Meeting Prepper for Prospect: Stephen Brown @ Solid State PLC

When I meet with Sales Leaders, the conversations typically center on three areas. Here's what they tell me.

1. "I'm managing deals that run for years while the board wants quarterly results."
2. "I'm winning individual deals but not growing traction across the full account."
3. "I'm trying to get our sales teams coordinated instead of each running their own race."

Do any of those resonate with you, or is there something even more pressing?

• Selling into longer cycles Defence budgets are growing and 'speed to field' is now the dominant procurement metric, compressing qualification timelines. Solid State PLC's orderbook recovery and recent Project CAIN win signal that government defence demand is accelerating, but contract cycles remain multi-year. Stephen is probably struggling to align his sales team's quarterly targets with the reality of 18-36 month government procurement and engineering qualification processes.
• Vendor consolidation pressure Supply chain fragmentation is pushing defence and industrial buyers to consolidate toward fewer, higher-confidence component partners with proven compliance traceability. Solid State PLC is competing against larger peers like Curtiss-Wright and Advantech, yet lacks the scale messaging or cross-selling infrastructure of integrated rivals. Stephen is likely unable to win larger share-of-wallet or expand into adjacent customer accounts without a clearer, more executable account strategy.
• New regulatory gates on exports ITAR revisions in September 2025 redrew the line between USML and Commerce-controlled electronics exports, forcing suppliers to re-classify product portfolios. Solid State PLC's global customer base and custom power/computing products likely span both restricted and unrestricted categories, creating new compliance and sales complexity. Stephen is probably facing unexpected delays or lost opportunities because his sales team does not yet have clear rules on which products can be quoted to which customers in which geographies.
• Cross-division selling discipline Solid State PLC operates two divisions (Systems and Components) plus Custom Power, each with separate sales teams, product catalogs, and customer relationships. Customers increasingly want end-to-end solutions for harsh-environment applications, but the company's go-to-market structure does not yet reward or enable cross-division selling. Stephen is probably finding that his sales teams chase individual division wins rather than orchestrate multi-division account plans that would increase customer wallet share and reduce competitive displacement.

• Long Cycles, Short Quarters Many of my clients in your seat are running multi-year deals while their board watches quarterly numbers. It puts real pressure on how the team decides where to spend its time. What's helped is a forecast model built around how government procurement actually moves. What clients tell us is they stop defending the pipeline and start using it to make better bets.
• Winning More Wallet Share I see sales leaders right now losing ground to larger competitors not on price, but because they have no account plan above the program level. What gives them leverage is account planning that moves the relationship beyond a single program win. What clients tell us is they start capturing adjacent opportunities they did not know were sitting inside the account.
• Compliance Inside the Pitch Many of my clients in your seat find their teams quoting the wrong products to the wrong customers because nobody built the compliance rules into the sales process. What restores their confidence is having the compliance logic in place before a quote ever goes out. What clients tell us is the team stops burning time on deals that should never have entered the pipeline.
• One Account, Three Divisions When sales leaders are sitting where you are, getting separate teams to collaborate on a single account rarely happens without a shared plan and a real reason to do it. Where they get traction is account planning that rewards cross-team wins, not just divisional targets. What clients tell us is that once the shared plan exists, the teams start seeing each other as an advantage rather than a competitor for the same customer.

• When your team is deep into a multi-year defence programme, how are you keeping that deal visible and moving inside your own forecast?
• Where does your account planning actually break down when you need Systems and Components talking to the same customer at the same time?
• When a new compliance requirement comes in, what is the process for making sure every seller knows which products they can actually quote and where?
• How are your salespeople positioning Solid State as a full-solution partner rather than a component supplier when they are in front of a programme manager?

• If your forecast methodology was built around government procurement timelines, what would that change about how you talk to your board on revenue visibility?
• What would it take for your teams across divisions to run a joint account plan on your top ten customers?
• If your sellers had a clear product-geography-customer compliance map baked into the quoting process, where do you think the biggest pipeline recovery would show up first?
• What does a cross-division account model look like for Solid State in five years, and what has to change in how teams are measured to get there?

