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(Alliance News) - Engineering company Smiths Group PLC on Friday reported a rise in full-year revenue helped by foreign exchange gains and the contribution of recent acquisitions.
In the year ended July 31, revenue rose 7.3% year-on-year to GBP2.50 billion from GBP2.32 billion and pretax profit increased by 6.3% to GBP304.0 million from GBP286.0 million.
Smiths said that it made foreign exchange gains of GBP57.0 million, it reported GBP126.0 million of "adverse foreign exchange translation" last year.
In February, the company's Flex-Tek division acquired United Flexible Inc for USD345.0 million. United Flexible, which provides solutions for fluid and gas transfer systems in extreme environments, contributed GBP56.0 million in revenue during financial 2019.
In April, Smiths Group's John Crane segment purchased the industrial unit of Advanced Diamond Technologies Inc for GBP6.0 million. The acquisition contributed GBP1.0 million in revenue before the year end.
Smiths proposed a final dividend of 31.80 pence per share, taking its full-year payout to 45.90p, 3.0% higher than the 44.55p distributed in the year before.
All its operating segments reported revenue growth, in John Crane, revenue grew by 7.3% to GBP945.0 million from GBP881.0 million and in Smiths Detection, by 0.6% to GBP798.0 million from GBP793.0 million.
Flex-Tek delivered a 23% revenue rise to GBP436.0 million from GBP354.0 million and Smiths Interconnect had revenue growth of 6.3% to GBP319.0 million from GBP300.0 million.
Looking ahead, the company said the de-merging of its medical division is expected to be completed in the first half of the 2020 calendar year. Smiths Medical, classed as a discontinued operation, had a 0.6% revenue rise in financial 2019 to GBP874.0 million from GBP869.0 million.
The company said in November that it will separate its medical unit to maximise shareholder value and concentrate on industrial technology businesses.
Smiths forecasts further growth in the current financial year, with performance weighted to the first half.
It also expects to continue benefiting from foreign exchange tailwinds, if current rates persist.
Chief Executive Andy Smith said: "We remain on course to grow faster than our markets over the medium-term. Our strategy is to focus the portfolio for growth and deliver world-class competitiveness, within a strong financial framework. The board remains confident that this will drive long-term sustainable growth and attractive returns."
Shares in Smiths were 0.2% higher at 1,644.00p each in London on Friday morning.
