the Group substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the leased items, 
were capitalised at the commencement of the lease. Plant and equipment acquired by way of finance lease was stated at an 
amount equal to the lower of its fair value and the present value of the minimum lease payments at inception of the lease, less 
accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. The capital elements of future obligations under finance lease and hire purchase 
contracts were included as liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet. Lease payments were apportioned between the finance 
charge and reduction of the finance lease liability so as to achieve a constant rate of interest on the remaining balance of the 
liability. Finance charges were charged directly against income. Capitalised lease assets were depreciated over the shorter of the 
estimated useful life of the asset or the lease term. All other leases are treated as operating leases and the cost was expensed to 
the consolidated income statement as incurred. 

The Group applied IFRS 16 on 1 January 2019, recognising right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for most leases (unless the lease 
term is 12 months or less or the underlying asset has a low value). 

The Group recognises a lease liability at the lease commencement date (or on initial application), measured as the present value  
of the future lease payments, discounted at the incremental borrowing rate. A corresponding right-of-use asset is recognised 
separately on the face of the consolidated balance sheet, net of accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. For leases 
recognised on initial application, the right-of-use asset is initially measured at either the carrying amount if IFRS 16 had always  
been applied, or an amount equal to the initially recognised lease liability. Depreciation of right-of-use assets are recognised on  
a straight-line basis over the lease term. 

The Group has applied judgement to determine the lease term for contracts that include renewal options. The assessment of 
whether the exercise of such options is reasonably certain impacts the lease term, which significantly affects the amount of lease 
liability and right-of-use asset recognised. 

j) Government grants  
Government grants relating to non-current assets are treated as deferred income and credited to the consolidated income 
statement by equal instalments over the anticipated useful lives of the assets to which the grants relate. Other grants are credited 
to the consolidated income statement over the period of the project to which they relate.  

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Financial statements 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

2 Summary of significant accounting policies continued 
k) Goodwill  
Goodwill arising on the acquisition of a business, representing the difference between the cost of acquisition and the fair value  
of the identifiable net assets acquired, is capitalised and is tested annually for impairment. Goodwill is not amortised, and any 
impairment losses are not subsequently reversed. The net book value of goodwill at the date of transition to IFRS has been treated 
as deemed cost. On the subsequent disposal or discontinuance of a previously acquired business, the relevant goodwill is dealt with 
in the consolidated income statement except for the goodwill already charged to reserves.  

Negative goodwill arising on the acquisition of a business is credited to the consolidated income statement on acquisition as part  
of acquisition costs reported outside underlying profit. 

l) Other intangible assets 
Intangible assets acquired as part of a business combination are stated in the consolidated balance sheet at their fair value at the 
date of acquisition less accumulated amortisation.  

Expenditure on research activities undertaken with the prospect of gaining new scientific or technical knowledge and understanding 
is recognised in the consolidated income statement as incurred. Expenditure on development activities, whereby research findings 
are applied to a plan or design for the production of new or substantially improved products and processes, is capitalised if the 
product or process is technically and commercially feasible and the Group has sufficient resources to complete development. The 
expenditure capitalised includes the cost of materials, direct labour and an appropriate proportion of overheads. Other development 
expenditure is recognised in the consolidated income statement as incurred. Capitalised development expenditure is stated at cost 
less accumulated amortisation and impairment losses. The carrying values of intangible assets are tested for impairment whenever 
there is an indication that they may be impaired.  

Acquired computer software licences for use within the Group are capitalised as an intangible asset on the basis of the costs 
incurred to acquire and bring to use the specific software. Costs that are directly associated with the implementation of identifiable 
and unique software products controlled by the Group, and that will probably generate economic benefits exceeding costs  
beyond one year, are recognised as intangible assets. Capitalised software development expenditure is stated at cost less 
accumulated amortisation. 

The amortisation rates for intangible assets are: 

Acquired patents and licences  
Product development costs  
Customer relationships  
Order backlog 
Software  

up to 10 years  
5 years  
3 to 15 years  
up to 2 years 
3 to 5 years 

Amortisation is charged on a straight-line basis.  

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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

2 Summary of significant accounting policies continued 
m) Deferred taxation  
Deferred taxation is provided on taxable temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities in the 
financial statements and their corresponding tax bases. No provision is made for deferred tax which would become payable on  
the distribution of retained profits by overseas subsidiaries where the timing of the reversal of the temporary difference can be 
controlled and it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future. Deferred tax is measured using 
the tax rates expected to apply when the asset is realised, or the liability settled based on tax rates enacted or substantively enacted 
by the balance sheet date. However, deferred tax is not provided on the initial recognition of goodwill, nor on the initial recognition of 
an asset or liability unless the related transaction is a business combination or affects tax or accounting profit. 

A deferred tax asset is recognised only to the extent that it is probable that future taxable profits will be available against which  
the asset can be utilised or that they will reverse. Deferred tax assets are reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that  
the related tax benefit will be realised.  

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset if a legally enforceable right exists to set off current tax assets against current tax 
liabilities and the deferred taxes relate to the same taxable entity and the same taxation authority. 

n) Inventories  
Inventories are valued at the lower of cost, including related overheads, and net realisable value. Cost comprises direct materials 
and, where applicable, direct labour costs and the overheads incurred in bringing inventories to their present location and condition. 
Cost is calculated on a weighted average cost basis.  

o) Trade and other receivables  
Trade receivables are carried at original invoice price (which is the fair value of the consideration receivable) less provision made for 
impairment of these receivables. At each reporting date the Group makes an assessment of credit risk by considering reasonable 
and supportable information that may indicate increases in credit risk. The amount of credit risk provision is the difference between 
the original carrying amount and the recoverable amount, being the present value of expected cash flows receivable. The amount of 
the provision is recognised in the consolidated income statement. 

p) Financial instruments 
Recognition 
The Group recognises financial assets and liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet when it becomes a party to the contractual 
provisions of the instrument. 

Financial assets and liabilities are offset and the net amount is reported in the consolidated balance sheet when there is a legally 
enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis, or realise the asset and settle 
the liability simultaneously. 

Measurement 
When financial assets and liabilities are initially recognised, they are measured at fair value being the consideration given or 
received plus directly attributable transaction costs.  

In determining estimated fair value, investments are valued at quoted bid prices on the trade date.  

Loans and receivables comprise loans and advances other than purchased loans. Originated loans and receivables are initially 
recognised in accordance with the policy stated above and subsequently remeasured at amortised cost using the effective interest 
method. Allowance for impairment is estimated on a case-by-case basis. 

The Group uses derivative financial instruments such as forward foreign exchange contracts and interest rate derivatives to hedge 
risks associated with foreign exchange fluctuations and interest rate risk. These are designated as cash flow hedges. At the 
inception of the hedge relationship, the Group documents the relationship between the hedging instrument and the hedged item, 
along with its risk management objectives and its strategy for undertaking various hedge transactions. Furthermore, at the 
inception of the hedge and on an ongoing basis, the Group documents whether the hedging instrument that is used in a hedging 
relationship is highly effective in offsetting changes in cash flows of the hedged item. 

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as cash flow hedges are deferred  
in equity. The gain or loss relating to the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in the consolidated income statement. 

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Financial statementsFinancial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

2 Summary of significant accounting policies continued 
Amounts deferred in equity are recycled in the consolidated income statement in the periods when the hedged item is recognised  
in the consolidated income statement, in the same line of the consolidated income statement as the recognised hedged item. 
However, when the forecast transaction that is hedged results in the recognition of a non-financial asset or a non-financial liability, 
the gains and losses previously deferred in equity are transferred from equity and included in the initial measurement of the cost of 
the asset or liability. 

Hedge accounting is discontinued when the Group revokes the hedging relationship, the hedging instrument expires or is sold, 
terminated, or exercised, or no longer qualifies for hedge accounting. Any cumulative gain or loss deferred in equity at that time 
remains in equity and is recognised when the forecast transaction is ultimately recognised in the consolidated income statement. 
When a forecast transaction is no longer expected to occur, the cumulative gain or loss that was deferred in equity is recognised 
immediately in the consolidated income statement. 

Derecognition 
A financial asset is derecognised when the Group loses control over the contractual rights that comprise that asset. This occurs 
when the rights are realised, expire or are surrendered. A financial liability is derecognised when it is extinguished. Originated loans 
and receivables are derecognised on the date they are transferred by the Group. 

Impairment of financial assets 
The Group assesses credit risk at each balance sheet date by considering reasonable and supportable information that may 
indicate whether a financial asset or group of financial assets is impaired. 

q) Cash and cash equivalents  
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash at bank and in hand, short-term deposits held on call or with maturities of less than  
three months at inception and highly liquid investments that are readily convertible into known amounts of cash and are subject  
to insignificant risk of changes in value, and bank overdrafts.  

r) Borrowings  
Borrowings are initially recognised at the fair value of the consideration received less directly attributable transaction costs.  
After initial recognition, borrowings are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method. 

s) Trade payables  
Trade payables are carried at the amounts expected to be paid to counterparties.  

t) Income tax 
Income tax for the year comprises current and deferred tax. Income tax is recognised in the consolidated income statement  
except to the extent that it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case it is recognised in equity.  
Current tax expense is the expected tax payable on the taxable income for the year and any adjustment to tax payable in respect  
of previous years. 

u) Provisions 
Provisions are recognised when the Group has a present obligation (legal or constructive) as a result of a past event, and it is 
probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation and a reliable estimate can be made of the amount.  
If the effect of the time value of money is material, provisions are determined by discounting the expected future cash flows at  
a pre-tax rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and, where appropriate, the risks specific to  
the liability. Where discounting is used, the increase in the provision due to the passage of time is recognised as a finance cost. 

v) Employee benefits 
The Group operates defined benefit post-retirement benefit schemes and defined contribution pension schemes. 

Defined contribution plans 
A defined contribution plan is a post-employment benefit plan under which an entity pays fixed contributions into a separate  
entity and will have no legal or constructive obligation to pay further amounts. Obligations for contributions to defined  
contribution pension plans are recognised in the consolidated income statement in the periods during which services are  
rendered by employees.  

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Financial statements 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

2 Summary of significant accounting policies continued 
Defined benefit plans 
The liability recognised in the consolidated balance sheet for defined benefit schemes is the present value of the schemes’ liabilities 
less the fair value of the schemes’ assets. The operating and financing costs of defined benefit schemes are recognised separately 
in the consolidated income statement. Operating costs comprise the current service cost, any gains or losses on settlement or 
curtailments, and past service costs. Net interest income and expense on net defined benefit assets and liabilities is determined by 
applying discount rates used to measure defined benefit obligations at the beginning of the year to net defined benefit assets and 
liabilities at the beginning of the year and is included in finance income and costs. Remeasurements arising from defined benefit 
plans comprise actuarial gains and losses, the return on plan assets (excluding interest) and the effect of the asset ceiling (if any, 
excluding interest). The Group recognises them immediately in other comprehensive income and all other expenses related to 
defined benefit plans in employee benefit expenses in profit or loss. Surpluses are recognised where, on wind-up the Group has 
unconditional right to any surplus and Trustees do not have unilateral power to alter members’ benefits. 

Termination benefits 
Termination benefits are recognised as an expense when the Group is committed demonstrably, without realistic possibility of 
withdrawal, to a formal detailed plan to either terminate employment before the normal retirement date, or to provide termination 
benefits as a result of an offer made to encourage voluntary redundancy. Termination benefits for voluntary redundancies are 
recognised as an expense if the Group has made an offer of voluntary redundancy, it is probable that the offer will be accepted,  
and the number of acceptances can be estimated reliably.  

Short-term employee benefits 
Short-term employee benefit obligations are measured on an undiscounted basis and are expensed as the related service is 
provided. A liability is recognised for the amount expected to be paid under short-term cash bonus or profit-sharing plans if the 
Group has a present legal or constructive obligation to pay this amount as a result of past service provided by the employee,  
and the obligation can be estimated reliably. 

Share-based payments  
Certain employees of the Group receive part of their remuneration in the form of share-based payment transactions, whereby 
employees render services in exchange for shares or rights over shares (equity-settled transactions). The cost of equity-settled 
transactions with employees is measured at fair value at the date at which they are granted. The fair value of share awards with 
market-related vesting conditions is determined by an external consultant and the fair value at the grant date is expensed on a 
straight-line basis over the vesting period based on the Group’s estimate of shares that will eventually vest. The estimate of the 
number of awards likely to vest is reviewed at each balance sheet date up to the vesting date at which point the estimate is 
adjusted to reflect the actual outcome of awards which have vested. No adjustment is made to the fair value after the vesting  
date even if the awards are forfeited or not exercised. 

w) Own shares 
Own equity instruments which are re-acquired (own shares) are recognised at cost and deducted from equity. No gain or loss  
is recognised in the consolidated income statement on the purchase, sale, issue or cancellation of the Group’s own equity 
instruments. Any difference between the carrying amount and the consideration paid to acquire such equity instruments is 
recognised within equity. 

x) Foreign currency translation 
The functional currency for each entity in the Group is determined with reference to the currency of the primary economic 
environment in which it operates. Transactions in currencies other than the functional currency are initially recorded at the 
functional currency rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are 
retranslated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Exchange gains and losses on settlement of foreign currency 
transactions translated at the rate prevailing at the date of the transactions, or the translation of monetary assets and liabilities  
at period end exchange rates, are taken to the income statement. Non-monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign 
currencies that are stated at historical cost are translated to the functional currency at the foreign exchange rate ruling at the  
date of the transaction. 

On consolidation, income statements of subsidiaries are translated into sterling at average rates of exchange. Balance sheet items 
are translated into sterling at period end exchange rates. Exchange differences on the retranslation are taken to equity. Exchange 
differences on foreign currency borrowings financing those net investments are also dealt with in equity and are reported in the 
statement of comprehensive income. All other exchange differences are charged or credited to the income statement in the year in 
which they arise. On disposal of an overseas subsidiary any cumulative exchange movements relating to that subsidiary held in the 
translation reserve are transferred to the consolidated income statement.  

124 
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Financial statementsFinancial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

3 Segmental reporting 
The Group is organised into three divisions, as shown below, according to the nature of the products and services provided. Each  
of these divisions represents an operating segment in accordance with IFRS 8 Operating segments and there is no aggregation of 
segments. The chief operating decision maker is the Board of Directors. The operating segments are: 

•  Power and Connectivity – The Power and Connectivity division designs and manufactures power application products and 
connectivity devices which enable the capture and wireless transfer of data. We collaborate with our customers to develop 
innovative solutions to optimise their electronic systems;  

•  Global Manufacturing Solutions – The Global Manufacturing Solutions division provides manufacturing services and engineering 
solutions for our product divisions and to customers that often require a lower volume and higher mix of different products. We 
manufacture complex integrated product assemblies for our customers and provide engineering services including designing 
testing solutions and value-engineering; and 

•  Sensors and Specialist Components – The Sensors and Specialist Components division works with customers to develop 

standard and customised solutions including sensors and power management devices. Our solutions improve the precision, 
speed and reliability of critical aspects of our customers’ applications.  

During the year management responsibility for the Kuantan, Malaysia based Magnetics business was transferred from the Sensors 
and Specialist Components operating segment to the Power and Connectivity operating segment. In 2018 the Malaysian Magnetics 
business generated revenue of £17.5 million and underlying operating profit of £2.8 million.  

The key performance measure of the operating segments is underlying operating profit. Refer to note 8 for a definition of underlying 
operating profit.  

Corporate costs – Resources and costs of the head office managed centrally but deployed in support of the operating units are 
allocated to segments based on a combination of revenue and operating profit. Resources and costs of the head office which are 
not related to the operating activities of the trading units are not allocated to divisions and are separately disclosed, equivalent to 
the segment disclosure information, so that reporting is consistent with the format that is used for review by the chief operating 
decision maker. This gives greater transparency of the underlying operating profits for each segment. 

The accounting policies of the reportable segments are the same as the Group’s accounting policies as shown in note 2. 

Group financing (including finance costs and finance income) and income taxes are managed on a Group basis and are not 
allocated to operating segments. 

