Halma second half goes to plan, currency benefits evaporate

Almost all trends of the first half rolled on in the second half, with order intake remaining ahead of revenue, growth in revenue and profit continuing at the constant currency level from all major geographic regions, with Asia Pacific maintaining the strongest performance.

"All sectors have traded in line with our expectations outlined at the half year," was the line that encapsulated this pre-close trading update.

The only change has been that the positive currency translation impact in the first half has reversed and there is now expected to be a neutral impact for the full year.

Otherwise everything reasonably within the power of the company was chugging along as-was.

The environmental & analysis sector "performed strongly", while there was "good progress" with the three areas of process safety, infrastructure safety and medical.

In medical, "as expected", management's control of discretionary costs was steadily improving profitability, while in process safety the growth rate moderated due to tougher prior year comparators, "as expected".

Boasting a strong financial position, the company said it continued to identify potential acquisition opportunities in all four of its sectors, as the integration was said to be progressing well for December purchases of Argus, an Italian manufacturer of wireless fire systems, and Sterling, its UK distributor.