Halma annual profit to beat expectations

Halma said annual profit would beat expectations after revenue continued to improve and rose in all its major regions.

The safety and protection company said adjusted pretax profit for the year to the end of March would be similar to a year earlier - up from previous guidance for a drop of about 5%. This includes a small adverse effect from movements in exchange rates, Halma said in a trading update.

The FTSE 100 group also said Louise Makin, who joined as a non-executive director in February, will replace chairman Paul Walker in July.

Halma said it had continued to experience large variations in demand in different sectors and geographic regions during the second half of the year.

Infrastructure safety "made further progress and process safety gradually improved. Medical sales had "modest" improvement in demand for products related to elective procedures and the environmental and analysis division was resilient against a strong second half a year earlier.

Revenue trends have seen continued sequential improvement, and we have maintained good ongoing overhead control while accelerating our strategic investments to support future growth," Halma said. "Order intake is currently ahead of revenue and ahead of the same period last year."

Asia Pacific was the fastest growing region, helped by China's recovery. Europe and the UK had good growth and the US's growth was more moderate against a strong year-earlier period.

Cash generation was strong in the second half and the company's financial position is "robust", Halma said. The company said it had a strong acquisition pipeline and would continue to invest in its business.