Goodwill is allocated to the individual cash generating units which may be smaller than the segment of which they are part. 

a) Income statement information – continuing operations 

Power and 
Connectivity 

Global 
Manufacturing 
Solutions 

Sensors and 
Specialist 
Components 

Total Operating 
Segments 

138.2 

16.5 

213.2 

15.4 

126.8 

15.3 

478.2 
47.2 

Corporate 

– 
(7.2) 

£million 

Sales to external customers 

Underlying operating profit  

Adjustments to underlying operating 
profit (note 8) 

Operating profit 

Net finance costs 

Profit before taxation 

2019 

Total 

478.2 

40.0 

(21.2) 

18.8 

(3.7) 

15.1 

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125 
125

Financial statements 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
20181 

Total 

429.5 

33.4 

(16.9) 

16.5 

(1.9) 

14.6 

Liabilities 
20181 

23.3 

47.3 

18.0 

88.6 

8.4 

114.3 

211.3 

Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

3 Segmental reporting continued 

£million 

Sales to external customers 

Underlying operating profit  

Adjustments to underlying operating 
profit (note 8) 

Operating profit 

Net finance costs 

Profit before taxation 

Power and 
Connectivity 

Global 
Manufacturing 
Solutions 

Sensors and 
Specialist 
Components 

115.5 

11.2 

181.8 

11.3 

132.2 

18.5 

Total 
Operating 
Segments 

429.5 

41.0 

Corporate 

– 

(7.6) 

1  Restated for the transfer of the Malaysian Magnetics business from the Sensors and Specialist Components division to the Power and Connectivity division. 

There are no significant sales between segments. 

b) Segment assets and liabilities 

£million 

Power and Connectivity 

Global Manufacturing Solutions 

Sensors and Specialist Components 

Segment assets and liabilities 

Pensions 

Unallocated  

Total assets/liabilities 

£million 

Power and Connectivity 

Global Manufacturing Solutions 

Sensors and Specialist Components 

Total 

2019 

172.7 

128.1 

122.8 

423.6 

21.2 

82.0 

526.8 

2019 

4.9 

5.2 

9.0 

19.1 

Assets 
20181 

126.0 

111.0 

124.8 

361.8 

24.9 

104.1 

490.8 

2019 

26.0 

68.8 

23.0 

117.8 

4.6 

135.5 

257.9 

Capital expenditure 
20181 

Depreciation and amortisation 
20181 

2019 

6.1 

3.5 

9.5 

19.1 

4.9 

5.2 

7.9 

18.0 

3.5 

3.5 

6.6 

13.6 

1  Restated for the transfer of the Malaysian Magnetics business from the Sensors and Specialist Components division to the Power and Connectivity division. 

Unallocated assets of £82.0 million (2018: £104.1 million) comprise deferred tax of £7.5 million (2018: £6.1 million), cash of  
£60.2 million (2018: £40.6 million) and income tax of £4.3 million (2018: £1.6 million), assets associated with the central corporate 
function of £10.0 million (2018: £9.5 million) and goodwill and intangibles recognised on the acquisition of Stadium Group plc of 
£nil (2018: £46.3 million). 

Unallocated liabilities of £135.5 million (2018: £114.3 million) comprise borrowings (excluding leases) of £111.7 million (2018: 
borrowings (including finance leases) of £82.3 million), deferred tax of £4.6 million (2018: £4.8 million), income tax of £8.0 million 
(2018: £13.2 million) and liabilities associated with the central corporate function of £11.2 million (2018: £14.0 million). 

126 
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Financial statements 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

3 Segmental reporting continued 
c) Geographic information 
Revenue by destination 
The Group operates on a global basis. Revenue from external customers by geographical destination is shown below. Management 
monitor and review revenue by region rather than by individual country given the significant number of countries where customers 
are based. 

£million 

United Kingdom 

Rest of Europe 

North America 

Central and South America 

Asia 

Rest of the World 

Total continuing operations 

2019 

139.4 

89.6 

141.7 

0.6 

103.1 

3.8 

478.2 

2018 

122.4 

79.8 

121.9 

1.1 

100.7 

3.6 

429.5 

No individual customer directly accounts for more than 10% of Group revenue. Revenue from services is less than 1% of Group 
revenues. All other revenue is from the sale of goods. 

Non-current assets 
The carrying amount of non-current assets, excluding deferred tax assets and pensions, analysed by the geographical area is 
shown below: 

£million 

United Kingdom 

Rest of Europe 

North America 

Central and South America 

Asia 

d) Market information 
Revenue by market 
The Group operates in the following markets. 

£million 

Transportation 

Aerospace and defence 

Industrial 

Medical 

2019 

126.7 

0.5 

106.5 

4.7 

12.9 

251.3 

2019 

54.5 

106.7 

201.2 

115.8 

478.2 

2018 

122.7 

0.1 

107.3 

3.6 

10.9 

244.6 

2018 

51.2 

80.4 

205.4 

92.5 

429.5 

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127 
127

Financial statements 
 
  
  
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

4 Acquisitions 
On 22 March 2019 the Group acquired the entire equity share capital of Power Partners Inc. for an initial cash consideration of  
$1.6 million (£1.2 million). An additional $1.3 million (£1.0 million) may become payable subject to business performance over  
the next two years, of which £1.0 million has been accrued at year end giving total consideration of £2.2 million. From the date  
of acquisition to the year end the business generated revenue of £3.3 million and operating profit of £0.5 million. 

The provisional fair value of the net assets acquired were £1.3 million, including identifiable intangible assets of £0.8 million and 
other assets of £0.5 million, resulting in goodwill recognised on acquisition of £0.9 million.  

The acquisition enhances our technology capabilities in power products and improves our medical market access accelerating  
our organic technology roadmap and US medical market presence. The goodwill recognised on acquisition represents the Group’s 
view of the future earnings growth potential of the acquired businesses. The provisional fair values are based on the information 
currently available; if new information obtained within one year of the date of acquisition about facts and circumstances that 
existed at the date of acquisition identifies adjustments to the above amounts, or any additional provisions that existed at the  
date of acquisition, then the accounting for the acquisition will be revised. 

Had the acquisition been completed on 1 January, the full year revenue and underlying operating profit would have been  
£487.5 million and £40.1 million respectively, compared to £487.2 million and £40.0 million as reported.  

On 17 April 2018 the Group acquired the entire equity share capital of Stadium Group plc for £45.8 million in cash and assumed  
net debt of £13.9 million. On 1 June 2018 the Group acquired the entire equity share capital of Precision Inc. for an initial cash 
consideration of $23.5 million (£17.6 million), a further $0.5 million (£0.4 million) working capital adjustment paid in cash. An 
additional $1.1 million (£0.8 million) was due based on business performance and was settled in cash in February 2019. The 
measurement periods closed on 17 April 2019 and 1 June 2019 with no further adjustment to provisional fair values shown below: 

£million 

Non-current assets 

Property, plant and equipment 

Identifiable intangible assets 

Deferred tax assets 

Current assets/(liabilities) 

Inventory 

Trade and other receivables 

Cash/(overdraft) 

Borrowings – current 

Trade and other payables 

Income taxes payable 

Provisions – current 

Non-current liabilities 

Pensions 

Deferred tax liability 

Consideration paid 

Cash 

Deferred consideration 

Goodwill 

Stadium Group plc 

Precision Inc 

4.1 

22.1 

2.3 

14.6 

13.1 
(3.6) 

(10.3) 

(14.3) 
(0.1) 

(0.9) 

(4.5) 

(4.0) 

18.5 

45.8 

– 

27.3 

1.2 

8.2 

– 

2.0 

2.9 

0.4 

– 
(2.1) 

– 

– 

– 

– 
12.6 

18.0 

0.8 

6.2 

The acquisitions accelerate the Group’s strategy of building leading positions where increasing electrification is fuelling the demand 
for the Group’s highly engineered electronic solutions. The goodwill recognised on acquisition represents the Group’s view of the 
future earnings growth potential and the technical know-how in the acquired businesses. 

128 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

5 Discontinued operations 
The profit from discontinued operations shown in the consolidated income statement relates to release of tax and divestment 
provisions of £3.4 million (2018: £0.4 million) held in respect of disposals completed in earlier years. The net cash flow from 
discontinued operations included in the consolidated cash flow statement is shown below: 

£million 

Disposal of subsidiaries 

Tax arising on disposal of subsidiaries  

Net cash flow 

6 Finance costs and finance income 
£million 

Interest income 

Interest income on pension surplus 

Finance income 

Interest expense 

Interest on lease liabilities 

Interest expense on pension liabilities 

Amortisation of arrangement fees 

Finance costs 

Net finance costs 

7 Profit for the year 
Profit from continuing operations for the year is stated after charging/(crediting): 

£million 

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 

Depreciation of right-of-use assets 
Amortisation of intangible assets1 
Net foreign exchange losses/(gains) 

Cost of inventories recognised as an expense 

Research and development 

Staff costs (see note 12) 

Acquisition and disposal related costs (excluded from underlying operating profit) 

Remuneration of Group Auditors: 

– audit of these financial statements 

– audit of financial statements of subsidiaries of the Company 
– assurance services2 
Government grants credited 

Share-based payments 

Profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment (excluded from underlying operating profit) 

2019 

– 

(1.2) 

(1.2) 

2018 

1.5 

(2.9) 

(1.4) 

2019 

2018 

0.1 

0.8 

0.9 

3.0 

1.0 

0.2 

0.4 

4.6 

3.7 

2019 

10.4 

3.5 

8.6 

2.5 

361.4 

11.5 

135.6 

3.6 

0.5 

0.6 

0.1 

0.1 

2.9 

– 

0.1 

0.4 

0.5 

1.8 

– 

0.2 

0.4 

2.4 

1.9 

2018 

9.8 

– 

8.6 

(1.4) 

318.8 

10.2 

126.9 

7.2 

0.3 

0.6 

– 

0.1 

3.1 

3.6 

Included within amortisation of intangible assets is £4.5 million (2018: £4.8 million) reported within items excluded from underlying operating profit.  

1 
2  Assurance services of £60 thousand related to the half-year review (2018: £42 thousand comprising £39 thousand relating to the half-year review and £3 thousand for assistance with 

a UK grant review).  

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

129 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

8 Alternative performance measures 
These financial statements include alternative performance measures that are not prepared in accordance with IFRS. These 
alternative performance measures have been selected by management to assist them in making operating decisions because  
they represent the underlying operating performance of the Group and facilitate internal comparisons of performance over time.  

Alternative performance measures are presented in these financial statements as management believes they provide investors  
with a means of evaluating performance of the Group on a consistent basis, similar to the way in which management evaluates 
performance, that is not otherwise apparent on an IFRS basis, given that certain non-recurring, infrequent or non-cash items that 
management does not believe are indicative of the underlying operating performance of the Group are included when preparing 
financial measures under IFRS. 

These non-IFRS measures should not be considered in isolation from, as substitutes for, or superior to financial measures prepared 
in accordance with IFRS. 

The Directors recognise the following alternative performance measures: underlying operating profit, free cash flow, cash 
conversion, organic revenue growth, underlying EPS, underlying effective tax rate and return on invested capital.  

Underlying operating profit  
This has been defined as operating profit from continuing operations excluding the impacts of significant restructuring 
programmes; significant one-off items including property disposals, business acquisition, integration and divestment related 
activity; and the amortisation of intangible assets recognised on acquisition. Business acquisition and divestment related items 
include the writing off of the pre-acquisition profit element of inventory written up on acquisition, other direct costs associated  
with business combinations and adjustments to contingent consideration related to acquired businesses. Restructuring includes 
significant changes in footprint (including movement of production facilities) and significant costs of management changes. 

Costs associated with restructuring, acquisitions and disposals are uncertain with regard to their timing and size and therefore their 
inclusion within underlying operating profit could mislead the reader of the accounts.  

£million 

As reported 
Restructuring and other 

Restructuring 
Property items 

Pensions past service charge 

Acquisition related costs 
Release of acquisition current tax provision 

Amortisation of intangible assets arising on business combinations 
Other acquisition related costs 

Total items excluded from underlying measure 

Underlying measure 

2019 

Operating profit 

Tax 

Operating profit 

18.8 

(1.2) 

16.5 

(12.8) 

– 
(0.4) 

(13.2) 

– 
(4.5) 
(3.5) 

(8.0) 

(21.2) 

40.0 

3.0 
– 

0.1 

3.1 

– 

1.0 
0.5 

1.5 

4.6 

(5.8) 

(2.7) 
3.6 

(5.8) 

(4.9) 

– 

(4.8) 
(7.2) 

(12.0) 

(16.9) 

33.4 

2018 

Tax 

(1.6) 

0.4 
– 

1.1 

1.5 

0.6 

1.2 
0.4 

2.2 

3.7 

(5.3) 

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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

8 Alternative performance measures continued 
Restructuring £13.2 million (2018: £4.9 million) 
In the year ended 31 December 2019 total restructuring costs amounted to £13.2 million of which £8.7 million related to ongoing 
restructuring of the footprint of the Sensors and Specialist Components division (comprising impairment of right-of-use assets, 
property, plant and equipment resulting from the planned closure of one of our facilities in Mexicali, Mexico (£3.9 million) and the 
closure of our office in Brea, California (£0.3 million) and £4.5 million of other costs), £2.1 million to restructuring the site footprint 
acquired with the Stadium Group, £1.2 million to restructuring the site footprint of the Power and Connectivity division, £0.8 million 
for other restructuring and £0.4 million to a pension past service charge as a result of UK pensions schemes having to equalise 
male and female members’ benefits in respect of guaranteed minimum pensions (‘GMP’). 

In the year ended 31 December 2018 total restructuring costs amounted to £4.9 million of which £2.7 million related to costs 
associated with site restructuring, a profit arising on the sale of property (£3.6 million) and a pension past service charge  
(£5.8 million) as a result of UK pensions schemes having to equalise male and female members’ benefits in respect of guaranteed 
minimum pensions.  

Acquisition and disposal related costs £8.0 million (2018: £12.0 million) 
In the year ended 31 December 2019 acquisition and disposal related costs amounted to £8.0 million which comprises £4.5 million 
of amortisation of acquired intangible assets and £3.5 million of other acquisition related costs largely relating to the integration  
of Stadium Group plc and Precision Inc., the acquisition of Power Partners Inc. and the acquisition of the aerospace and defence 
power supply business of Excelitas Technologies Corporation. 

In the year ended 31 December 2018 acquisition and disposal related costs amounted to £12.0 million which comprises  
£4.8 million of amortisation of acquired intangible assets and £7.2 million of other acquisition related costs derived primarily  
from the acquisitions of Stadium Group plc and Precision Inc. 

Free cash flow 
This has been defined as net cash flow from operating activities less cash flow from investing activities (excluding acquisitions and 
disposal proceeds and tax arising thereon) less interest paid. 

£million 

Net cash flow from operating activities 
Net cash flow from investing activities 
Add back: Acquisition of business 
Add back: Dividends paid by subsidiary to former shareholders 
Add back: Cash with acquired businesses 
Add back: Disposal of subsidiaries 
Add back: Tax arising from disposal of subsidiaries 
Payment of lease liabilities previously reported as operating leases 

Interest paid 

Free cash flow 

2019 

35.9 
(21.6) 
2.4 
– 
(0.1) 
– 
1.2 
(4.0) 

(4.1) 

9.7 

2018 

25.1 
(84.2) 
63.9 
0.8 
3.2 
(1.5) 
2.9 
– 

(1.7) 

8.5 

Cash conversion 
This is the underlying operating cash flow post capex (underlying EBITDA less net capital expenditure (excluding property 
disposals), capitalised development expenditure, working capital and non-cash movements) divided by underlying operating profit. 
Cash conversion measures how effectively we convert profit into cash and tracks the management of our working capital and 
capital expenditure. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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131 
131

Financial statements 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

8 Alternative performance measures continued 
£million 

Underlying operating profit  

Underlying operating cash flow  
Purchase of property, plant and equipment 

Proceeds from sale of plant and equipment and grants received 
Development expenditure 

Purchase of other intangibles 

Underlying operating cash flow post capex 

Cash conversion 

2019 

40.0 

57.4 
(14.0) 

0.4 
(3.9) 

(0.7) 

39.2 

98% 

2018 

33.4 

48.4 
(13.4) 

0.3 
(3.7) 

(2.1) 

29.5 

88% 

Organic revenue growth 
This is the percentage change in revenue from continuing operations in the current year compared to the prior year, excluding the 
effects of currency movements and acquisitions. This measures the underlying growth of the business. 

£million 

2019 revenue 
Acquisitions 

2019 revenue (excluding acquisitions) 

2018 revenue 

Foreign exchange impact 
2018 revenue at 2019 exchange rates 

Organic revenue growth (%) 

Power and 
Connectivity 

Global 
Manufacturing 
Solutions 

Sensors and 
Specialist 
Components 

138.2 
(19.5) 

118.7 
115.5 

1.2 
116.7 

2% 

213.2 
(6.3) 

206.9 

181.8 

2.2 
184.0 
12% 

126.8 

– 
126.8 

132.2 

4.2 
136.4 

(7%) 

Total 

478.2 

(25.8) 
452.4 

429.5 

7.6 
437.1 

4% 

Underlying earnings per share 
This is the profit for the year attributable to the owners of the Company adjusted to exclude the items not included within underlying 
operating profit divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year. Underlying EPS is a standard metric to 
determine corporate profitability for shareholders and it is a measure used as one of the performance conditions in the Group’s 
Long-term Incentive Plan. See note 11 for the calculation of underlying earnings per share. 

