Yes, these are OK results. However, it is important to understand the pro forma position (shown below), as there have been 2 acquisitions - one small and one large. Sounds like CMI lost a bit of momentum due to the Indonesia issues, which have now been reversed. Plus also no doubt management focused on selling themselves! So the $IPG legacy businesses probably had to do a little heavy lifting.

It is important to keep the pro forma in mind next year, because there will also be favourable FY25 / FY24 comparisons, as a result of the inorganic component. FY25 will also benefit from cost synergies, as they move some of the overhead and shared serves to the Group level. So FY25 = (Full Year of CMI + organic growth + synergies) sets the scene for a strong year ahead.

With the debt component of funding behind the CMI acquisition and the excellent excellent price, diluted EPS growth is good.

While I totally buy the "industrial logic" of the acquisitions, my thesis needs to also see strong organic growth, not exactly evident in the pro forma today. However, that's OK. I'm in this one for the long-term.

The market reaction today has to be understood in the context of the SP pull back / sideways trading over the last 12 months, which prior to today gave no real recognition of the excellent price for the CMI business. So today's SP move simply puts it back to where it should be, from my perspective.

This is one to analyse in a little more depth next week, however, the building blocks are in place positioning the company for strong organic growth relative to its sector. They are also clear that targeted M&A remains on the agenda, so there is an element of a roll-up here. But to date, the deals have been good and make strategic sense.

@Strawman have you invited Michael Sainsbury on for a SM Meeting? Equally, co-founder Mohamed Yoosuff (co-founder) would be good if Michael is too busy. (I'd love to understand more about their M&A screening process and Mohamed is in charge of this.)

Held in RL (5%) and SM