IMI FY profits up; sees revenue growth in 2018

Engineering group IMI said full year pre-tax profits rose 9.4% to £180.9m as new products drove an improved performance in what it called a “mixed” trading environment.

The company added that it expected to see higher organic revenue growth in the first half of the current year. Revenue in the reported year was up 5.7% to £1.75bn.

The dividend was increased to 25.2p a share from 24.7p last time.Organic revenue, which adjusts for exchange rates and excludes acquisitions and disposals was flat, IMI said.

It added that strong growth in its precision-engineering division's end market was offset by a weak energy market in critical engineering.Chief executive Mark Selway said 2017 was another year of “important progress for IMI”.

“The combination of a growing pipeline of great new products and the continued drive to improve our operational performance is enhancing our competitiveness, the results from which will become increasingly evident as markets continue to recover," he said.

"In the first half of 2018 we expect organic revenues to be higher than the same period in 2017 with margins reflecting a modest improvement, supported by both rationalisation savings and improved market conditions in IMI Precision Engineering. Results for the full year will also reflect our normal second-half bias."