|
Smiths Group PLC on Friday hailed its fastest top-line growth ‘in nearly a decade’ and said it is managing cost inflation.
The engineering firm said that revenue in the financial year that ended July 31 rose 6.8% to £2.57 billion from £2.41 billion a year prior.
Pretax profit however fell 57% to £103 million from £240 million, as operating costs rose by 18% to £2.45 billion from £2.08 billion.
Smiths lifted its annual payout by 5.0% to 39.6 pence per share from 37.7p.
Organic revenue rose 3.8%, the London-based firm said, rising at the fastest pace in nearly 10 years. This was ahead of the 3% revenue growth Smiths said it expected for the full year when it posted its half-year results back in March.
During the year, the company sold its Smiths Medical unit to medical technology company ICU Medical Inc.
The deal valued the unit's equity at $2.7 billion. Including the contribution from the unit, now categorised as a discontinued operation, annual profit multiplied to £1.04 billion from £285 million.
‘We delivered growth ahead of expectations, our fastest organic growth in nearly a decade. Along with accelerating growth, we further strengthened our company through increased investments in innovation, commercialisation and supply chain,’ Chief Executive Paul Keel said.
‘All of this gives us confidence for continued progress in financial year 2023. Despite an uncertain macro environment, we expect to deliver 4.0% to 4.5% organic revenue growth with moderate margin improvement.’ In the year just gone, the operating profit improved to 16.3% from 15.5%.
Smiths shares were 1.6% higher at 1,493.50 pence each in London on Friday morning.
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
|
