Smiths Group 1st Half Pretax Profit More Than Doubles

By Olga Cotaga

LONDON--Smiths Group PLC (SMIN.LN) on Friday said its pretax profit more than doubled in the first half thanks to some robust sales and profit from a disposal.

Strong sales at its Smiths detection unit, which makes detection and screening technology, offset a decline in sales in its medical and John Crane businesses, which makes products for the energy industry.

The manufacturer of control systems and instruments for industrial applications made a pretax profit of 346 million pounds ($432.4 million) in the six months ended Jan. 31, more than the GBP168 million made in the corresponding period a year earlier. Revenue also rose to GBP1.62 billion from GBP1.37 billion.

Commenting on the planned acquisition of Morpho Detection from France's Safran SA, Chief Executive Andy Reynolds said: "Morpho Detection makes compelling sense and will increase our exposure to a growing market," adding the company is in the final stages to get all the approvals for the acquisition.

On the company's outlook, the CEO said the company expects some improvement in Smiths Medical's revenue performance in the second half but John Crane's "first-fit end markets" are expected to remain tough.

Overall, he expects the full-year outlook to remain unchanged. The board raised the interim dividend by 2.3% to 13.55 pence a share.

Shares closed Thursday at 1,556 pence.

Write to Olga Cotaga at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2017 04:13 ET (08:13 GMT)

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