Smiths' recovery on track

18th May 2010 07:38

The underlying improvement in revenues and margins at medical and engineering group Smiths continued in the three months to end April. "Smiths Group delivered margin improvement and strong cash generation through its programme of operational improvement in the nine months to 1 May 2010," it added.Smiths Detection saw underlying growth in sales and profit with good sales in ports & borders and military and a return to growth in transportation. "Looking to the full year, the order book is expected to support continued sales growth although military sales are expected to flatten due to the phasing of orders," it added. Seals maker John Crane's order book has strengthened with a further improvement in the book-to-bill ratio in the quarter. This supports a return to underlying sales growth in the second half although, in line with previous guidance, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the first half declines. Improved operating performance at Smiths Medical delivered further like-for-like sales growth. Smiths Interconnect has made steady progress against some challenging end markets while Flex-Tek remains mixed.We remain on track to meet expectations for the full year.