Shaw & Co, the specialist corporate finance advisory firm, has launched its second annual in-depth report into the Energy & Natural Resources (E&NR) industry, the latest in its regular series of reports that offer business leaders a powerful sector overview and benchmarking tool to aid their decision making.

The report segments nearly over 800 businesses with earnings in excess of £1m by size and subsector to track their performance, profitability, debt levels and M&A activity. Key findings include:

• 26% Average Gross Margin: Gross (and Ebitda) margins have remained healthy over the past 12 months, despite a cautionary note over economic headwinds that may start to bite.

• 92 M&A Deals: Deal activity has been buoyant in the last year, but headwinds are emerging, including rising inflation, interest rates and energy costs.

• Good Performance Across the Board: All sub-sectors across the industry have performed well since the pandemic. However, along with many other industries, E&NR is facing acute inflationary issues such as energy commodity prices, which is being reflected across both the top and bottom-line figures.

• Oil & Gas Tail Wind: The Oil & Gas sub-sector has had a tail-wind behind it, driven by higher domestic and commercial energy markets that in turn has led to greater leverage and lending support to the sector.  

A full copy of the report is available here