• Selling into longer cycles [Modernizing pipeline and forecasting methodologies + Account planning and opportunity coaching]. His team needs realistic forecast windows and coaching cadence built for 18-36 month government procurement, not quarterly pressure.
• Vendor consolidation pressure [Account planning and opportunity coaching + Cross-functional alignment between sales and marketing]. Clear account strategy and orchestrated customer planning unlock wallet share and multi-division positioning against larger competitors.
• New regulatory gates on exports [Modernizing go-to-market tech stack + Sales team enablement to maximize relevance with decision makers]. Compliant product-customer-geography rules embedded in systems and sales playbooks prevent pipeline waste and customer friction.
• Cross-division selling discipline [Account planning and opportunity coaching + Building habits, behaviors, and cadence for optimal revenue growth]. Orchestrated account plans and aligned sales behaviors reward multi-division wins over siloed divisional chasing.

Work History:

• Chief Sales Officer, USA Operations, Solid State PLC (2025-Present). Leads USA sales approach, customer engagement model, and market expansion for this AIM-listed defense and industrial electronics group.
• Strategic Business Director, Solsta (formerly Solid State Supplies Ltd) (2024-2025). Senior commercial role at the Solid State Group components division prior to CSO appointment.
• Senior Vice President, Sales, Enterprise, North America, Inseego Corp (2020-2023). Led North American enterprise sales for IoT and 5G connectivity solutions.

Recent Activity:

• Posted that beating expectations in complex industrial businesses requires early design-in decisions, programme discipline, team alignment, and pre-emptive risk management. Directly signals appetite for structured sales execution and pipeline discipline, core to Matt Oess's forecasting and revenue governance work. (approx. May 2025)

In the News:

• Solid State Group Appoints Stephen Brown as Chief Sales Officer, USA Operations (2025-03-19). Brown appointed CSO to lead US sales approach, customer engagement, and market expansion for Solid State Group.
• Custom Power: Solid State Group Appoints Chief Sales Officer (2025-03-20). Announcement highlights Brown's mandate to strengthen go-to-market strategy, deepen collaboration, and expand the US sales team.
• Steatite News: Solid State Group CSO Appointment (2025-03-19). Steatite (Solid State Group subsidiary) published Brown's appointment, noting his focus on the US sales and customer engagement model.

Dig Deeper:

• LinkedIn profile
• Company page
• CSO appointment press release

UK-listed value-added electronics group engineering durable components and systems for defence, industrial, and commercial markets.

Solid State PLC (AIM: SOLI) designs and supplies ruggedised electronic components, power solutions, computing systems, and communications products for critical applications in harsh environments. It serves defence, security, industrial, and commercial customers globally, operating through two divisions: Systems and Components. The group pursues growth through both organic expansion and acquisitions, reporting £125.1m in revenue. Products span from the ocean floor to space, with strong exposure to long-cycle government defence programmes.

Key Facts:

• Listed on London Stock Exchange AIM market (ticker: SOLI) since 1996.
• HQ: Redditch, Worcestershire, UK. Global operations.
• Revenue: £125.1m (FY ended 31 March 2025).
• Reported operating profit: £1.3m; adjusted fully diluted EPS: 6.2p.
• Open orderbook rebuilt to £97.0m as of November 2025.
• Two divisions: Systems (Steatite) and Components (Solsta); Power via Custom Power.
• Core products: ruggedised computing, battery power, antennas, secure radio, imaging, displays.
• Markets: defence and security, industrial, commercial (incl. UAVs, robotics, space).
• Growth strategy: organic expansion plus acquisitions in complementary sectors.
• Profitable every year since AIM listing in 1996.

Leadership:

• John Macmichael CEO, Solid State Group
• Nigel Rogers Chairman
• Victor Chavez CBE Non-Executive Deputy Chairman
• Stephen Brown Chief Sales Officer

Recent News:

• Interim Results H1 FY2025/26: Strong trading on defence and communications demand (2025-12-01). H1 trading was strong, driven by major communications order deliveries; orderbook rebuilt to £97.0m and Victor Chavez CBE appointed Non-Executive Deputy Chairman.
• Project CAIN: Initial $10.8m defence order announced for UK Government end user (2025-12-01). Post-period, Solid State secured a $10.8m initial order under Project CAIN, a major UK Government defence programme.
• Final Results FY2024/25: Revenue £125.1m; delayed comms order reconfirmed for H1 FY26 (2025-07-08). Full-year results reflected challenging market conditions; a delayed communications order was reconfirmed and rescheduled for delivery in H1 FY2026.