Underlying effective tax rate 
This is defined as the tax charge adjusted to exclude items not included within underlying operating profit and other non-underlying 
tax items divided by underlying profit before tax, which is also adjusted to exclude the items not included within underlying 
operating profit.  

£million 

Underlying profit 
Net interest 

Underlying profit before tax 
Underlying tax 
Underlying effective tax rate 

2019 

40.0 
(3.7) 

36.3 
5.8 
16.0% 

2018 

33.4 
(1.9) 

31.5 
5.3 
16.8% 

Return on invested capital 
This is defined as underlying operating profit for the year divided by average invested capital for the year. Average invested capital 
excludes pensions, provisions, tax balances, derivative financial assets and liabilities, cash and borrowings. This measures how 
efficiently assets are utilised to generate returns with the target of exceeding the cost to hold the assets. 

£million 

Underlying profit 

Average invested capital 
Return on invested capital 

2019 

40.0 

354.0 
11.3% 

20191 

39.2 
338.6 

11.6% 

2018 

33.4 

289.8 
11.5% 

1  Amounts adjusted for the impact of IFRS 16 (underlying operating profit is adjusted to remove right-of-use asset depreciation and add back IAS17 operating lease rentals. Invested 

capital excludes right-of-use assets). 

132 
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Financial statements  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

9 Taxation 
a) Analysis of the tax charge for the year 
£million 

Current tax  
Current income tax charge 

Adjustments in respect of current income tax of previous year 

Total current tax charge 

Deferred tax 
Relating to origination and reversal of temporary differences 
Change in tax rate 
Recognition of previously unrecognised deferred tax assets 

Total deferred tax charge/(credit) 

Total tax charge in the income statement – continuing operations 

2019 

2018 

3.7 

(3.1) 

0.6 

1.4 
0.1 
(0.9) 

0.6 

1.2 

6.3 

(2.9) 

3.4 

(1.3) 
0.1 
(0.6) 

(1.8) 

1.6 

UK tax is calculated at 19% (2018: 19%) of taxable profits. Overseas tax is calculated at the tax rates prevailing in the relevant 
countries. The Group’s effective tax rate for the year from continuing operations was 7.9% (the underlying tax rate was 16.0%,  
see note 8).  

Included within the total tax charge above is a £4.6 million credit relating to items reported outside underlying profit  
(2018: £3.7 million). 

b) Reconciliation of the total tax charge for the year 
£million 

Profit before tax from continuing operations 

Profit before tax multiplied by the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK of 19% (2018: 19%) 
Effects of: 

Impact on deferred tax arising from changes in tax rates 
Overseas tax rate differences 

Items not deductible for tax purposes or income not taxable 
Adjustment to current tax in respect of prior periods 

Recognition of previously unrecognised deferred tax assets 
Current year tax losses and other items not recognised 

Total tax charge reported in the income statement  

2019 

15.1 

2.9 

0.1 
1.0 

1.6 
(3.1) 

(0.9) 
(0.4) 

1.2 

2018 

14.6 

2.8 

0.1 
1.2 

1.2 
(2.9) 

(0.6) 
(0.2) 

1.6 

The enacted UK corporation tax rate applicable from 1 April 2017 is 19% and from 1 April 2020 is 17%. 

The adjustment to current tax in respect of prior periods largely relates to the release of tax provisions in respect of concluded 
disputes and uncertainties. 

The overall aim of the Group’s tax strategy is to support business operations by ensuring a sustainable tax rate, mitigating tax risks 
in a timely and cost-efficient way and complying with tax legislation in the jurisdictions in which the Group operates. It is however 
inevitable that the Group will be subject to routine tax audits or is in ongoing disputes with tax authorities in the multiple 
jurisdictions it operates within. This is much more likely to arise in situations involving more than one tax jurisdiction. Differences in 
interpretation of legislation (e.g. EU Law), of global standards (e.g. OECD guidance) and of commercial transactions undertaken by 
the Group between different tax authorities are one of the main causes of tax exposures and tax risks for the Group.  

In order to manage the risk to the Group an assessment is made of such tax exposures and provisions are created using the best 
estimate of the most likely amount to be incurred within a range of possible outcomes. The resolution of the Group's tax exposures 
can take a considerable period of time to conclude and, in some circumstances, it can be difficult to predict the final outcome. 

The Group’s current tax liability at 31 December 2019 includes tax provisions of £7.3 million (2018: £10.9 million). The Group 
believes the range of possible outcomes is tax liabilities of £5.4 million (2018: £7.4 million) to £7.4 million (2018: £11.4 million). 

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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

9 Taxation continued 
c) Deferred tax 
The amounts of deferred taxation assets/(liabilities) provided in the financial statements are as follows: 

£million 

Intangible assets 
Property, plant and equipment 

Deferred development costs 
Retirement benefit obligations 

Inventories 
Provisions 

Tax losses 
Unremitted overseas earnings 

Share-based payments 
Short-term timing differences 

Net deferred tax asset 

Deferred tax assets 
Deferred tax liabilities 

Net deferred tax asset 

£million 

Intangible assets 
Property, plant and equipment 

Deferred development costs 
Retirement benefit obligations 

Inventories 
Provisions 

Tax losses 
Unremitted overseas earnings 

Share-based payments 
Short-term timing differences 

Net deferred tax asset 

Deferred tax assets 
Deferred tax liabilities 

Net deferred tax asset 

At 31 
December 
2018 

Impact of 
adoption 
of IFRS 16 

Adjusted 
balance at  
1 January 2019 

Continuing 
operations 

Recognised 
on 
acquisition 

Recognised 
in equity/ 
OCI 

Net 
exchange 
translation 

As at 31 
December 
2019 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
0.8 

0.8 

(9.5) 

2.1 
(1.1) 
(2.8) 

1.0 
4.0 

2.8 
(1.2) 

1.3 
4.7 

1.3 

6.1 
(4.8) 

1.3 

(9.5) 
2.1 

(1.1) 

(2.8) 
1.0 
4.0 

2.8 

(1.2) 
1.3 

5.5 

2.1 

0.7 
(0.4) 

0.2 
(1.5) 

0.5 
0.1 

1.0 
(0.5) 

(0.1) 
(0.6) 

(0.6) 

(0.2) 

– 
– 

– 
– 
– 

– 

– 

– 
– 
(0.2) 

– 
– 
– 

1.7 

– 
– 
– 

– 

0.1 
– 

1.8 

– 

0.2 

(0.1) 
0.1 

– 
(0.2) 

(0.2) 
– 

– 
– 

(0.2) 

(9.0) 
1.9 
(1.0) 

(2.5) 
1.5 

3.9 

3.6 
(1.7) 
1.3 

4.9 

2.9 
7.5 

(4.6) 
2.9 

As at 1 January 
2018 

Continuing 
operations 

Recognised 
on 
acquisition 

Recognised 
in equity/ 
OCI 

Net 
exchange 
translation 

As at 31 
December 
2018 

(5.9) 
2.9 

(1.0) 
(2.2) 

1.0 
2.8 

0.6 
(0.9) 

2.8 
3.5 

3.6 

5.6 
(2.0) 

3.6 

0.6 
(0.8) 

(0.1) 
– 

– 
1.1 

0.9 
(0.3) 

(0.5) 
0.9 

1.8 

(4.0) 
– 

– 
0.8 

– 
0.1 

1.3 
– 

– 
0.1 

(1.7) 

– 
– 

– 
(1.6) 

– 
– 

– 
– 

(1.0) 
– 

(2.6) 

(0.2) 
– 

– 
0.2 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
0.2 

0.2 

(9.5) 
2.1 

(1.1) 
(2.8) 

1.0 
4.0 

2.8 
(1.2) 

1.3 
4.7 

1.3 

6.1 
(4.8) 

1.3 

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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

9 Taxation continued 
At 31 December 2019, the gross amount and expiry date of losses available for carry forward are as follows: 

£million 

Losses for which a deferred tax asset has been recognised 
Losses for which no deferred tax asset has been recognised 

Deferred tax asset 

Expiring within 
5 years 

Expiring within 
6-10 years 

– 
0.5 

0.5 

– 

– 

– 

Unlimited 

12.8 

9.5 

22.3 

At 31 December 2018, the gross amount and expiry date of losses available for carry forward are as follows: 

£million 

Losses for which a deferred tax asset has been recognised 

Losses for which no deferred tax asset has been recognised 

Deferred tax asset 

Expiring within 
5 years 

Expiring within 
6-10 years 

– 

0.5 

0.5 

– 

– 

– 

Unlimited 

12.1 

9.5 

21.6 

Total 

12.8 
10.0 

22.8 

Total 

12.1 

10.0 

22.1 

At 31 December 2019, the Group had no other items for which no deferred tax assets have been recognised (2018: £nil).  

10 Dividends 

Final dividend for prior year 
Interim dividend for current year 

2019  
pence per share 

2019  
£million 

2018  
pence per share 

2018  
£million 

4.55 
2.10 

6.65 

7.4 

3.4 

10.8 

4.05 
1.95 

6.00 

6.6 
3.1 

9.7 

The Directors recommend a final dividend of 4.9 pence per share which when combined with the interim dividend of 2.1 pence per 
share gives a total dividend for the year of 7.0 pence per share. The Group has a progressive dividend policy. The final dividend will 
be paid on 15 May 2020 to shareholders on the register on 24 April 2020. 

11 Earnings per share 
Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to owners of the Company by the weighted average number 
of shares in issue during the year.  

Underlying earnings per share is based on the underlying profit after interest and tax. 

Pence 

Basic earnings per share 
Continuing operations 
Discontinued operations 

Total 

Pence 

Diluted earnings per share 
Continuing operations 
Discontinued operations 

Total 

2019 

2018 

8.5 
2.1 

10.6 

8.0 
0.3 

8.3 

2019 

2018 

8.4 
2.0 

10.4 

7.8 
0.3 

8.1 

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Financial statements 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

11 Earnings per share continued 
The numbers used in calculating underlying, basic and diluted earnings per share are shown below.  

Underlying earnings per share: 

£million 

Continuing operations 
Profit for the year attributable to owners of the Company 
Restructuring and other 
Acquisition related costs 
Tax effect of above items (see note 8) 

Underlying earnings 

Underlying earnings per share (pence) 
Diluted underlying earnings per share (pence) 

The weighted average number of shares in issue is as follows: 

Million 

Basic 

Adjustment for share awards 

Diluted 

2019 

2018 

13.9 
13.2 
8.0 
(4.6) 

30.5 

18.7 
18.3 

2019 

163.1 

3.3 

166.4 

13.0 
4.9 
12.0 
(3.7) 

26.2 

16.2 
15.7 

2018 

161.8 

4.6 

166.4 

12 Employee information 
The average number of full time equivalent employees (including Directors) during the year from continuing operations was: 

Number 

By function 
Production 
Sales and distribution 
Administration 

By division 

Power and Connectivity 
Global Manufacturing Solutions 
Sensors and Specialist Components 

Total  

Aggregate emoluments, including those of Directors, for the year were: 

£million 

Wages and salaries 

Social security charges 
Employers’ pension costs 

Defined benefit pension costs 
Share based payments expense 

Remuneration in respect of the Directors was as follows: 

£million 

Emoluments 

2019 

2018 

4,178 
347 
288 

4,813 

1,478 
1,546 
1,789 

4,813 

2019 

105.2 

23.0 
3.5 

1.0 
2.9 

4,118 
323 
273 

4,714 

1,017 
1,391 
2,306 

4,714 

2018 

99.6 

19.9 
3.0 

1.3 
3.1 

135.6 

126.9 

2019 

2.7 

20181 

3.7 

1  Restated. See details of individual Directors’ remuneration, pension benefits and share awards shown in the Directors’ Remuneration Report on pages 91 to 98. 

136 
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Financial statements 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

12 Employee information continued 
Key management personnel 
The remuneration of key management during the year was as follows: 

£million 

Short-term benefits 
Pension and other post-employment benefit expense 
Share based payments 
Termination payments 

2019 

2018 

4.7 
0.1 
1.9 
 – 

6.7 

4.3 
0.1 
1.5 
0.1 

6.0 

In accordance with IAS 24 Related party disclosures, key management personnel are those persons having authority and 
responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the Group, directly or indirectly. Key management personnel 
comprise the Directors, Company Secretary and other members of the Executive Management Board. Their compensation is 
considered and recommended to the Board by the Remuneration Committee.  

13 Right-of-use assets 

£million 

Cost 

At 31 December 2018 
Impact of adoption of IFRS 16 

Adjusted balance at 1 January 2019 
Transfer  

Additions 
Businesses acquired 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Depreciation  
At 31 December 2018 
Impact of adoption of IFRS 16 

Adjusted balance at 1 January 2019 
Transfer  

Depreciation charge 
Impairment 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Net book value 

At 31 December 2019 

At 31 December 2018 

Land and 
buildings 

Other 

Right-of-use 
assets 

– 
31.4 

31.4 
– 

0.4 
0.2 
(0.4) 

31.6 

– 
14.3 

14.3 
– 

3.0 
2.7 
(0.2) 

19.8 

11.8 

– 

– 

0.9 

0.9 
0.5 

0.2 
– 

– 

1.6 

– 
– 

– 

0.1 

0.5 
– 

– 

0.6 

1.0 

– 

– 

32.3 

32.3 

0.5 
0.6 

0.2 

(0.4) 
33.2 

– 

14.3 

14.3 
0.1 
3.5 
2.7 

(0.2) 
20.4 

12.8 

– 

In 2019 the Group identified indicators of impairment due to the closures of our office in Brea, California (£0.3 million), a UK facility 
within IoT Solutions (£0.5 million) and the planned closure of one of our facilities in Mexicali, Mexico (£1.9 million). As a result, an 
impairment of £2.7 million was recognised within items excluded from underlying operating profit; £2.2 million within Sensors and 
Specialist Components, £0.5 million within Power and Connectivity. 

Assets with a net book value of £0.4 million previously treated as plant and equipment held under finance leases were transferred 
from property, plant and equipment. 

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Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

14 Property, plant and equipment 

£million 

Cost 
At 1 January 2018 

Additions 
Businesses acquired 

Disposals 
Transfers 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 1 January 2019 
Additions 

Disposals 
Transfer 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Depreciation and impairment 
At 1 January 2018 

Depreciation charge 
Disposals 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 1 January 2019 
Depreciation charge 

Impairment 
Disposals 

Transfer 
Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Net book value 

At 31 December 2019 

At 31 December 2018 

Land and 
buildings 

Plant and 
equipment 

Total 

191.3 

13.2 
5.3 

(9.5) 
– 

7.8 
208.1 
13.9 

(7.9) 
(0.5) 

(5.6) 

164.7 

11.4 
4.1 

(6.6) 
(0.2) 

6.8 

180.2 

11.6 
(6.6) 

(0.5) 
(4.9) 

179.8 

208.0 

136.7 

8.7 
(6.4) 

5.6 

144.6 

9.2 
0.1 

(6.4) 

(0.1) 
(3.7) 

149.5 

9.8 
(9.0) 

6.1 
156.4 
10.4 

2.0 
(7.7) 

(0.1) 
(4.1) 

143.7 

156.9 

36.1 

35.6 

51.1 

51.7 

26.6 

1.8 
1.2 

(2.9) 
0.2 

1.0 

27.9 
2.3 

(1.3) 
– 

(0.7) 

28.2 

12.8 

1.1 
(2.6) 

0.5 

11.8 
1.2 

1.9 
(1.3) 
– 

(0.4) 

13.2 

15.0 
16.1 

Included within land and buildings is an investment property with a carrying value of £0.1 million (2018: £0.1 million) and a fair value 
of £0.7 million (2018: £0.7 million). In 2019 assets with a net book value of £0.4 million previously treated as plant and equipment 
held under finance leases were transferred from property, plant and equipment. 

In 2019 the Group identified indicators of impairment due to the planned closure of one of our facilities in Mexicali, Mexico. As a 
result, an impairment of £2.0 million was recognised within items excluded from underlying operating profit. 

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Financial statements  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

15 Goodwill 
£million 

Cost 

At 1 January 2018 

Additions 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 1 January 2019 

Additions 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Goodwill is attributed to the following cash-generating units (‘CGU’) in the divisions shown below: 

£million 

Power and Connectivity: 

Power Solutions 
IoT Solutions 

Global Manufacturing Solutions: 
Global Manufacturing Solutions 

Sensors and Specialist Components: 
Variable Components 

Optoelectronics 
Roxspur 

Resistors 

100.3 

33.5 

4.1 

137.9 

0.9 

(2.7) 

136.1 

2019 

2018 

35.1 
27.6 

18.6 

28.9 

21.6 
2.1 

2.2 

35.3 
27.3 

18.3 

30.1 

22.5 
2.1 

2.3 

136.1 

137.9 

The Group tests goodwill impairment annually or more frequently if there are indications that goodwill might be impaired.  
The recoverable amounts of the CGUs are determined from value in use calculations using conservative assumptions.  
The key assumptions for the value in use calculations are those regarding the discount rates, growth rates and operating cash 
projections during the period for which management have detailed plans. Management estimate discount rates using pre-tax rates 
that reflect current market assessments of the Group’s time value of money and the risks specific to the CGU being measured. 

