Results round-up

Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl reported a rise in first-half profit as revenue grew and the company lifted its interim dividend following a number of acquisitions.

For the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit increased to £155.6m from £147.1m on revenue of £3.45bn, up from £3.14bn thanks to favourable currency moves. Adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £210.6m from £187m.

Chief executive Frank van Zanten said: “We continue to have a strong balance sheet and an active pipeline of opportunities for further acquisitions and expect to complete more transactions during the rest of the year. The board is confident that Bunzl's well positioned businesses will develop further and that the prospects for the group are positive."

Also on Tuesday, the company announced that it has completed two further acquisitions in Canada and has entered into an agreement to acquire a business in Hungary.

Including the three acquisitions announced on Tuesday, one of which is expected to be completed at the end of September, Bunzl has acquired eight businesses so far this year. The committed spend in respect of these acquisitions is £101m, adding annualised revenue of over £100m.

Oil services company Petrofac said it made a $12m first half net profit compared with a $182m loss in the same period last year.

Revenue rose to $3.9bn from $3.2bn, helped by record levels of activity and expected to deliver full year results in line with expectations with a net profit of around $440m.

Petrofac booked a $123m exceptional charge for the first half and said profit excluding losses on the delayed Laggan-Tormore project were $236m. It said it had a strong bidding pipeline for engineering & construction for the second half of this year and into 2017.

The interim dividend was held at 22 cents a share.

“We have delivered a positive set of results for the first half of the year, reflecting good project execution. We are on track to meet expectations for the full year 2016 and our high level of backlog gives us excellent revenue visibility for 2017,” said chief executive Ayman Asfari.