Smiths Group delivers 'good' Q1 performance as revenues tick up

Engineering company Smiths Group said on Thursday that it had delivered a "good performance" in the first quarter of its trading year, in line with internal expectations.

Smiths said revenue from continuing operations was up 1% on an underlying basis during the three months ended 3 October, reinforcing confidence among the board in meeting the firm's full-year expectations of underlying revenue growth roughly returning to pre-Covid levels of 3%.

Three of the group's four divisions delivered "good growth" in the first quarter, with a decline in Smiths Detection reflecting the timing of deliveries and the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on its end markets.

Smiths also noted that it was making "good progress" towards a faster than expected completion of its sale of Smiths Medical to ICU Medical for an enterprise value of $2.7bn.

As a result, Smiths said it had opted to advance its previously announced return of 55% of the initial cash proceeds to shareholders, with a £742.0m share buyback programme planned to commence on 19 November.

Chief executive Paul Keel said: "We are pleased with the continued progress we delivered through the first quarter of FY2022. While levels of recovery in our end markets differ and supply chain challenges continue, the group delivered a second consecutive quarter of growth and a three-point acceleration versus Q1 FY2021.

"This supports our confidence in meeting our full-year expectations of delivering underlying revenue growth for the group of around 3%."

As of 0915 GMT, Smiths shares were down 1.17% at 1,435.27p.