As part of the annual budgeting and strategic planning processes, the Group prepares cash flow forecasts for the following five 
years. The growth rate assumed after this five-year period is based on long-term GDP projections capped at long-term inflation 
rates of the primary market for the CGU, in perpetuity. In 2019 the long-term inflation rate used was 1.6% for the UK businesses, 
1.6% for the US businesses and 3.0% for the Chinese businesses (2018: 1.6% for the UK businesses, 1.4% for the US businesses 
and 3.0% for the Chinese businesses). 

The growth rates assume that demand for our products remains broadly in line with the underlying economic environment in the 
long-term future. Taking into account our expectation of future market conditions, we believe that the evolution of selling prices and 
cost measures put into place will lead to a sustained improvement in profitability. 

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Financial statements 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

15 Goodwill continued 
The pre-tax discount rates used to discount the forecast cash flows are shown below: 

Power Solutions 

IoT Solutions 

Global Manufacturing Solutions  

Variable Components 

Optoelectronics 

Roxspur 

Resistors 

2019 

11.5% 

11.7% 

12.3% 

13.8% 

13.8% 

11.4% 

12.8% 

2018 

11.1% 

– 

12.4% 

13.3% 

14.0% 

11.1% 

12.7% 

No impairment losses have been recognised in the current or prior year as recoverable amounts exceed the total carrying value of 
assets for all of the CGUs by the following amounts: 

£million 

Power Solutions 

IoT Solutions 
Global Manufacturing Solutions 

Variable Components 
Optoelectronics 

Roxspur 
Resistors 

2019 

118.7 

29.9 
148.7 

16.4 
58.1 

11.4 
21.4 

2018 

64.5 

– 
159.3 

15.7 
50.5 

15.9 
74.3 

404.6 

380.2 

A key assumption in the value in use test is the projected performance of the CGUs based on cash flow forecasts. The recoverable 
amounts associated with the goodwill balances are based on these performance projections and based on current forecast 
information do not indicate that any goodwill balance is impaired. If a company’s actual performance does not meet these 
projections this could lead to an impairment of the goodwill in future periods. 

Sensitivity analysis has been performed on the operating cash flow projections. Cash flows can be impacted by changes to sales 
projections, sales prices, direct costs and replacement capital expenditure.  

The Directors have not identified changes in significant assumptions that would cause the carrying value of recognised goodwill  
to exceed its recoverable amount. 

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Financial statements  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

16 Other intangible assets 

£million 

Cost 
At 1 January 2018 

Additions 
Businesses acquired 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 1 January 2019 
Additions 

Businesses acquired 
Disposals 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Amortisation 
At 1 January 2018 

Charge for the year 
Impairment 

Net exchange adjustment 

At 1 January 2019 
Charge for the year 

Disposals 
Net exchange adjustment 

At 31 December 2019 

Net book value 

At 31 December 2019 

At 31 December 2018 

Product 
development 
costs 

Patents, 
 licences and 
other  

Customer 
relationships 

5.3 

3.7 
0.8 

0.4 

10.2 
3.9 

– 
– 

(0.4) 

13.7 

2.4 

1.3 
– 

0.2 

3.9 
1.8 
– 

(0.2) 

5.5 

8.2 
6.3 

28.0 

2.1 
2.7 

0.2 

33.0 

0.7 
0.1 

(0.2) 
(0.2) 

33.4 

21.0 

4.5 
0.3 

0.1 

25.9 

3.2 

(0.2) 
(0.2) 

28.7 

4.7 

7.1 

25.3 

– 
26.8 

0.4 

52.5 

– 
0.7 

– 
(0.4) 

52.8 

7.9 

2.8 
– 

0.2 

10.9 

3.6 

– 
(0.1) 

14.4 

38.4 

41.6 

Included within patents, licences and other are intangible assets under construction with a carrying value of £0.7 million  
(2018: £1.0 million).  

Included within the amortisation charge for the year is £4.5 million (2018: £4.8 million) included within items excluded from 
underlying profit. 

17 Inventories 
£million 

Raw materials 

Work in progress 
Finished goods 

2019 

60.3 

21.1 
21.4 

102.8 

Total 

58.6 

5.8 
30.3 

1.0 
95.7 
4.6 

0.8 

(0.2) 
(1.0) 

99.9 

31.3 

8.6 
0.3 

0.5 
40.7 
8.6 

(0.2) 
(0.5) 

48.6 

51.3 

55.0 

2018 

52.7 

21.6 
22.1 

96.4 

Inventories are stated after deduction of a provision for slow moving and obsolete items of £20.0 million (2018: £20.8 million).  

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Financial statements 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

18 Trade and other receivables 
£million 

Trade receivables 
Prepayments 
Other receivables 

Provisions for impairment in respect of trade receivables are shown in note 22(d)(ii). 

19 Trade and other payables  
£million 

Current liabilities 

Trade payables 
Taxation and social security 

Other payables, accruals and deferred income 

£million 

Non-current liabilities 
Accruals and deferred income 

20 Provisions 

£million 

At 1 January 2018 

Businesses acquired 
Utilised 

Released 
Arising during the year 

At 1 January 2019 
Utilised 

Released 
Arising during the year 

Exchange differences 

At 31 December 2019 

2019 

66.4 
4.8 
7.4 

78.6 

2018 

64.6 
5.1 
6.5 

76.2 

2019 

2018 

50.9 
5.0 

48.0 

103.9 

49.5 
4.0 

42.5 

96.0 

2019 

2018 

0.2 

0.1 

Reorganisation  

Legal, warranty 
and other  

1.9 

– 
(1.0) 

– 
– 

0.9 

(0.5) 
– 

1.6 

(0.1) 

1.9 

5.4 

0.9 
(1.1) 

(1.8) 
0.1 

3.5 
(0.4) 

(0.5) 
0.7 

– 

3.3 

Total  

7.3 

0.9 
(2.1) 

(1.8) 
0.1 
4.4 

(0.9) 
(0.5) 

2.3 

(0.1) 
5.2 

The reorganisation provision of £1.9 million includes £1.3 million in respect of restructuring of the Sensors and Specialist 
Components division (comprising severance costs of £1.0 million, £0.2 million in respect of the Brea, California office closure and 
£0.1 million of other costs), £0.1 million for closure of our Taishan, China facility within the Power and Connectivity division and 
£0.1 million of other costs.  

A further £0.4 million relates to the restructuring programme undertaken in association with the closure of the Boone, North 
Carolina operations. Work has been performed to rectify soil contamination that occurred as a result of past production practices, 
with £0.5 million utilised during the period. The provision is based upon the Group’s estimate of the scope of further work.  
There is inherent uncertainty in the extent of further work required, which is dependent upon final approval of the remediation work. 
If approval is not obtained this could result in additional work being undertaken. However, it is considered unlikely that the total 
costs of the exercise will exceed a maximum threshold of £1.0 million, compared to the £0.4 million provided. 

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Financial statements 
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

20 Provisions continued 
Legal, warranty and other claims represent the best estimate for the cost of settling outstanding product and other claims, warranty 
provisions created on the disposal of businesses and provision for the cost of acquisitions. The utilisation relates to a customer 
claim in Kuantan, Malaysia (£0.3 million), costs associated with the acquisition of Stadium (£0.1 million) and costs associated with 
the disposal of the Transportation Sensing and Control division in 2017 (£0.1 million). The release of £0.5 million relates to surplus 
costs provided on the disposal of the Transportation Sensing and Control division in 2017 and surplus property costs relating to a 
vacant site. The charge to the consolidated income statement (£0.7 million) relates to costs incurred in the integration of the 
Stadium and Precision businesses. 

The Group has, on occasion, been required to enforce commercial contracts and to defend itself against proceedings brought by 
other parties. Provisions are made for the expected costs associated with such matters, based on past experience of similar items 
and other known factors, taking into account professional advice received, and represent management’s best estimate of the likely 
outcome. The timing of utilisation of these provisions is frequently uncertain, reflecting the complexity of issues and the outcome of 
various court proceedings and negotiations. Contractual and other provisions represent the Directors’ best estimate of the cost of 
settling future obligations although there is a higher degree of judgement involved. Unless specific evidence exists to the contrary, 
these provisions are shown as current.  

Whilst the closing balance of the provision represents management’s best estimate of the likely costs to be incurred in settling 
these matters there is uncertainty around the outcome. The most significant elements of the provision relate to product warranty 
claims and warranties given to the buyer of the Transportation Sensing and Control division in respect of product supplied by that 
business in the period prior to the sale in 2017. The amounts of both of these liabilities are dependent upon the number and value of 
claims received. The Group makes estimates of the most likely outcome based upon past experience. In total the estimation of the 
range of possible outcomes is an increase in those liabilities by £0.2 million to a decrease of £2.5 million. 

No provision is made for proceedings which have been or might be brought by other parties against Group companies unless 
management, taking into account professional advice received, assesses that it is more likely than not that such proceedings may 
be successful. Contingent liabilities associated with such proceedings have been identified, but the Directors are of the opinion that 
any associated claims that might be brought can be resisted successfully, and therefore the possibility of any material outflow in 
settlement in excess of amounts provided is assessed as remote.  

The timing of the utilisation of these amounts is uncertain as they are subject to commercial negotiation and legal process in 
different jurisdictions. Where possible the Group has purchased insurance cover to protect itself from these exposures. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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Financial statements 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

21 Borrowings and lease obligations 

£million  

At 31 December 2019 
£180 million multi-currency revolving credit facility 

Lease liabilities 

Loan arrangement fee 

Total 

At 31 December 2018 
£180 million multi-currency revolving credit facility 

Finance leases 
Loan arrangement fee 

Total 

Maturity 

Currency of 
denomination 

Current 

Non-current 

Total 

2023 

2023 

GBP 

USD 

2023 
2023 

GBP 
USD 

– 

– 

3.8 
– 

3.8 

– 
– 
0.4 
– 

0.4 

95.5 

17.7 
13.8 

(1.5) 
125.5 

65.0 
18.5 
0.2 
(1.8) 

81.9 

95.5 
17.7 

17.6 
(1.5) 

129.3 

65.0 
18.5 
0.6 
(1.8) 

82.3 

In May 2016 the Group signed a five-year £150 million multi-currency revolving credit facility and a further uncommitted 
incremental accordion facility of £30 million. In December 2018 the Group entered into an agreement to extend the facility with  
a syndicate of six banks comprising Barclays Bank, Bank of Ireland, Comerica Bank, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC Bank and National 
Westminster Bank. The maturity date of the facility was extended from May 2021 to November 2023. In addition, the facility size 
was increased from £150 million to £180 million, with a further uncommitted accordion facility of £30 million. As at 31 December 
2019 £113.2 million of the facility was drawn down. Arrangement fees with amortised cost of £1.5 million have been netted off 
against these borrowings. 

The interest margin payable on the facility is based on the Group’s compliance with financial covenants (frozen IFRS net 
debt/underlying EBITDA) and is payable on a floating basis above £LIBOR, €LIBOR or $LIBOR depending on the currency of 
denomination of the loan.  

Undrawn facilities 
At 31 December 2019, the total borrowing facilities available to the Group amounted to £238.6 million (2018: £222.6 million).  
At 31 December 2019, the Group had available £70.1 million (2018: £101.1 million) of undrawn committed borrowing facilities 
(comprising the main facility £66.8 million (2018: £96.5 million) and China £3.3 million (2018: £4.6 million) and £39.2 million  
(2018: £39.2 million) of undrawn uncommitted borrowing facilities, representing overdraft lines and the accordion facility. 

144 
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Financial statements  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management  
The main risks arising from the Group’s financial instruments are foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, credit risk and liquidity 
risk. These risks arise from exposures that occur in the normal course of business and are managed by the Group’s Treasury 
department in close co-operation with the Group’s business divisions and operating companies, under the oversight of a Treasury 
Committee which is chaired by the Chief Financial Officer. The responsibilities of the Group’s Treasury department include the 
monitoring of financial risks, management of cash resources, debt and capital structure management, approval of counterparties 
and relevant transaction limits, and oversight of all significant treasury activities undertaken by the Group. The Group Treasury 
department operates as a service centre to the business divisions of the Group and not as a profit centre. 

A Group Treasury policy has been approved by the Board of Directors and is periodically updated to reflect developments in the 
financial markets and the financial exposure facing the Group.  

The Group’s principal financial instruments comprise borrowings, cash and cash equivalents and derivatives used for risk 
management purposes. The Group’s borrowings, surplus liquidity and derivative financial instruments are monitored and managed 
centrally by the Group’s Treasury department.  

The Group’s accounting policies with regard to financial instruments are detailed in note 2(p). 

a) Derivatives, financial instruments and risk management 
The Group uses derivative financial instruments to manage certain exposures to fluctuations in exchange rates and interest rates. 
The Group does not hold any speculative financial instruments. 

The Group is exposed to transactional and translation foreign exchange risk. Transactional foreign exchange risk arises from sales 
or purchases by a Group company in a currency other than that company’s functional currency. Translational foreign exchange risk 
arises on the translation of profits earned in overseas currencies into GBP and the translation of net assets denominated in 
overseas currencies into GBP, the Group’s functional currency.  

To mitigate transactional foreign exchange risk, wherever possible, Group companies enter into transactions in their functional 
currencies with customers and suppliers. When this is not possible, hedging strategies are undertaken through the use of forward 
currency contracts for up to two years ahead. 

The Group’s interest rate management policy is to maintain a balance between fixed and floating rates of interest on borrowings 
and deposits, and to use interest rate derivatives when appropriate and pre-approved by the Treasury Committee.  

The forward currency contracts have been designated as cash flow hedges and the mark to market valuation of these derivatives  
at 31 December 2019 is taken to the hedging reserve within equity. At 31 December 2019, the Group had a net derivative financial 
liability of £1.2 million (2018: £1.7 million).  

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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145 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management continued 
b) Foreign exchange risk 
The Group’s exposure to foreign currency is shown below: 

£million  

31 December 2019 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Borrowings 
Lease liabilities 
Trade and other payables 

31 December 2018 

Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Borrowings 
Trade and other payables 

GBP 

USD 

Euro 

Other 

Total 

– 
0.6 
– 

– 

(0.1) 
0.5 

– 
1.1 

– 
(0.2) 

0.9 

15.8 
7.0 
(17.6) 
– 

(9.7) 

(4.5) 

17.8 
5.4 

(18.5) 
(12.1) 

(7.4) 

2.8 
1.5 

– 
(0.2) 
(1.5) 

2.6 

3.1 
1.5 

– 
(1.7) 

2.9 

0.1 
2.5 
– 

(1.7) 
(2.9) 

(2.0) 

0.5 
1.1 

– 
(7.1) 

(5.5) 

18.7 

11.6 

(17.6) 
(1.9) 
(14.2) 

(3.4) 

21.4 
9.1 

(18.5) 
(21.1) 

(9.1) 

A 10% strengthening of GBP against the following currencies at 31 December would have decreased profit after tax by the amounts 
shown below. This analysis assumes that all other variables, in particular interest rates, remain constant. 

£million 

US dollar 

Euro 

2019 

1.0 

0.2 

2018 

0.8 

0.3 

A 10% weakening of GBP against the above currencies at 31 December would have had an equal but opposite effect on the above 
currencies to the amount shown above, on the basis that all other variables remain constant. 

The Group finances operations by obtaining funding through external borrowings and, where they are in foreign currencies, these 
borrowings may be designated as net investment hedges. This enables gains and losses arising on retranslation of these foreign 
currency borrowings to be charged to other comprehensive income, providing a partial offset in equity against the gains and losses 
arising on translation of the net assets of foreign operations. 

Foreign currency borrowings of £17.6 million (2018: £18.5 million) have been treated as a net investment hedge and exchange 
differences on retranslation have been recognised in equity. 

c) Interest rate risk 
The Group has financial assets and liabilities which are exposed to changes in market interest rates. Changes in interest rates 
primarily impact borrowings by changing their future cash flows (floating rate debt) or their fair value (fixed rate debt) and deposits. 
The Group’s objective is to manage this interest rate exposure through the use of interest rate derivatives. 

