Melrose shrugs off failed acquisition with improved sales
WARWICKSHIRE based engineering turnaround specialist Melrose says its portfolio has seen sales increases of 12% and that it remains on the acquistiion trail despite a failed bid for Charter International earlier in the year.
In an interim management statement, the group said strong growth in revenue and operating profit in the first half of the year continued through the third quarter. Growth in Europe was slower, it said, but this was offset by continued good growth in North America and the Rest of the World.
The group’s sale of Dynacast for £377m this summer took the total equity increase returned to shareholders since 2003 to more £1 billion.
The statement noted Melrose’s failed bid earlier in the year for Charter International following a higher bid for the gas and welding group from US based Colfax. It said: “We withdrew on the basis that we maintain a keen discipline with regard to the price we are prepared to pay for acquisitions. We believe that the current economic environment is likely to present interesting opportunities which meet our strict acquisition criteria.”
The group said trading remained broadly unaffected by the volatile economic situation of the past three months.
It said: “In Brush Turbogenerators, Bridon and Crosby, which account for the majority of the Group, Melrose owns businesses with leading market positions operating in a number of different geographical regions in the world in sectors such as power generation, oil and gas and mining, which have favourable end-user demand prospects.
“As we enter the final months of 2011, the visibility afforded by our order books, supported by continuing efficiency gains and a robust programme of capital investment, gives us confidence of a good outcome for the year and we look forward to a further improvement in the Group’s performance in 2012.”