Publicly traded (SOLI)

FY25 (year ended 31 Mar 2025): revenue £125.1m, adjusted PBT £5.0m, both above reduced consensus. Gross margin held above 30%. H1 FY26 (to 30 Sep 2025) showed a sharp recovery: adjusted diluted EPS 6.5p vs. 3.5p in H1 FY25. Open orderbook £97.0m as of 30 Nov 2025. Board confident of meeting full-year FY26 consensus. Coverage by Cavendish Capital Markets and Zeus Capital.

Key Metrics:

• Revenue (FY25, ended 31 Mar 2025): £125.1m. Beat reduced consensus after a delayed defence comms order hit H2 FY25.
• Adjusted PBT (FY25): £5.0m. Exceeded reset expectations despite a November 2024 order delay from the UK Strategic Defence Review.
• Gross Margin (FY25): >30%. Stable across the year despite cost headwinds from UK Autumn Budget wage and tax changes.
• Open Orderbook (30 Nov 2025): £97.0m. Up from £85.5m a year earlier, underpinning FY26 full-year confidence.
• Net Debt ex-IFRS 16 (30 Sep 2025): £7.1m. Against a £15.0m RCF facility, leaving meaningful headroom for investment or M&A.

Recent Events:

• H1 FY26 Interim Results: EPS nearly doubled year-on-year, board confident on full-year outlook (2025-12-01). Recovery in defence/security shipments is accelerating; buyer likely has budget confidence heading into H2 FY26.
• Delayed large defence comms order reconfirmed and rescheduled into H1 FY26 delivery (2025-07-08). UK Strategic Defence Review caused a one-off slip; reconfirmed contract signals durable government demand.
• Victor Chavez CBE appointed Non-Executive Deputy Chairman, strengthening board (2025-12-01). Senior defence-sector appointment signals intent to deepen defence/government market positioning.

Macro Trends:

• Defense and aerospace spending is accelerating, with 'speed to field' now the dominant procurement metric. Deloitte's 2026 A&D outlook identifies AI-enabled systems and faster fielding as the top defense priority across portfolios.
• Electronic components demand is diverging: defense and industrial segments outpace flat consumer markets. Global electronic components market projected to grow from $468B in 2026 to $1T by 2034, at 10% CAGR.

Regulatory Shifts:

• FY 2026 NDAA mandates domestic sourcing for batteries and restricts foreign-entity suppliers in defense contracts. Suppliers with proven UK or Western-origin component traceability gain a structural procurement advantage.
• September 2025 ITAR revisions redrew the line between USML and Commerce-controlled electronics exports. Advanced electronics suppliers must re-classify product portfolios or risk losing access to key defense programs.

Technology Shifts:

• Agentic AI is moving from pilots to embedded workflows in aerospace and defense manufacturing operations.
• Wide-bandgap power devices (SiC, GaN) are becoming mandatory in defense and industrial electronics designs.

What This Means for Buyers:

• Customers are tightening approved vendor lists. Compliance traceability is now a gate, not a differentiator.
• Defense budget growth means faster cycles, but 'speed to field' pressure moves qualification timelines up, not out.
• Supply chain fragmentation is real. Buyers are consolidating toward fewer, higher-confidence component partners.

TT Electronics UK-listed peer with 21 global design and manufacturing sites, deep OEM relationships across defense, medical, and industrial sectors. Weaknesses: Revenue fell 7.6% in 2025, pretax losses widened, and ongoing corporate instability (failed acquisition bids, board departures) signals strategic distraction.

Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Industry leader in rugged embedded computing for defense, backed by a ~$3B corporation with deep prime-contractor relationships across all DoD branches. Weaknesses: US-centric focus and large-program orientation makes it less agile for smaller UK or European specialist-environment contracts.

Advantech High-volume global supplier of industrial PCs and rugged edge computing with broad catalog reach and strong reseller distribution networks. Weaknesses: Catalog-driven model lacks the custom battery, power, and systems integration depth that demanding defense or harsh-environment programs require.

Prospect's Position: Solid State PLC combines component distribution, custom power (battery) systems, and ruggedized computing under one AIM-listed UK group. Its vertically integrated, multi-division structure serves defense, industrial, and medical customers needing end-to-end solutions for harsh environments.

The rugged electronics market (~$15B in 2025) is growing, driven by rising NATO defense budgets and demand for IoT-enabled ruggedized systems, favoring specialists over generalists.