146 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management continued 
The exposure of the Group’s financial assets and liabilities to interest rate risk is as follows:  

£million 

Financial assets 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Derivative financial instruments 

Total financial assets 

Financial liabilities 
Borrowings (including interest effects of derivatives) 
Lease liabilities 
Trade and other payables 
Derivative financial instruments 

Total financial liabilities 

Floating 
rate 

Fixed 
rate 

Non-interest 
bearing 

2019 total 

– 
60.2 
– 

60.2 

(88.9) 
– 
– 
– 

(88.9) 

– 
– 
– 

– 

(24.3) 

(17.6) 
– 

– 

(41.9) 

71.1 

– 
0.9 

72.0 

1.5 
– 

(100.6) 

(2.1) 
(101.2) 

71.1 
60.2 

0.9 

132.2 

(111.7) 
(17.6) 
(100.6) 
(2.1) 

(232.0) 

At 31 December 2019, 22% of borrowings was at a fixed rate when including the effect of derivatives (2018: 30% of borrowings 
including the effect of derivatives and finance leases). 

£million 

Financial assets 
Trade and other receivables 

Cash and cash equivalents 
Derivative financial instruments 

Total financial assets 

Financial liabilities 
Borrowings 

Finance leases 
Trade and other payables 

Derivative financial instruments 

Total financial liabilities 

Floating 
rate 

Fixed 
rate 

Non-interest 
bearing 

2018 total 

– 

40.6 
– 

40.6 

(59.0) 

– 
– 

– 

(59.0) 

– 

– 
– 

– 

(24.5) 

(0.6) 
– 

– 

(25.1) 

69.0 

– 
0.4 

69.4 

1.8 

– 
(93.5) 

(2.1) 

(93.8) 

69.0 

40.6 
0.4 

110.0 

(81.7) 

(0.6) 
(93.5) 

(2.1) 

(177.9) 

The interest charged on floating rate financial liabilities is based on the relevant benchmark rate (such as LIBOR). Interest on 
financial instruments classified as fixed rate is fixed until the maturity of the instrument. 

Considering the net debt position of the Group at 31 December 2019, any increase in interest rates would result in a net loss in the 
consolidated income statement, and any decrease in interest rates would result in a net gain. The effect on profit after tax of a 1% 
movement in interest rate, based on the year end floating rate borrowings, with all other variables held constant, is estimated to be 
£0.7 million (2018: £0.5 million). 

d) Credit risk 
Exposure to credit risk arises as a result of transactions in the Group’s ordinary course of business and is applicable to all financial 
assets. Investments in cash and cash equivalents and derivative financial instruments are with approved counterparty banks and 
other financial institutions. Counterparties are assessed prior to, during, and after the conclusion of transactions to ensure exposure 
to credit risk is limited to an acceptable level. The maximum exposure with respect to credit risk is represented by the carrying 
amount of each financial asset on the consolidated balance sheet. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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147 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management continued 
Credit risk relating to trade receivables  
The Group’s major exposure to credit risk is in respect of trade receivables. Given the number and geographical spread of the 
Group’s ultimate customers and the solvency of major trade debtors, credit risk is believed to be limited. The Group is not reliant  
on any particular customer in the markets in which it operates and there is no significant concentration of credit risk. The Group 
regularly monitors its exposure to bad debts in order to minimise this exposure. 

The Group has strict procedures in place to manage the credit risk on trade receivables. Customer credit risk is managed by  
each operating company within a division but is subject to Group oversight to ensure that each division’s customer credit risk 
management system operates in a prudent and responsible manner. Credit evaluations are performed for all customers and  
credit limits are established based on internal or external rating criteria. The credit quality of the Group’s significant customers is 
monitored on an ongoing basis, and receivables that are neither past due nor impaired are considered of good credit quality. Letters 
of credit or payments in advance are obtained where customer credit quality is not considered strong enough for open credit. 

Trade receivables are denominated in the currencies in which the Group trades. The Group’s policy is that receivables and  
payables not in the functional currency of the subsidiary concerned are, in the main, hedged through forward foreign currency 
exchange contracts.  

There were no material impairments of trade receivables as at 31 December 2019 or 2018. The solvency of the debtor and their 
ability to repay the receivables were considered in assessing the impairment of such assets. 

(i) Risk for trade receivables by geographical regions 
The maximum exposure to credit risk for trade receivables at 31 December by geographic areas was: 

£million 

Europe (including UK) 

North America 
Asia 

Rest of the World 

(ii) Impairment losses 
The ageing of trade receivables at 31 December was: 

£million 

Not past due 
Past due 0 – 60 days 

Past due 61 – 120 days 
More than 120 days 

2019 

35.9 

17.9 
12.1 

0.5 

66.4 

Gross 

57.3 
7.1 

0.4 
0.1 

64.9 

2018 

32.6 

19.0 
12.0 

1.0 

64.6 

2018 
Impairment 

– 
(0.1) 

(0.1) 
(0.1) 

(0.3) 

Gross 

56.4 
9.7 

0.6 
0.1 

66.8 

2019 
Impairment 

– 

(0.1) 

(0.2) 
(0.1) 

(0.4) 

148 
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Financial statements 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management continued 
The movement in the provision for impairment in respect of trade receivables during the year was as follows: 

£million 

At 1 January 
Released 

Businesses acquired 
Charged to income statement 

Utilised 

At 31 December 

2019 

(0.3) 
0.1 

– 
(0.2) 

– 

(0.4) 

2018 

(0.4) 
0.1 

(0.1) 
– 

0.1 

(0.3) 

(iii) Credit risk related to other financial assets and cash deposits 
Credit risk relating to the Group’s other financial assets, principally comprising cash and cash equivalents, other receivables and 
derivative financial instruments arises from the potential default of counterparties. Credit risk arising from balances with banks  
and financial institutions is monitored by the Group’s Treasury department. Investment of cash and deposits are made only with 
approved counterparties of high credit worthiness and are reviewed on a regular basis to take account of developments in financial 
markets. 

No material exposure is considered to exist by virtue of the possible non-performance of the counterparties to derivative financial 
instruments and other receivables. 

The carrying amount of financial assets represents the maximum credit exposure. The maximum exposure to credit risk at  
31 December was: 

£million 

Other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Derivative financial instruments (current assets) 

2019 

4.7 
60.2 

0.9 

2018 

4.5 
40.6 

0.4 

e) Liquidity risk 
The Group maintains a balance between availability of funding and maximising investment return on cash balances through the  
use of short-term cash deposits, credit facilities and longer-term debt instruments. Management regularly reviews the funding 
requirements of the Group. 

The Group’s policy is to centrally manage debt and surplus cash balances. 

At 31 December 2019, the Group had £70.1 million of undrawn committed borrowing facilities (2018: £101.1 million) and  
£39.2 million (2018: £39.2 million) of undrawn uncommitted borrowing facilities. 

Maturity of financial assets and liabilities 
The table below analyses the Group’s financial assets and liabilities, which will be settled on a gross basis, into relevant maturity 
groups based on the remaining period at the balance sheet date to the contractual maturity date. 

£million  

31 December 2019 
Trade and other receivables 

Cash and cash equivalents 

Borrowings 

Lease liabilities 
Trade and other payables 

On demand 

Less than 
3 months 

3 to 12 
months 

 1 to 5 
years 

Over 5 
years 

7.9 

60.2 

68.1 

– 
– 
– 

– 

62.3 
– 

62.3 
– 

(0.7) 
(84.9) 

(85.6) 

0.9 
– 

0.9 
– 

(3.1) 

(15.0) 

(18.1) 

– 

– 

– 

(111.7) 
(11.2) 

(0.6) 

(123.5) 

– 

– 

– 

– 
(2.6) 

(0.1) 

(2.7) 

Total 

71.1 
60.2 

131.3 

(111.7) 
(17.6) 
(100.6) 

(229.9) 

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Financial statements 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management continued 
At 31 December 2019 the Group had derivative financial instruments hedging a notional contractual amount of £134.9 million 
(2018: £113.3 million) of foreign exchange, £86.2 million (2018: £96.9 million) maturing within one year and £48.7 million maturing 
in more than one year (2018: £19.4 million). In addition, at 31 December 2019 the Group had derivative financial instruments 
hedging a notional contractual amount of £24.3 million (2018: £24.5 million) of interest rate risk all maturing in more than one year. 

£million  

31 December 2018 
Trade and other receivables 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Borrowings 

Finance leases 
Trade and other payables 

On demand 

Less than 
3 months 

3 to 12 
months 

 1 to 5 
years 

Over 5 
years 

7.1 
40.6 

– 

– 

– 

60.9 
– 

– 

(0.1) 
(91.3) 

(91.4) 

1.0 
– 

– 

(0.3) 
(2.1) 

(2.4) 

– 
– 

(81.7) 

(0.2) 
– 

(81.9) 

– 
– 

– 

(0.1) 

(0.1) 

Total 

69.0 
40.6 

(81.7) 

(0.6) 
(93.5) 

(175.8) 

The following are the contractual maturities of borrowings (2018: borrowings and finance leases) including contractual future 
interest payments and commitment fees: 

£million  

31 December 2019 

31 December 2018 

Carrying 
Amounts 

(111.7) 
(82.3) 

Contractual 
Cash Flows 

(125.4) 

(95.9) 

Within  
1 year 

(3.2) 

(2.9) 

1 to 2  
years 

(2.4) 

(2.9) 

2 to 3  
years 

(2.4) 

(2.7) 

3 to 4  
years 

(117.4) 

(2.3) 

4 to 5  
years 

– 

(85.1) 

f) Fair value of financial assets and liabilities 
IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement requires an analysis of those financial instruments that are measured at fair value at the end of 
the year in a fair value hierarchy. In addition, IFRS 13 requires financial instruments not measured at fair value but for which fair 
value is disclosed to be analysed in the same fair value hierarchy: 

•  Level 1 – quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; 
•  Level 2 – inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly  

(i.e. as prices) or indirectly (i.e. derived from prices); and 

•  Level 3 – inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market data (i.e. unobservable inputs). 

Set out below is a comparison by class of the carrying amounts and fair value of the Group’s financial instruments that are carried 
in the financial statements. 

£million 

Held at amortised cost 
Cash and cash equivalents 
Trade and other receivables 
Trade and other payables 
Borrowings 
Held at fair value 
Derivative financial instruments (assets) 
Derivative financial instruments (liabilities) 
Held at depreciated cost 

Investment properties 

Fair value 
hierarchy 

Carrying 
value 

n/a 
n/a 
n/a 
n/a 

2 
2 

3 

60.2 
71.1 
(100.6) 
(111.7) 

0.9 
(2.1) 

0.1 

2019 

Fair value 

60.2 
71.1 
(100.6) 
(111.7) 

0.9 
(2.1) 

0.7 

Carrying 
value 

2018 

Fair value 

40.6 
69.0 
(93.5) 
(81.7) 

0.4 
(2.1) 

0.1 

40.6 
69.0 
(93.5) 
(81.7) 

0.4 
(2.1) 

0.7 

150 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

22 Financial risk management continued 
The fair value of the financial assets and liabilities are included at the amount at which the instrument could be exchanged in a 
current transaction between willing parties, other than in a forced or liquidation sale. The following methods and assumptions were 
used to estimate the fair values: 

•  cash and cash equivalents, trade and other receivables, trade and other payables approximate to their carrying amounts largely 

due to the short-term maturities of these instruments; 

•  the fair value of borrowings is estimated by discounting future cash flows using rates currently available for debt and remaining 

maturities; 

•  the fair value of derivative financial instrument assets (£0.9 million) and liabilities (£2.1 million) are estimated by discounting 
expected future cash flows using current market indices such as yield curves and forward exchange rates over the remaining 
term of the instrument (level 2); and 

•  the fair value of investment properties are based on market valuations obtained through third party valuations (level 2). 

g) Capital management 
The overriding objectives of the Group’s capital management policy are to safeguard and support the business as a going concern 
through the business cycle and to maintain an optimal capital structure by reducing the Group’s overall cost of capital. The Board 
considers equity shareholders’ funds as capital. 

The Group maintains a balance between availability of funding and maximising investment return on cash balances through the use 
of short-term cash deposits, credit facilities and longer-term debt instruments, and management regularly reviews the funding 
requirements of the Group. 

Dividends are paid when the Board consider it appropriate to do so, taking into account the availability of funding. The Group has  
a progressive dividend policy. 

The Group has net debt of £69.1 million (2018: £41.7 million). Included within the debt facilities are certain financial covenants 
related to frozen IFRS net debt/underlying EBITDA and underlying EBITDA/net finance charges for which compliance certificates 
are produced on a 12-month rolling basis every half year. All financial covenants were fully complied with during the year and up to 
the date of approval of the financial statements.  

23 Retirement benefit schemes 
Defined contribution schemes  
The Group operates 401(k) plans in North America and defined contribution arrangements in the rest of the world. The assets of 
these schemes are held independently of the Group. The total contributions charged by continuing operations in respect of defined 
contribution schemes were £3.5 million (2018: £3.0 million). 

Defined benefit schemes  
At 31 December 2018 the Group operated three defined benefit schemes in the UK (the TT Group (1993) Pension Scheme, the 
Stadium Group Retirement Benefits Plan (1974) and the Southern & Redfern Ltd Retirement Benefits Schemes) and overseas 
defined benefit schemes in the USA. These schemes are closed to new members and the UK schemes are closed to future accrual. 
In order to improve governance of the UK pension schemes, as well as drive cost efficiency, the Stadium Group Retirement Benefits 
Plan (1974) was merged into the TT Group (1993) Pension Scheme (the TT Group scheme) with effect from 29 March 2019.  

The TT Group scheme commenced in 1993 and increased in size in 2006, 2007 and 2019 through the merger of UK former 
schemes following a number of acquisitions. The parent company is the sponsoring employer in the TT Group scheme. The TT 
Group scheme is governed by TTG Pension Trustees Limited (the “Trustee”) that has control over the operation, funding and 
investment strategy in consultation with the Group. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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151 
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Financial statements 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

23 Retirement benefit schemes continued 
The TT Group scheme exposes the Group to actuarial risks such as longevity risk, currency risk, inflation risk, interest rate risk and 
market (investment) risk. The Group is not exposed to any unusual, entity specific or scheme specific risks, but given the material 
nature of the TT Group scheme, the Group has developed a comprehensive strategy covering the following areas to manage the 
financial risk associated with it: 

•  Maintaining a long-term working partnership with the Trustee to ensure strong governance of risks within the TT Group scheme. 
The TT Group scheme is a long term undertaking and is managed accordingly, in order to provide security to members’ benefits 
and value for money to the Group. 

•  A prudent investment strategy is pursued by seeking risk-rewarded long-term returns whilst removing the majority of liability 

mismatching unrewarded risks. As such, the Group has in place financial hedging that aims to remove the majority of interest 
rate and inflation related risks. At the current level there is no significant impact on the reported accounting deficit of a 10bps fall 
in interest rates (which would be otherwise a circa £9 million increase if the hedge were not in place) thereby reducing volatility. 
This strategy has been in place for a number of years protecting the TT Group scheme’s position since December 2013 when 
yields commenced a prolonged decline. 

•  The Group recognises that seeking rewarded risk returns in its investment strategy could lead to short-term fluctuations in 

funding levels depending on market conditions. The Group considers that by maintaining a good relationship with the Trustee,  
it will be able to utilise flexibility in the funding regime to even out the impact of short-term market underperformance to enhance 
predictability of Group pension contributions. This creates a suitable balance between the needs of the TT Group scheme, the 
Group, and the Members. 

The Trustee’s investment strategy mitigates the majority of these risks. Market (investment) risk is addressed by diversification 
across asset classes and managers within those assets classes. With regard to currency risk, where possible the Scheme fully 
hedges its currency risk with respect to fixed income and alternative assets, through investing in currency-hedged vehicles.  
The Scheme has equity exposure held on both a hedged, and unhedged basis. Whilst there is no specific currency hedging policy  
in place, the Scheme aims to hedge between 30-70% of its non-sterling currency exposure with respect to equity investments.  

In addition, the Trustee has a framework in place to hedge a proportion of the Scheme’s interest rate and inflation exposures. This 
framework is managed by investing in both physical and, for efficiency, derivative investments; and has a target to hedge 80% of the 
interest rate and 85% of the inflation linked liabilities measured on an economic basis. The target hedge level is kept under review 
and any change would be in consultation with the Group.  

The Trustee does not currently hedge the longevity risk, although prudent assumptions are made regarding anticipated longevity for 
the purposes of the actuarial valuation. 

The Trustee, in conjunction with the Group, has a duty to ensure that the TT Group scheme has an appropriate funding strategy in 
place that meets any local statutory requirements. The objective, which has been negotiated and agreed between the Group and the 
Trustee, is that the TT Group scheme should target and then maintain 100% funding on a basis that should ensure benefits can be 
paid as they fall due. Any shortfall in the assets relative to the funding target will be financed over a period that ensures the 
contributions are reasonably affordable to the Group. 

The weighted average duration of the TT Group scheme defined benefit obligation is 16 years. 

The Trustee allocates the TT Group scheme’s assets across a range of investments to help diversify and manage risks. In particular 
a significant portion of the assets are in investments that aim to broadly match the term and nature of the liabilities. 

