20th Nov 2018 08:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed safety and environmental analysis firm Halma PLC hiked its interim dividend Tuesday as profit and revenue both hit record levels and its order book remained strong.
For the six months ended September, pretax profit widened 23% to GBP94.5 million from GBP76.8 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 16% to GBP585.5 million from GBP506.3 million the year before, up 14% on an organic constant-currency basis.
Revenue performance was helped by "robust" performances from all its four sectors and revenue growth in all regions. In particular, Halma emphasised the "very strong" performance in the US and "good growth" in the UK.
Profit performance was held back slightly by one-off items, including impairment of acquired intangibles as well as restructuring and acquisition costs. Excluding these, underlying pretax profit grew 19% to GBP112.9 million from GBP94.5 million the year prior.
"Halma made excellent progress in the first half, delivering record revenue, profit and dividends for shareholders, while continuing to invest in our strategic growth enablers for the longer term," Halma Chief Executive Officer Andrew Williams said. "Although the pace of technological and geopolitical changes is impacting economies and industries worldwide, we continue to benefit from the agility and resilience of our business model, as well as our geographic diversity, financial strength and focus on global niche markets."
Halma proposed a 6.11 pence per share interim dividend, up 7.0% from 5.71 pence the year prior.
"Following a very strong first half, order intake continues to be ahead of both revenue and order intake for the comparable period last year," Williams added. "We remain on track to deliver more typical rates of constant currency organic growth in the second half, resulting in a strong full year performance."
Shares in Halma were 2.8% higher at 1,346.00 pence on Tuesday.
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