Smiths returns to revenue growth, ups dividend

Smiths Group reported a return to revenue revenue growth and an increased final dividend as markets recovered from the Covid-19 crisis.

The FTSE 100 engineering group's headline operating profit from continuing operations rose 14% to £372m in the year to the end of July as revenue fell 6% to £2.41bn from a year earlier. On an underlying basis profit rose 7% and revenue fell 2% with revenue growing in the final quarter.

The results excluded the company's former medical business, which it agreed to sell in September 2021 for $2.7bn. Smiths reported good order book momentum and improving margins and said it was increasingly confident about its prospects.

Smiths proposed a final dividend of 26p a share, taking the annual payout to 37.7p - up 8% from a year earlier.

Paul Keel, who joined as chief executive in May, said: An important milestone for the group was announcing the sale of Smiths Medical. In doing so, we fulfilled a commitment to simplify our business and focus on our higher-performing industrial technology core, whilst delivering significant returns to our shareholders."