UK legislation requires the Trustee to carry out funding valuations at least every three years and to target full funding against a 
basis that prudently reflects the TT Group scheme’s risk exposure.  

The triennial valuation of the TT Group scheme as at April 2019 showed a net surplus of £0.3 million against the Trustee’s funding 
objective compared with a deficit of £46.0 million at April 2016. As the scheme was fully funded at the 2019 triennial valuation date, 
there is no requirement for the Company to pay deficit repair contributions. In addition to the statutory funding objective, the 
Trustee and Company have agreed to move towards a ‘self-sufficiency’ funding target, under which once full funding is achieved  
the likelihood of the Trustee requiring subsequent contributions from the Company is significantly reduced. To support the 
scheme’s long-term funding target of self-sufficiency the Company has agreed to pay additional fixed contributions of £5.3 million, 
£5.5 million, £5.7 million and £4.4 million to be paid in the years 2020 to 2023. 

152 
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Financial statementsFinancial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

23 Retirement benefit schemes continued 
In the year ended 31 December 2019 the Group made contributions of £5.1 million to the TT Group scheme and £0.1 million to  
the Stadium Group Retirement Benefits Plan (1974) under the existing recovery plans in place. In addition, the outstanding deficit 
contribution payments due under the Stadium Group Retirement Benefits Plan (1974)’s recovery plan were accelerated and  
£3.4 million was paid into the scheme immediately prior to the merger. The total payments made in year ended 31 December 2019 
in respect of UK schemes was £8.6 million. 

In addition, the Company has set aside £2.5 million to be utilised in agreement with the Trustee for reducing the long-term liabilities 
of the TT Group scheme.  

A High Court judgment regarding the equalisation of GMP was published on 26 October 2018. The judgment itself related to  
the Lloyds Banking Group’s pension schemes and requirements to equalise scheme benefits, to address the inherent inequality 
between genders caused by GMP legislation. GMP is the minimum benefit that must be provided by a pension scheme to a member 
who had been contracted out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997.  
This ruling has implications for all occupational pension schemes; including the Group’s UK schemes; that were contracted out  
of SERPS on a defined benefit basis between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997.  

The UK schemes liabilities at 31 December 2018 included an allowance for the potential additional cost of allowing for GMP 
equalisation of £5.8 million and an additional £0.4 million was recognised in the year ended 31 December 2019. These allowances 
have been recognised in the consolidated income statement within items excluded from underlying operating profit. The 
assumptions underpinning the estimate are based on market conditions at the time of the judgement, namely a discount rate  
of 2.8%, RPI inflation of 3.4%, CPI inflation of 2.4% and using S2 mortality tables.  

An actuarial valuation of the USA defined benefit schemes was carried out by independent qualified actuaries in 2019 using the 
projected unit credit method. Pension scheme assets are stated at their market value at 31 December 2019. 

An analysis of the pension surplus/(deficit) by scheme is shown below: 

£million 

TT Group (1993) 

Southern & Redfern 
Stadium Group (1974) 

USA schemes 

Net surplus 

2019 

21.2 

– 
– 

(4.6) 

16.6 

2018 

24.7 

0.2 
(4.1) 

(4.3) 

16.5 

Given the nature of the Group’s control of the TT Group and Southern and Redfern Schemes under the Schemes’ rules, pension 
surpluses have been recognised under IFRIC 14. 

The principal assumptions used for the purpose of the actuarial valuations for the Group’s primary defined benefit schemes 
were as follows: 

% 

Discount rate 
Inflation rate (RPI) 

Increases to pensions in payment (LPI 5% pension increases) 
Increases to deferred pensions (CPI) 

TT Group 

TT Group 

Stadium Group 

2019 

2.00 
3.10 

3.00 
2.20 

2018 

2.90 
3.30 

3.15 
2.30 

2018 

2.90 
3.30 

3.30 
2.30 

The mortality tables applied by the actuaries at 31 December 2019 were S2 tables with 105% (male)/106% (female) weighting for 
pensioners and 108% (male)/105% (female) weighting for non-pensioners with a 1.5% long-term rate of improvement in conjunction 
with the CMI 2018 projections. The assumptions are equivalent to life expectancies as follows: 

Current pensioner aged 65: 87 years (male), 88 years (female). 

Future retiree currently aged 40: 89 years (male), 91 years (female). 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

23 Retirement benefit schemes continued 
The mortality tables applied by the actuaries at 31 December 2018 were S2 tables with 106% (male)/107% (female) weighting for 
pensioners and 109% (male)/106% (female) weighting for non-pensioners with a 1.5% long-term rate of improvement in conjunction 
with the CMI 2017 projections.  

A decrease in the discount rate by 0.1% per annum increases the liabilities by approximately £9.2 million. An increase by 0.1% per 
annum in the inflation rate increases the liabilities by approximately £3.5 million. An increase in the life expectancy of one year 
increases the liabilities by approximately £22.8 million.  

The sensitivities above consider the impact of the single change shown, with the other assumptions unchanged. The inflation 
sensitivities allow for the consequential impact on the relevant pension increase assumptions. The sensitivity analyses have been 
determined based on a method that extrapolates the impact on the defined benefit obligation as a result of reasonable changes in 
key assumptions occurring at the end of the reporting period. 

The amounts recognised in respect of the pension deficit in the consolidated balance sheet are: 

Quoted 
Unquoted 

Quoted 
Unquoted 

Fixed 

Index-linked 

£million 

Equities 

UK 

Overseas 

Government bonds 
UK 

Overseas 

Corporate bonds 
Cash and cash equivalents 

Derivatives 
Insured assets 

Other 

Fair value of assets 
Present value of defined benefit obligation 

Net surplus recognised in the consolidated balance sheet 

2019 

2018 

– 
8.7 

3.8 
106.1 

172.6 

116.7 
8.3 

73.8 
17.9 

4.0 
15.6 

55.6 

583.1 
(566.5) 

16.6 

7.2 
5.0 

44.9 
66.3 

121.7 

108.1 
11.7 

40.5 
47.2 

(3.4) 
14.4 

78.0 

541.6 
(525.1) 

16.5 

The schemes’ assets are unquoted unless otherwise stated and do not include the Group’s financial instruments nor any property 
occupied by, or other assets used by the Group. Unquoted overseas equity investments are valued at the net asset value of the 
investment. Derivatives include liability driven instruments taken out to hedge part of the scheme inflation and interest rate risks.  

Amounts recognised in the consolidated income statement are: 

£million 

Scheme administration costs 
Past service cost (non-underlying) 
Net interest credit 

The actual return on scheme assets was a gain of £67.3 million (2018: loss of £24.1 million).  

2019 

1.0 
0.4 
0.6 

2018 

1.3 
5.8 
0.2 

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Financial statements 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

23 Retirement benefit schemes continued 
Changes in the present value of the defined benefit obligation are: 

£million 

Defined benefit obligation at 1 January 
Businesses acquired 

Past service charge 
Interest on obligation 

Remeasurements: 
Effect of changes in demographic assumptions 
Effect of changes in financial assumptions 
Effect of experience adjustments 

Benefits paid 
Exchange 

Defined benefit obligation at 31 December 

TT Group (1993) 
Stadium Group (1974) 
Southern & Redfern 
USA schemes 

Changes in the fair value of the schemes’ assets are: 

£million 

Fair value of schemes’ assets at 1 January 
Businesses acquired 

Interest income on defined benefit scheme assets 
Return on scheme assets, excluding interest income 
Contributions by employer 
Pension scheme expenses 
Annuity purchase loss 
Benefits paid 
Exchange 

Fair value of schemes’ assets at 31 December 

2019 

525.1 
– 

0.4 
14.9 

(5.2) 
70.7 
(4.6) 

(34.2) 
(0.6) 

566.5 

553.3 
– 
1.0 
12.2 

566.5 

2019 

541.6 
– 

15.5 
51.8 
9.8 
(1.0) 
(0.1) 
(34.2) 
(0.3) 

583.1 

2018 

547.9 
35.3 

5.8 
14.1 

(15.7) 
(33.0) 
0.8 

(30.8) 
0.7 

525.1 

480.1 
32.1 
0.9 
12.0 

525.1 

2018 

559.8 
30.8 

14.3 
(38.4) 
6.7 
(1.3) 
– 
(30.8) 
0.5 

541.6 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

24 Share capital and other reserves 
Share capital 

£million 

Issued and fully paid 

2019 

2018 

164,038,978 (2018: 163,354,090) ordinary shares of 25p each 

41.0 

40.8 

The performance conditions of the Long-term Incentive Plan awards issued in 2016 and a Restricted Share Plan award issued  
in 2018 were met and shares were allocated to award holders from existing shares held by an Employee Benefit Trust for nil 
consideration. 

During the period the Company issued 684,888 ordinary shares as a result of share options being exercised under the Sharesave 
scheme and Share Purchase plans. The aggregate consideration received was £0.9 million, which was represented by a £0.2 million 
increase in share capital and a £0.7 million increase in share premium. 

Other reserves 

£million 

At 1 January 2018 

Share based payments 
Deferred tax on share based payments 

Purchase of own shares 

At 31 December 2018 

Share based payments 
Deferred tax on share based payments 

Purchase of own shares 

At 31 December 2019 

Share options 

reserve  Merger reserve 

5.0 

(3.8) 
(1.0) 

(0.9) 

(0.7) 

0.2 
0.1 
(1.8) 

(2.2) 

3.4 

– 
– 

– 

3.4 
– 
– 

– 

3.4 

Total 

8.4 

(3.8) 
(1.0) 

(0.9) 
2.7 
0.2 

0.1 

(1.8) 
1.2 

25 Share-based payment plans 
The Company has the following share-based payment plans in operation at 31 December 2019: 

•  Long-term Incentive Plan (‘LTIP’) for senior executives; 
•  Restricted Share Plan for certain senior executives; and 
•  Sharesave plans for UK employees and a Share Purchase plan for US employees. 

a) Long-term Incentive Plans 
Details of the LTIP awards outstanding during the year are as follows: 

At 1 January 

Granted 
Forfeited 

(Exercised/Vested) 

At 31 December 

Exercisable at 31 December 

2019 

2018 

Number of 
share awards 

Number of 
share awards 

5,425,034 

7,760,694 

2,030,515 
(1,076,673) 

1,640,168 
(385,329) 

(1,681,575) 

(3,590,499) 

4,697,301 

5,425,034 

– 

191,918 

During 2018 and 2019 grants of awards were made under the LTIP for the issue of shares in 2021 and 2022 respectively. An award 
is a contingent right to receive shares in the future, subject to continued employment and the achievement of predetermined 
performance criteria. The performance targets attached to awards require the achievement of earnings per share (‘EPS’) and total 
shareholder return (‘TSR’) targets as detailed in the Directors’ Remuneration Report on page 94.  

156 
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Financial statements  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

25 Share-based payment plans continued 
On 16 January, 11 March 2019 and 13 December 2019 grants of awards were made under the LTIP for the issue of up to 84,798 
shares, 1,922,225 shares and 23,492 shares respectively in 2022. On 14 March, 6 June and 11 September 2018 grants of awards 
were made under the LTIP for the issue of up to 1,468,680 shares, 88,450 shares and 83,038 shares respectively in 2021.  

The fair value of the shares was estimated at the grant date using a Monte Carlo simulation model, taking into account the  
terms and conditions upon which the shares were granted. This model simulates the TSR and compares it against the group of 
comparator companies. It takes into account historical dividend and share price fluctuations to predict the distribution of relative 
share price performance. 

The following table lists the inputs to the model: 

Number of awards 
Fair value at grant date 

Share price at grant date 
Exercise price 

Expected volatility 

Expected weighted average life at 
31 December (years) 

Shares with a  
13 December 
2019  
grant date 

23,492 

193.4p 
235.0p 

£nil 
35% 

3.0 

Shares with a  
11 March 2019  
grant date 

1,922,225 

166.3p 
202.0p 

£nil 
35% 

2.2 

2019 

Shares with a  
16 January 
2019  
grant date 

Shares with a  
11 September 
2018  
grant date 

2018 

Shares with a  
6 June 2018  
grant date 

Shares with a 14 
March 2018 
grant date 

88,450 
218.9p 

263.0p 
£nil 

33% 

1,468,680 
189.8p 

228.0p 
£nil 

33% 

83,038 
210.2p 

252.5p 
£nil 

33% 

2.7 

2.6 

2.2 

84,798 

164.6p 
197.8p 

£nil 
33% 

0.1 

The award of shares is not affected by the risk free rate of interest since no investment is required by the recipient, and therefore no 
interest could be earned elsewhere. Expected volatility is based on historical share price movements. 

On 11 March 2019 45,761 (14 March 2018 and 6 June 2018: 42,831 and 39,780) notional share awards were granted to senior 
executives which will ultimately be settled in cash. This award is subject to the same vesting criteria as the 11 March 2019  
(14 March, 6 June and 11 September 2018) LTIP grant.  

The LTIP grants made in 2016 that vested during 2019 vested at 86.5% of the maximum and shares were allocated to award 
holders from existing shares held by an Employee Benefit Trust for nil consideration. 

The LTIP grants made in 2015 that vested during 2018 vested in full and shares were allocated to award holders from existing 
shares held by an Employee Benefit Trust for nil consideration. 

b) Restricted Share Plan 
On 14 March 2018 the Group granted 30,735 shares under the restricted plan. The award is subject to continuing employment with 
the Group, with one third vesting on the first anniversary and two thirds vesting on the second anniversary of the date of the grant. 
Following completion of the initial vesting period 10,245 shares vested during the year. 

On 6 June 2018 the Group granted 73,717 shares under the restricted plan. The award is subject to continuing employment with  
the Group, with one third vesting on the first anniversary and two thirds vesting on the second anniversary of the date of the grant. 
Following completion of the initial vesting period 24,572 shares vested during the year. 

On 16 January 2019 the Group granted 92,926 shares under the restricted plan. The award is subject to continuing employment 
with the Group, 57,157 shares vested in June 2019 with the remaining 35,769 shares vesting in June 2020. 

On 11 March 2019 the Group granted 82,750 shares under the restricted plan. The award is subject to continuing employment with 
the Group, vesting in March 2020 

On 26 April 2019 the Group granted 51,458 shares under the restricted plan. The award is subject to continuing employment with 
the Group, with half vesting in February 2020 and half vesting in February 2021. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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157 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

25 Share-based payment plans continued 
On 8 August 2019 the Group granted 9,677 shares under the restricted plan. The award is subject to continuing employment with 
the Group, vesting in July 2021. 

Details of the restricted share plan awards outstanding during the year are as follows: 

At 1 January  
Granted 
Vested 

At 31 December  

Exercisable at 31 December  

2019 

2018 

Number of 
share awards 

Number of 
share awards 

104,452 
236,811 
(57,157) 

284,106 

– 

962,770 
104,452 
(962,770) 

104,452 

– 

c) Sharesave schemes 
The Group operates a Sharesave scheme for participating employees in the UK under a three-year plan. Employees may purchase 
the Group’s shares at a 20% discount to the market price on the day prior to the commencement of the offer up to a maximum 
contribution value of £6,000 in any one year. Monthly contributions are saved with Lloyds Bank plc, via Equiniti Ltd, the Registrars,  
in the employee’s share savings plan and will only be released to employees who remain in the Group’s employment for a period  
of three years from commencement of the savings contract. Options become exercisable on completion of the three-year term or 
within six months of leaving in certain circumstances.  

Date price set 

25 August 2016 

24 August 2017 
31 August 2018 

30 August 2019 

The fair value of the shares at grant date was as follows: 

Pence 

Details of the Sharesave awards outstanding during the year are as follows:  

At 1 January  
Granted 
Forfeited 
Exercised 

At 31 December  

Exercisable at 31 December 

Market price 

Option price 

153.0p 

220.5p 
260.0p 

237.0p 

123.0p 

178.0p 
215.0p 

190.0p 

Options 
outstanding 

25,458 

456,000 
537,079 

855,543 

2019 

83.5 

2018 

76.0 

2019 

2018 

Number of 
share awards 

Number of 
share awards 

1,867,255 
874,391 
(244,662) 
(622,904) 

1,723,670 
662,686 
(135,002) 
(384,099) 

1,874,080 

1,867,255 

25,458 

107,049 

The Group operates a Stock Purchase Plan for participating US employees. Under the plan employees may purchase the Group’s 
shares at a 15% discount to the market price at the date of acquisition, up to a maximum of $6,500 per annum. Employees save 
on a monthly basis and shares are purchased each quarter. 

The total share-based payment charge for the year (excluding social security charge of £0.6 million (2018: £0.4 million credit)) 
arising from the above share scheme plans was £3.0 million (2018: £3.1 million).  

