Smiths Group PLC on Tuesday reported annual profit and revenue slightly ahead slightly ahead of market forecasts.

Smiths Group shares were 0.7% higher at 1,678.50 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

The London-based engineering firm said pretax profit tripled to £360 million in the financial year that ended July 31 from £103 million the year before.

Headline operating profit climbed by 21% to £503 million from £417 million. This was 1.4% ahead of company-compiled market consensus of £496 million.

Revenue rose to £3.04 billion from £2.57 billion, beating consensus expectations of £2.99 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Keel said: ‘We continued to invest in research and development as artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in enabling us to support our customers more effectively. We are also further building our capabilities to capitalise on the growing megatrends we are exposed to across the major markets we serve, including energy transition and the world‘s ever-increasing need for better security.’

Smiths declared a final dividend of 28.7 pence per share, bringing the total annual payout to 41.6 pence, up 5.1% from 39.6p in financial 2022.

Diluted headline earnings per share were 97.0 pence, up 18% from 82.1p.

Meanwhile, Smiths said it completed its £742 million share buyback programme that it started in November 2021.

Looking ahead, Smiths noted that financial 2023 was a ‘record’ year for organic revenue growth, at 12%, and it is now ‘well positioned’ for organic revenue growth in financial 2024 within its medium-term target range of 4% to 6%.

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