UPDATE: Halma Seeks Buys As Fiscal Year Profit Rises 12%

22nd Jun 2010 07:51

(Adds detail.) By Jason Douglas Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Health and safety electronics company Halma PLC (HLMA.LN) Tuesday said it has returned to the acquisition trail after sales growth in Asia and savings from layoffs drove a 12% rise in fiscal-year profit. Halma, which makes products including smoke detectors, safety sensors for lift doors and sensors for detecting leaks in pipelines, said it is now looking for fresh deals after making just one small bolt-on acquisition during the fiscal year just passed. It said vendors are wary of selling in the hope markets will improve. "Our task is to convince them that they will achieve even greater success by being part of Halma now and to structure deals accordingly," Halma said. It added it is searching for companies to purchase in all market sectors and countries. Halma Tuesday reported a pretax profit for the 53 weeks to April 3 of GBP81.4 million, compared with a profit of GBP72.8 million for the 52 weeks to March 28, 2009. Revenue edged up to GBP459.1 million from GBP455.9 million. Sales growth in Europe, China and the U.S. was offset by declines in the U.K. and some other countries. Earnings were aided by higher amortization charges a year earlier and an improvement in margins following layoffs and other savings. Excluding amortization, pretax profit increased 9% to GBP86.2 million, above analysts' estimates of between GBP83.3 million and GBP85.7 million, according to FactSet. Halma said it expects future growth to be driven by trends like ever-tougher industrial safety rules and widening access to healthcare. It increased its full-year dividend 7.2% to 8.5 pence a share. Shares closed Monday at 271 pence. -By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 22, 2010 02:51 ET (06:51 GMT)