158 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

26 Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt 

£million 

At 1 January 2018 
Cash flow 

Businesses acquired 
Repayment of borrowings 

Proceeds from borrowings 
Finance lease payments 

Amortisation of loan arrangement fees 
Reclassification of loan arrangement fees 

Exchange differences 

At 1 January 2019 
Adjustment on initial application of IFRS 16 

Adjusted balance at 1 January 2019 
Cash flow 

Businesses acquired 
Proceeds from borrowings 

Payment of lease liabilities 
Amortisation of loan arrangement fees 

New finance leases 
Lease disposal 

Exchange differences 

At 31 December 2019 

Net cash 

Borrowings and 
lease liabilities 

Unamortised 
loan 
arrangement 
fees 

Net 
(debt)/funds 

46.5 
(6.4) 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

0.5 

40.6 
– 

40.6 

21.6 
– 
– 
– 

– 

– 
– 

(2.0) 

60.2 

(0.6) 
– 

(10.3) 
15.0 

(86.7) 
0.3 

(0.4) 
1.1 

(0.7) 

(82.3) 
(21.3) 

(103.6) 
– 

(0.2) 
(30.4) 
4.4 

(0.4) 

(0.7) 
0.4 

1.2 
(129.3) 

1.1 
– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
(1.1) 

– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 
– 
– 

– 

– 
– 

– 

– 

47.0 
(6.4) 

(10.3) 
15.0 

(86.7) 
0.3 

(0.4) 
– 

(0.2) 

(41.7) 
(21.3) 

(63.0) 
21.6 

(0.2) 
(30.4) 
4.4 

(0.4) 

(0.7) 
0.4 

(0.8) 

(69.1) 

Net cash includes overdraft balances of £nil (2018: £nil). 

27 Contingent liabilities  
The Group is subject to claims which arise in the ordinary course of business. Other than those for which provisions have been 
made and included within note 20, the Directors consider the likelihood of any other claims giving rise to a significant liability to 
be remote.  

28 Capital commitments 
£million 

Contractual commitments for the purchase of property, plant and equipment 

2019 

1.2 

2018 

2.0 

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159 
159

Financial statements 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

29 Leases 
The amount of lease liability recognised on initial application of IFRS 16 was £21.3 million, calculated as follows: 

£million  

Operating lease commitment at 31 December 2018 
Less: short-term and low-value leases recognised as an expense  

Add: lease extensions reasonably certain to be exercised 

Impact of discounting using incremental borrowing rate 

Lease liability at 1 January 2019 on initial application of IFRS 16 

20.8 
(0.3) 

4.2 

24.7 
(3.4) 

21.3 

The Group has outstanding commitments under short-term and low-value leases (2018: operating leases), which fall due as follows: 

£million 

In less than one year 

Between one and five years 
After five years 

2019 

– 

0.1 
– 

2018 

4.8 

12.4 
3.6 

The total cash outflow for leases is £5.6 million (2018: finance leases £0.3 million) comprising lease repayments of £4.4 million 
(2018: finance leases £0.3 million), interest on lease liabilities of £1.0 million (2018: £nil) and the cost of short-term and low-value 
leases of £0.2 million (2018: £nil).  

Interest on lease liabilities is shown in note 6 and the maturity of lease liabilities is shown in note 22.  

30 Related party transactions 
Transactions between the Company and its subsidiaries have been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this note.  

No related party transactions have taken place in 2019 or 2018 that have affected the financial position or performance of the Group. 

Key management personnel and Directors’ emoluments are disclosed in note 12. Details of retirement benefit schemes are 
disclosed in note 23. 

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Financial statements  
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements  
continued 

31 Subsequent events 
On 3 January 2020 the Group acquired the trade and assets of the aerospace and defence power supply business of Excelitas 
Technologies Corp based in Covina, California, for an initial cash consideration of $17.7 million (£13.7 million) and subject to an 
additional adjustment dependant on the level of working capital.  

The provisional fair values of the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired are as follows: 

£million 

Non-current assets 
Property, plant and equipment 

Current assets/(liabilities) 
Inventory 

Trade and other receivables 
Trade and other payables 

Consideration 
Cash consideration net of the impact of hedging 

Goodwill and acquired intangibles 

5.4 

1.3 

1.8 
(0.5) 

8.0 

13.7 

5.7 

Given the limited time between the acquisition and the signing of these accounts, the valuation of intangible assets recognised  
on acquisition is incomplete at the date of these financial statements. The remaining provisional fair values are based on the 
information currently available; if new information obtained within one year of the date of the acquisition about facts and 
circumstances that existed at the date of the acquisition identifies adjustments to the above amounts, or any additional provisions 
that existed at the date of acquisition, then the accounting for the acquisition will be revised. The goodwill recognised on acquisition 
represents the Group’s view of the future earnings growth potential and technical know-how in the acquired business. 

The acquisition enhances the Group's presence in the large and growing US aerospace and defence market and extends the 
Group’s power electronics capabilities to include power convertors, moving the Group up the value chain, in line with its strategy. 
This will also provide access to sole-sourced positions on growing defence programmes for the Group and new customer 
relationships with key US defence primes. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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161 
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Financial statements 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
Financial statements 

Company statement of financial position 
at 31 December 2019 

£million 

Fixed assets 
Right-of-use assets 
Tangible assets 
Intangible assets 
Investments 
Deferred tax asset 
Pensions 

Current assets 
Debtors 
Cash at bank and in hand 

Current liabilities 
Lease liabilities 
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 

Net current assets 

Total assets less current liabilities 

Lease liabilities 
Deferred tax liability 

Net assets 

Capital and reserves 
Called up share capital 

Share premium account 
Merger reserve 

Profit and loss account 

Shareholders’ funds 

Approved by the Board of Directors on 3 March 2020 and signed on their behalf by: 

Richard Tyson  
Director 

Mark Hoad 
Director 

Note 

2019 

2018 

2 
2 
2 
3 
11 
10 

4 

6 
5 

6 
11 

7 

8 

9 

1.0 
1.0 
3.6 
189.3 
2.9 
21.2 

219.0 

190.7 
2.6 

193.3 
0.2 
130.1 

63.0 

282.0 

1.0 
3.6 

– 
1.0 
4.4 
188.3 
2.8 
24.7 

221.2 

117.3 
4.9 

122.2 
0.3 
196.9 

(75.0) 

146.2 

– 
4.2 

277.4 

142.0 

41.0 

4.1 
3.4 

228.9 

277.4 

40.8 

3.4 
3.4 

94.4 

142.0 

162 
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Financial statements 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Company statement of changes in equity 
for year ended 31 December 2019 

£million 

At 1 January 2018 

Loss for the year 

Other comprehensive income 

Remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes 
Tax on remeasurement of defined benefit pension 
schemes 

Total other comprehensive income 

Transactions with owners recorded directly in equity 

Dividends paid by the Company 
Share-based payments 

Purchase of shares 
Deferred tax on share-based payments 

New shares issued 

At 31 December 2018 

Profit for the year 

Other comprehensive income 
Remeasurement of defined benefit pension schemes 

Tax on remeasurement of defined benefit pension 
schemes 

Total other comprehensive income 

Transactions with owners recorded directly in equity 

Dividends paid by the Company 
Share-based payments 

Purchase of shares 
Deferred tax on share-based payments 

New shares issued 

At 31 December 2019 

Share capital 

40.7 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

0.1 

40.8 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 
0.2 

41.0 

2.9 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

0.5 

3.4 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 
0.7 

4.1 

Share 
premium 

Merger  
reserve 

Profit and loss 
account 

3.4 

– 

126.4 

(24.6) 

– 

– 

– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

– 

9.7 

(1.7) 

8.0 

(9.7) 
(3.8) 

(0.9) 
(1.0) 

– 

Total 

173.4 

(24.6) 

9.7 

(1.7) 

8.0 

(9.7) 
(3.8) 

(0.9) 
(1.0) 

0.6 

3.4 

– 

94.4 

153.6 

142.0 

153.6 

– 

– 
– 

– 

– 
– 

– 
– 

(8.3) 

1.6 

(6.7) 

(8.3) 

1.6 

(6.7) 

(10.9) 

(10.9) 

0.2 
(1.8) 

0.1 
– 

0.2 
(1.8) 

0.1 
0.9 

3.4 

228.9 

277.4 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
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163 
163

Financial statements 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  

1 Significant accounting policies 
a) Basis of preparation 
The financial statements of TT Electronics plc (the “Company”) were prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard  
101 Reduced Disclosure Framework (“FRS 101”). The amendments to FRS 101 (2013/14 Cycle) issued in July 2014 and effective 
immediately have been applied.  

In preparing these financial statements, the Company applies the recognition, measurement and disclosure requirements of 
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU (“Adopted IFRSs”), but makes amendments where necessary  
in order to comply with Companies Act 2006 and has set out below where advantage of the FRS 101 disclosure exemptions  
has been taken.  

In these financial statements, the Company has applied the exemptions available under FRS 101 in respect of the following 
disclosures:  

•  a Cash Flow Statement and related notes;  
•  disclosures in respect of transactions with wholly owned subsidiaries;  
•  disclosures in respect of capital management;  
•  the effects of new but not yet effective IFRSs; 
•  disclosures in respect of the compensation of Key Management Personnel;  
•  comparative movement tables for tangible and intangible fixed assets; and  
•  disclosures in respect of leases  

The accounting policies set out in note 2 of the consolidated financial statements have, unless otherwise stated, been applied  
in the preparation of the Company financial statements.  

Change in accounting policy 
The Company has implemented IFRS 16 Leases with effect from 1 January 2019. The standard provides a single lessee accounting 
model, requiring lessees to recognise right-of-use assets and lease obligations for all leases unless the lease term is 12 months or 
less or the underlying asset has a low value. The Company has applied IFRS 16 using the modified retrospective approach under 
which the cumulative effect of initial application has been recognised in retained earnings at 1 January 2019 and comparative 
information has not been restated and continues to be reported under IAS17. 

The Company previously classified leases as operating or finance leases based on whether the lease transferred substantially all 
the risks and rewards of ownership. Under IFRS 16, the Company recognises right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for most leases 
(unless the lease term is 12 months or less or the underlying asset has a low value). 

The Company recognises a lease liability at the lease commencement date (or on initial application), measured as the present  
value of the future lease payments, discounted at the incremental borrowing rate. A corresponding right-of-use asset is recognised 
separately on the face of the consolidated balance sheet, net of accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. For leases 
recognised on initial application, the right-of-use asset is initially measured at either the carrying amount if IFRS 16 had always  
been applied, or an amount equal to the initially recognised lease liability. 

On transition, the Company recognised £1.2 million of right-of-use assets, £1.3 million of lease liabilities and an adjustment of  
£0.1 million to working capital.  

The Company recognised depreciation of £0.2 million in respect of right-of-use assets and interest costs of £0.1 million in respect 
of leases in the year ended 31 December 2019. 

b) Estimation uncertainty 
Judgements made by the Directors, in the application of these accounting policies that have significant effect on the financial 
statements and estimates with a significant risk of material adjustment in the next year, are as follows: 

•  Note 10 – Defined benefit pension obligations. The defined benefit pension obligations are calculated using a number of 

assumptions, including future inflation, salary increases and mortality and the obligation is then discounted to its present  
value using an assumed discount rate. The pension deficit has been calculated using the assumptions set out in note 23  
of the consolidated financial statements; and  

•  Note 5 – Accruals. The Company makes appropriate provision on a consistent basis for restructuring and other normal trading 

exposures with estimates being made regarding the timing of future payments.  

164 
164 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements 
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  
continued  

1 Significant accounting policies continued 
c) Going concern 
Details of the Directors’ assessment of the Company’s ability to continue in operational existence for at least 12 months from the 
date of signing these financial statements are shown in note 1 of the consolidated financial statements and in the Governance and 
Directors’ Report on page 62. 

d) Investments  
Fixed asset investments in subsidiaries are carried at cost less provision for impairment.  

e) Own shares held by Employee Benefit Trust 
Transactions of the Company-sponsored Employee Benefit Trust are treated as being those of the Company and are therefore 
reflected in the Company’s financial statements. In particular, the Trust’s purchases of shares in the Company are debited directly 
to equity. 

2 Fixed assets 

£million 

Cost 
At 1 January 2019 

Impact of adoption of IFRS 16 

Adjusted balance at 1 January 2019 

Additions 
Disposals 

At 31 December 2019 

Depreciation 
At 1 January 2019 

Charge for the year 
Disposals 

At 31 December 2019 

Net book value 

At 31 December 2019 

At 31 December 2018 

Intangible 
assets 

Plant, 
equipment 
and vehicles 

Right-of-use 
assets 

18.4 

– 

18.4 

0.5 
– 

18.9 

14.0 

1.3 
– 

15.3 

3.6 
4.4 

1.3 

– 

1.3 

0.2 
(0.3) 

1.2 

0.3 

0.2 
(0.3) 
0.2 

1.0 

1.0 

– 

1.2 

1.2 

– 
– 
1.2 

– 

0.2 
– 
0.2 

1.0 

– 

Included within intangible fixed assets are assets under construction with a carrying value of £0.7 million (2018: £1.0 million). 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

165 
165

Financial statements 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  
continued  

3 Fixed asset investments 
£million 

Cost 
At 1 January 2019 

Additions 

At 31 December 2019 

Provisions 

At 1 January and 31 December 2019 

Net book value 

At 31 December 2019 

At 31 December 2018 

Subsidiary undertakings 

252.0 

1.0 

253.0 

63.7 

189.3 

188.3 

The Company’s subsidiary undertakings and their locations are shown in note 14. Shareholdings are held indirectly for all principal 
operating subsidiary undertakings.  

During the year the Company assumed the net liabilities amounting to £1.0 million associated with the Stadium Group pension 
scheme. No consideration was received in exchange for assuming these liabilities and the Company has therefore recorded an 
additional investment. 

2019 

2018 

190.0 
0.7 

190.7 

115.5 
1.8 

117.3 

2019 

2018 

2.4 

122.1 
1.0 

4.6 

130.1 

2.2 

187.2 
1.6 

5.9 

196.9 

Current 

Non-current 

Total 

0.2 

0.3 

1.0 

– 

1.2 

0.3 

4 Debtors 
£million 

Amounts falling due within one year 

Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings 
Prepayments, accrued income and other receivables 

5 Creditors  
£million 

Amounts falling due within one year 
Trade creditors 

Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings 
Taxation and social security 

Accruals and deferred income 

6 Lease obligations 
£million 

At 31 December 2019 

Lease liabilities 

At 31 December 2018 

Finance Leases  

166 
166 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  
continued  

7 Share capital 
£million 

Issued, called up and fully paid 
164,038,978 (2018: 163,354,090) ordinary shares of 25p each 

2019 

2018 

41.0 

40.8 

The performance conditions of the Long-term Incentive Plan awards issued in 2016 and a Restricted Share Plan award issued  
in 2018 were met and shares were allocated to award holders from existing shares held by an Employee Benefit Trust for nil 
consideration. During the period the Company issued 684,888 ordinary shares as a result of share options being exercised under 
the Sharesave scheme and Share Purchase plans. The aggregate consideration received was £0.9 million, which was represented 
by a £0.2 million increase in share capital and a £0.7 million increase in share premium. 

8 Share-based payments  
Details of share-based payments are shown in note 26 of the consolidated financial statements. 

9 Profit for the year  
As permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the Company has elected not to present its profit and loss account for the 
year. The profit after tax of the Company for the year was £153.6 million (2018: £24.6 million loss). The auditor’s remuneration for 
audit services is disclosed in note 7 of the consolidated financial statements.  

10 Pension schemes  
Defined benefit scheme 
On 29 March 2019 the existing TT Group pension scheme merged with the Stadium Group pension scheme and the Company 
assumed the net liabilities of £1.0 million for no consideration at that date. 

The triennial valuation of the TT Group scheme as at April 2019 showed a net surplus of £0.3 million against the Trustee’s funding 
objective compared with a deficit of £46.0 million at April 2016. As the scheme was fully funded at the 2019 triennial valuation date, 
there is no requirement for the Company to pay deficit repair contributions. In addition to the statutory funding objective, the 
Trustee and Company have agreed to move towards a ‘self-sufficient’ funding target, under which once full funding is achieved the 
likelihood of the Trustee requiring subsequent contributions from the Company is significantly reduced. To support the scheme’s 
long-term funding target of self-sufficiency the Company has agreed to pay additional fixed contributions extending to 2023 to the 
TT Group scheme. These planned contributions amount to £5.3 million, £5.5 million, £5.7 million and £4.4 million to be paid in the 
years 2020 to 2023. 

In addition, the Company has set aside £2.5 million to be utilised in agreement with the Trustee for reducing the long-term liabilities 
of the scheme. Further details of the scheme are provided in note 23 of the consolidated financial statements. 

