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(Alliance News) - Halma PLC on Thursday said it is on-track for the full-year after reporting record revenue in the six months that ended September 30, boosted by climbing Environmental & Analysis and US healthcare revenue.
The Buckinghamshire-based safety equipment maker reported that in the half-year, revenue totalled GBP875.5 million, up from GBP737.2 million the previous year.
Pretax profit, however, dropped to GBP145.5 million from GBP167.5 million. Halma said this drop was due to a gain on disposal of GBP34.0 million in the first half of its last financial year, which wasn't repeated. Excluding this gain, it noted, pretax profit was up 9%.
Halma's Environmental & Analysis revenue climbed 26% to GBP263.8 million from GBP209.5 million. "The sector's growth reflected its customers' continued focus on protecting the environment and improving the availability and quality of life-critical resources. It was also supported by the growing demand for products supporting the transition to cleaner forms of energy and other high-technology solutions based on digital, optical and opto-electronic expertise," Halma explained.
The company highlighted, in its healthcare sector, interim revenue grew 23% to GBP256.7 million from GBP208.0 million. In the US, its healthcare unit reported revenue growth of 28% or 10% on an organic constant currency basis, boosted by Healthcare Assessment & Analytics and Life Sciences.
Halma declared an interim dividend rise of 6.9% to 7.86 pence per share from 7.35p a year ago.
"We saw strong demand for our companies' products and services in the period. Our order book is exceptionally strong, having grown from the record level seen at the start of the year. Order intake remained ahead of both revenue and the very strong order intake in the comparable period last year," said Chief Executive Andrew Williams.
Looking ahead, the company said that the current operational environment presents challenges and opportunities, while it stays on track for progress in the second half of the year. The firm added it is progressing to "deliver another good full year performance".
Halma shares fell 4.7% to 2,239.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com
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