Industrials
Companies that make and move physical things, from aircraft parts and machinery to building materials and freight.
Industrials in London IB covers eight sub-sectors, Aerospace & Defence, Capital Goods & Machinery, Building Materials & Construction, Engineering & Professional Services, Transport & Logistics, Packaging, Conglomerates, and Environmental Services. Each behaves differently. Aerospace aftermarket trades at 15-22x EBITDA on 25-35% margins, defensive because airlines still need spare parts regardless of cycle. Defence is government-funded, with 5-10 year backlogs and NATO's 2% GDP commitment driving European rearmament. Building Materials has geographic moats, cement is heavy, expensive to ship, priced locally. Environmental Services is similarly defensive, with landfill and contracted collection as recurring revenue. By contrast, Capital Goods and Transport are cyclical, tied to PMI, industrial capex, and container shipping rates that swing 5x.
Core skills, read a backlog. Book-to-bill above 1.0x signals demand growing 6-12 months out. Separate aftermarket from OEM revenue, aftermarket is recurring, high-margin, and earns premium multiples. Normalise earnings across the cycle, mid-cycle EBITDA, not peak. For conglomerates, run sum-of-the-parts and apply the 10-20% discount the market demands. Watch ROIC against WACC, above means value creation. FCF conversion of 80-100% is healthy; below 60% is a red flag.
The work involves M&A pitches, LBO structuring, diligence on backlog quality and contract profitability, and stress-testing through downturns. Deal flow runs on conglomerate break-ups, defence consolidation, and PE buy-and-build in fragmented services.
Open jobs
| Job | Firm | Level | Stage | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and trading · Equities |  Morgan Stanley | Placement starts Jun 2027 | Second or second-to-last year at university | 4 weeks |
| Infrastructure · Industrials |  Nomura | Associate | 3+ years | 4 weeks |
| Investment platform |  Wellington Management | Placement starts Jun 2027 | Second-to-last year at university | 4 weeks |
| Investment banking · Financial advisory |  Lazard | Placement starts Jun 2027 | Second-to-last year at university | 5 weeks |
| Investment banking · Industrials |  Citigroup | Analyst | 5+ years | 6 weeks |