Defined contribution scheme 
The Company operates a Group personal pension plan for employees and pays contributions to administered pension insurance 
plans. The Company has no further payment obligation once the contributions have been paid. Payments to the defined 
contribution scheme are charged as an expense as they are incurred. The total contributions charged by the Company including 
employee salary exchange contributions in respect of the year ended 31 December 2019 were £0.6 million (2018: £0.5 million).  

11 Deferred tax 
The deferred tax asset of £2.9 million comprises £1.3 million in respect of share-based payments (2018: £1.2 million) the movement 
in which has been recognised in equity (£0.1 million); £1.2 million in respect of non-current assets (2018: £1.3 million) the 
movement in which has been recognised in profit (£0.1 million); and £0.4 million in respect of tax losses (2018: £0.3 million) the 
movement in which has been recognised in profit (£0.1 million).  

The deferred tax liability of £3.6 million is in respect of the pension asset (2018: £4.2 million), the movement in which has been 
recognised in equity (£1.6 million) and profit (£1.0 million). 

12 Commitments under operating leases 
The Company has outstanding commitments under non-cancellable short-term and low-value leases of £nil (2018: operating  
lease commitments of £0.5 million, £0.2 million falling due in one year and £0.3 million falling due between two and five years).  

13 Related party transactions 
During 2019 and 2018, the Company did not have any related party transactions other than with wholly owned subsidiaries. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

167 
167

Financial statements 
 
 
  
  
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  
continued  

14 Subsidiary undertakings  
The following entities are 100% owned with only ordinary shares in issue, unless otherwise stated. The country of incorporation 
matches the country in which the registered office/principal place of business is located. 

Name of subsidiary undertaking 

TT Electronics Ltd 
AB Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (in liquidation) 

Dongguan Arlec Electrical Products Co. Limited (capital contribution) 
Shanghai Hongbian Electronics Co. Limited (capital contribution) 

Taishan Precision International Co. Limited 
TT Electronics Integrated Manufacturing Services (Suzhou) Co., Ltd 

Ying Si Ke Electrical Porducts Co. Limited (capital contribution) 
TT Electronics SAS 

TT Electronics GmbH 
Precision International Holdings Limited 

Stadium Asia Limited  
STMC Limited 

TT Electronics Srl 
BI Technologies Corporation SDN BHD (ordinary and preference shares) 

BI Technologies S.A. de C.V.  
Optron de Mexico S.A. de C.V.  

TT Electronics Asia Pte Ltd 
TT Electronics Sweden AB 

Aero Stanrew SARL 
AB Connectors Limited 

AB Electronic Components Limited 
Abtest Limited 
Aero Stanrew Group Limited (ordinary and preference shares)1, 2 
Aero Stanrew Limited 
Automotive Electronic Systems Limited1 
BI Technologies Limited2 
Cable Realisations Limited (in liquidation)  
Commendshaw Limited2 
Controls Direct Limited2 
Crystalate Electronics Limited 
Dale Electric International Limited1, 2 
Deltight Washers Limited2 
Ferrus Power Limited2 
Fox Industries Limited2 
Hale End Holdings Limited2 
Kingslo Limited2 
KRP Power Source (UK) Limited2 
Linton and Hirst Group Limited2 
Midland Electronics Limited 
MMG Linton and Hirst Limited2 
Nulectrohms Limited2 
Rodco Limited (60% owned)1,2 
Roxspur Measurement & Control Limited 
Semelab Limited 

168 
168 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Registered 
office/principal 
place of 
business 

(1) 
(2) 

(3) 
(4)  

(5) 
(2) 

(3) 
(6) 

(7) 
(8) 

(9) 
(9) 

(10) 
(11) 

(12) 
(13) 

(14) 
(15) 

(16) 
(17) 

(18) 
(19) 

(20) 
(20) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(21) 

Financial statements 
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  
continued  

14 Subsidiary undertakings continued 

Name of subsidiary undertaking 

Sensit Limited2 
Stadium Electrical Holdings Limited2 
Stadium Electronics Limited2 
Stadium IGT Limited 

Stadium Power Limited 
Stadium United Wireless Limited 
Stadium Wireless Devices Limited2 
Stadium Zirkon UK Limited2 
Stontronics Limited 
The Brearley Group Limited2 
TT Asia Holdings Limited 
TT Automotive Electronics Limited2 
TT Electronics Advanced Technology Centre (Nottingham) Limited 
TT Electronics Europe Limited1,2 
TT Electronics Fairford Limited 
TT Electronics Group Holdings Limited1 
TT Electronics Holdco Limited 
TT Electronics Integrated Manufacturing Services Limited 
TT Electronics IoT Solutions Limited1 
TT Group Limited2 
TT Power Solutions Limited2 
TTE Trustees Limited1,2 
TTG Investments Limited1 
TTG Nominees Limited1,2 
TTG Pension Trustees Limited1,2 
TTG Properties Limited1 
TT-UR Precision Resistors Limited 
Valuegolden Limited2 
Welwyn Components Limited 
Welwyn Electronics Limited2 
Wolsey Comcare Limited2 
Zirkon Holdings Limited 
AB Interconnect, Inc.  
Apsco Holdings, Inc 
BI Technologies Corporation 
Cletronics N.A. Inc. 
International Resistive Company Inc 
International Resistive Company of Texas, LLC 
Optek Technology Inc 
Power Partners, Inc 
Precision, Inc. 
Stadium Group, Inc 

TT Electronics Integrated Manufacturing Services, Inc 
TT Electronics Power Solutions (US), Inc 

TT Group Industries, Inc.  

Registered 
office/principal 
place of 
business 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(22) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 

(23) 
(18) 

(18) 
(18) 
(24) 
(24) 
(24) 
(25) 
(24) 
(26) 
(24) 
(27) 
(28) 
(25) 

(29) 
(25) 

(24) 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

169 
169

Financial statements 
 
 
 
Financial statements 

Notes to the Company financial statements  
continued  

14 Subsidiary undertakings continued 

(1)  Newton Industrial Park, Christchurch, Barbados, West Indies 
158-24 Hua Shan Road, Snd Suzhou, 215129, China 
(2) 
(3) 
4th Building, F Zone, Zheng Wei Science Park, Dongkeng Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong, China 
(4)  Room 404-A69, East of Building 1, 29 Jia Tai Road, China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, China 
4/F No 132 Fu Cheng Avenue, Taishan City, China 
(5) 
4 place Louis Armand, 75012 Paris, France 
(6) 
(7)  Max-Lehner-Strasse 31, 85354, Freising, Germany 
(8)  Room RA21, 6th Floor, Woon Lee Commercial Building, No. 7-9 Austin Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong 
(9)  Unit A, 3/F, Bamboos Centre, 52 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 
(10)  Via Santa Redegonda N. 11, Milano, Italy 
(11)  Lot 6.05, Level 6, KPMG tower, 8 First Avenue, Bandar Utama 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Darul Ehsan, Malaysia 
(12)  Ave Circulo de la Amistad No.102, Parque Industrial Mexicali IV, Mexico 
(13)  Ave Rio Bravo 1551-a, Parque Industrial Rio Bravo, CD. Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico 
(14)  2 Shenton Way, #18-01 SGX Centre 1, 068804, Singapore 
(15)  Gullfossgatan 3, 164 40 Kista, Sweden 
(16)  60 avenue de l'Uma, La Soukra 2036, Tunisia 
(17)  Abercynon, Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff, CF45 4SF, Wales 
(18)  Fourth Floor, St Andrews House, West Street, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6EB, England 
(19)  Unit 1, Tregwilym Industrial Estate, Rogerstone, Newport, Gwent, NP10 9YA, Wales 
(20)  Unit 1 Gratton Way, Roundswell Business Park, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 3AR, England 
(21)  Coventry Road, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, LE17 4JB, England 
(22)  London Road, Fairford, Gloucestershire, GL7 4DS, England 
(23)  Welwyn Electronics Park, Bedlington, Northumberland, NE22 7AA, England 
(24)  Corporation Service Company, 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington, DE 19808, United States 
(25)  CT Corporation System, Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, DE 19801, United States 
(26)  Corporation Service Company, 211 East 7th Street, Suite 620, Austin, TX 78701-3218, United States 
(27)  43 Broad Street, Suite B206, Hudson, MA01749, United States 
(28)  1700 Freeway Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55430, United States 
(29)  CT Corporation System, 4400 Easton Commons Way, Suite 125, Columbus, OH43219, United States 

1  Shares held directly by TT Electronics plc. 
2  Dormant UK subsidiary. 

170 
170 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Financial statements 
 
Financial statements 

Five-year record 

£million (unless otherwise stated) 

Revenue 
Operating profit 
Underlying operating profit3 
Profit before taxation 
Underlying profit before taxation3 
Earnings 
Underlying earnings3 
Earnings per share (pence) 
Underlying earnings per share (pence)3 
Dividends – paid and proposed 
Dividend per share – paid and proposed (pence) 
Average number of shares in issue 
Net (debt)/funds 

Total equity 

2019 

478.2 
18.8 
40.0 
15.1 
36.3 
13.9 
30.5 
8.5 
18.7 
11.4 
7.0 
163.1 
(69.1) 

268.9 

2018 

429.5 
16.5 
33.4 
14.6 
31.5 
13.0 
26.2 
8.0 
16.2 
10.5 
6.5 
161.8 
(41.7) 

279.5 

20171 

361.1 
20.0 
24.3 
17.7 
22.0 
15.7 
19.4 
9.7 
10.9 
9.4 
5.8 
161.7 
47.0 

304.1 

20162 

332.7 
18.8 
20.6 
14.3 
16.1 
11.9 
10.3 
7.3 
6.4 
9.0 
5.6 
162.2 
(55.4) 

233.4 

2015 

509.9 
16.3 
21.7 
13.8 
19.2 
10.4 
14.0 
6.5 
8.8 
8.9 
5.5 
159.2 
(56.1) 

187.4 

Notes 
1  Results for 2017 have been restated for IFRS 15. 
2  Results for 2016 have been restated for IFRS 15 and re-presented to exclude discontinued operations. 
3  Operating profit, profit before taxation, earnings and earnings per share exclude the impact of restructuring costs, asset impairments and acquisition and disposal related costs. 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 
TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

171 
171

Financial statements 
 
 
 
Additional information

Additional information

R&D spend
Definition: R&D spend is defined as the cash spent on research 
and development activities expressed as a percentage of 
revenue for those divisions incurring R&D spend.

Employee engagement
Definition: We use our employee survey to measure how 
our employees feel about working in TT using a scale of 
1 (low) to 7 (high) against eight factors (as surveyed by Best 
Companies Ltd).

Safety performance
Definition: Safety performance is quantified as the number of 
occupational injuries resulting in three or more days’ absence 
per 1,000 employees. This KPI allows us to compare our 
performance with that of our peers. We use a UK benchmark 
published by the Health and Safety Executive and apply this 
to all of our facilities worldwide, reflecting our commitment to 
raising standards globally.

Underlying EBITDA 
Definition: Underlying EBITDA is underlying operating profit, 
excluding depreciation of property, plant and equipment 
including right-of-use assets and amortisation of intangible 
assets charged to underlying operating profit.

Underlying operating profit margin
Definition: Underlying operating profit divided by revenue.

172 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Glossary

AGM 

Annual General Meeting

BE Inspired 

a TT initiative to deliver improved  
employee performance

BE Lean 

a TT initiative to improve operational efficiency

BE TT  

Build Expertise in TT

bn 

bps 

billion

basis point

CAGR 

Compound Annual Growth Rate

CEO 

CFO 

CGU 

CPI 

CREST 

CSR 

DEFRA 

EBT 

EICC 

EMB 

EPS 

ESG 

EU 

EVP 

FBU 

FRC  

FRS 

FTSE 

GBP 

GMS 

H 

HR 

HSE 

IAS 

IASB 

IFRS 

IoT 

IT 

KPI 

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Cash Generating Unit

Consumer Prices Index

Certificateless Registry for Electronic  
Share Transfer

Corporate and Social Responsibility

Department for Environment,  
Food and Rural Affairs

Employee Benefit Trust

Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition

Executive Management Board

Earnings Per Share

Environmental, Social and Governance

European Union

Executive Vice President

Fair, Balanced and Understandable

Financial Reporting Council

Financial Reporting Standards

Financial Times Stock Exchange

Pounds Sterling (£)

Global Manufacturing Solutions

Half (year)

Human Resources

Health Safety & Environmental

International Accounting Standards

International Accounting Standards Board

International Financial Reporting Standards

Internet of Things

Information Technology

Key Performance Indicator

LIBOR 

London Interbank Offered Rate

LLP 

LTIP 

M&A 

MoD 

NED 

NVQ 

OECD 

OEM 

OTTP 

PBT 

PCBA 

PIE 

PLC 

PSEE 

Q 

R&D 

RBA 

RMB 

RNS 

ROIC 

RPI 

RSP 

Limited liability partnership

Long Term Incentive Plan

Mergers and Acquisitions

Ministry of Defence

Non-Executive Director

National Vocational Qualification

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development

Original Equipment Manufacturer

On Time To Promise

Profit Before Tax

Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Pensions Increase Exchange

Public Limited Company

People, Social, Environmental and Ethics

Quarter (year)

Research and Development

Responsible Business Alliance

Chinese Yuan

Regulatory News Service

Return on Invested Capital

Retail Price Index

Restricted Share Plan

SERPS 

STEM 

State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme

Science, Technology, Engineering  
and Mathematics

the Board 

The Board of Directors of TT Electronics plc

the Code 

UK Corporate Governance Code

the Company  TT Electronics plc

the Directors  The Directors of TT Electronics plc

the Group 

TT Electronics plc and its subsidiaries

TSR 

TT 

Total Shareholder Return

TT Electronics plc

TT Way 

TT’s aspired culture

UK 

UN 

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 
Ireland

United Nations

Underlying 
EBITDA 

Underlying Earnings Before Interest, Taxes,
Depreciation and Amortisation 

USA/US 

United States of America

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

173

Additional informationShareGift
ShareGift is a charity share donation scheme for shareholders, 
administered by The Orr Mackintosh Foundation. It is 
especially for those who may wish to dispose of a small 
parcel of shares whose value makes it uneconomical to sell 
on a commission basis. Further information can be obtained 
at www.sharegift.org or from Equiniti.

Shareholder enquiries
Equiniti maintain the register of members of the Company. 
If you have any queries concerning your shareholding, or if 
any of your details change, please contact the Registrars:

Equiniti Limited 
Aspect House 
Spencer Road 
Lancing 
West Sussex 
BN99 6DA

Telephone 0371 384 2396* (or +44 121 415 7047 if calling 
from outside the United Kingdom)

Equiniti also offer a range of shareholder information on-line at 
www.shareview.co.uk

Website
Information on the Group’s financial performance, activities 
and share price is available at www.ttelectronics.com

*  Lines are open from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday (except bank holidays).

Additional information | Shareholder information

Shareholder information

Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting will be held on 6 May 2020 at 
10.00 am at the offices of Allen & Overy LLP, One Bishops 
Square, London E1 6AD.

Results
Announcement of 2020 half year results – mid-August 2020. 

Preliminary announcement of 2020 results – mid-March 2021. 

Annual Report 2020 – to be posted April 2021.

Dividends
For the year ended 31 December 2019, the Board has 
recommended increasing the final dividend to 4.9 pence 
per share. This, when combined with the interim dividend  
of 2.1 pence per share, gives an increased total dividend of  
7.0 pence per share (2018: 6.5 pence per share). Payment  
of the final dividend will be made on 15 May 2020 to 
shareholders on the register on 24 April 2020.

Multiple accounts on the shareholder register
If you have received two or more copies of this document, 
this means that there is more than one account in your name 
on the shareholder register. This may be caused by either 
your name or address appearing on each account in a slightly 
different way. For security reasons, the Registrars will not 
amalgamate the accounts without your written consent.

If you would like any multiple accounts combined into one 
account, please write to Equiniti Limited at the address 
given below.

Share dealing services
Shareview Dealing is a telephone and internet service provided 
by Equiniti. It offers a simple and convenient way of buying and 
selling TT Electronics plc shares.

Log on to www.shareview.co.uk/dealing or call 0845 603 7037 
between 8.00 am and 4.30 pm, Monday to Friday (except 
bank holidays), for more information about this service and 
for details of the rates and charges. Please note that telephone 
lines remain open until 6.00 pm for enquiries.

A daily postal dealing service is also available and a form 
together with terms and conditions can be obtained by calling 
0371 384 2248*. Commission is 1.90 per cent with a minimum 
charge of £70.

174 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

Notes

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019 

175

Additional informationAdditional information | Notes

Notes

176 

TT Electronics plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019

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9

TT Electronics plc

Fourth Floor 
St Andrews House 
West Street 
Woking 
Surrey 
GU21 6EB

Tel  +44(0) 1932 825300 
Fax +44(0) 1932 836450

For more information on 
our business please visit 
www.ttelectronics.com