IMI sales top £1bn

25th Aug 2011 07:09

A confident IMI upped its interim dividend by 22% as half-year revenues at the FTSE 100 global engineering firm top the £1bn mark. Revenue for the six months ended 30 June rose from £925m to £1,032m, "reflecting continued improvement in trading conditions in most of our end markets," the firm said. IMI's larger divisions, Severe Service and Fluid Power, saw the steepest sales growth.Pre-tax profit increased by 8% to £144.3m, from £133.5m the year before, helped by an improvement in the operating margin, which rose to 17%, from 15.7% in the first half of 2010. Basic earnings per share (EPS) increased 9% from 29.4p to 31.9p, but on an adjusted basis (excluding the after tax net cost of exceptional items totaling £19m) climbed 27% from 29.8p to 37.9p.The interim dividend was raised from 9p per share to 11p per share.However, while still maintaining the view that it remains on track for the second half, the firm did note a slowdown in demand in Southern Europe and the UK, which account for a tenth of group revenues:"Macroeconomic indicators have weakened over recent weeks. Whilst noting some slowdown in industrial demand in Southern Europe and the UK, we have, more generally, not yet seen any material change in underlying order trends since the end of June, with most customers remaining positive about their future investment plans," said chairman Norman Askew.IMI said it has also experienced a "post-Fukushima weakening" in recent weeks over demand for some nuclear products, which account for less than 5% of total sales.BC