Rotork says forex tailwind to push FY profits to top end of estimates

Actuator maker Rotork said it expected full year revenue to be towards the top end of expectations due to a currency tailwind and a good performance from acquisitions.

Revenue estimates range from £527.3m to £587m. The company expected forex benefits to boost revenue and profits by 10%.

“Order intake for the third quarter was up 22.2% (+0.1% on an organic constant currency basis on the comparable period in 2015, with cumulative order intake in the 10 months to 30 October up 10.2% (-6.7% OCC) on the prior year,” Rotork said in a trading statement.

“Revenue for the third quarter was 28.9% higher (+5.3% OCC) than the comparable period, with cumulative revenue 8.3% higher (-8.6% OCC) than the prior year. The order book at 30 October was £214.0m, 15.3% ahead (-6.8% OCC) of the same point last year.”

Rotork said the trading environment was anticipated to “remain challenging across most of our key markets and geographies”, with margins expected to be lower than the prior year but in line with market expectations.

“The underlying performance of our business in the third quarter was broadly the same as was seen in the first half, albeit reported numbers have benefited from currency movements and a contribution from acquisitions,” the company said.