Melrose plans new buy after 'outstanding' year

9th Mar 2011 09:07

Nearly doubled profits capped an 'outstanding year' in 2010 for engineering conglomerate Melrose, which is now looking for another sizeable acquisition.The group, which has been linked with troubled banknote printer De la Rue, saw profits jump from £89m to £155.3m, on sales up 7% to £1.38bn. Underlying profits were £171m against £119m. Melrose said revenue growth returned in the second half of the year boosting operating margins to 14.3% up from 11.5% last year."Much of this profit growth has come from FKI businesses acquired in July 2008, but also from Dynacast, our principal early cycle business, which saw strong sales growth particularly in the first half of the year," it said. Order books for the group remain strong going into 2011, it said."We are well placed operationally and financially to take on another substantial acquisition. We are as selective as ever with our criteria and although it is impossible to be precise about timing we are confident of identifying a value enhancing opportunity in due course," it added.A 43% dividend hike to 11p for the year "reflects both the highly successful performance in 2010 and the board's confidence in the future," the firm commented.