Press Releases - Trading Update

Trading Update

19 March 2020

Halma today releases its scheduled trading update, for the period from 1 October 2019 to date.

The Group has made good progress during the period, although given the COVID-19 outbreak in the fourth quarter now expects adjusted profit before tax for the year ending 31 March 2020 to be in a range of approximately £265 million to £270 million. This compares to an average of current market forecasts of £275.5 million (see notes 1 and 2). Risks remain given the evolving and uncertain situation; the Board will continue to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak closely and take mitigating actions as appropriate.

The Group’s financial position remains robust, with committed facilities totalling approximately £750 million (at current exchange rates), of which around 60% are drawn. The earliest maturity in these facilities is for £77 million (at current exchange rates) in January 2021, with the remaining maturities from 2023 onwards.

Order intake is currently ahead of revenue and ahead of the same period last year. We have continued to benefit in the period from the long-term growth drivers in our markets, the breadth of our portfolio and the resilience of our business model.

To date, the Group has delivered revenue growth in all four major regions and all sectors:

• The USA grew strongly and benefited from positive contributions from recent acquisitions. There was good growth in the UK and more moderate growth in Mainland Europe, while strong growth in Asia Pacific was driven by recent acquisitions.
• The Environmental & Analysis sector delivered strong organic growth in the period, with Infrastructure Safety delivering a strong performance, driven by positive contributions from recent acquisitions and solid organic growth. The Medical sector delivered solid revenue growth, although profit growth was lower. Although Process Safety’s performance in the second half was affected by weaker oil and gas markets, the sector is expected to deliver a satisfactory performance for the full year.

The currency translation effect on the Group's results in the second half of the year is expected to be broadly neutral, resulting in a positive impact for the year ending 31 March 2020 as a whole (see note 3).

This has been a strong year for M&A activity, with ten acquisitions completed across all four sectors, for a total initial consideration of £227 million. We made seven acquisitions in the second half (see note 4 to this announcement, and our website www.halma.com). The integration of all acquisitions made during the year is currently progressing well.

The Group’s next scheduled update on trading will be the announcement of its results for the year ending 31 March 2020, which will be released on 11 June 2020.

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