14th May 2015 07:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - Industrial engineering company Melrose Industries PLC on Thursday said it remains confident of its prospects for the coming year, with its Elster gas, electricity and water metering business performing well but its Brush electricity generation arm hit by slow end-market generator demand.
Melrose said Elster Gas has performed well in the year to date, with sales, operating profit and order intake all improving year-on-year. The business has not been impacted by the fall in the oil price over the past year, as it has little exposure to the upstream oil and gas industry, Melrose said. It said the integration of the Eclipse business Elster bought in October 2014 is ahead of schedule.
Elster Electricity also made a good start to the year and, though in a seasonally slower period, is seeing better trading year-on-year. Elster Water is trading well and on track for good profit growth in the year, Melrose said.
Trading in the Brush business has been broadly consistent with expectations, Melrose said, and trading and order intake will be weighted to the second half. The group is seeing a cyclical slowdown in demand for turbogenerators, partly due to the challenges in the oil and gas market, and it expects this trend to continue into 2016.
Melrose says trading overall is in line with its expectations and said it is continuing to try to identify a new acquisition.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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