Rotork profit climbs on unchanged sales as gears up for ABB takeover

Rotork PLC on Tuesday said improved margins helped drive higher half-year profit despite sales growth stalling.

The Bath, England-based flow control solutions provider said pretax profit rose 9.7% to £71.4 million in the six months ended June 30 from £64.7 million the year prior.

Revenue was flat at £367.2 million while order intake fell 4.9% to £371.8 million from £391.1 million.

Basic earnings per share climbed 18% to 6.7 pence from 5.7p. The interim dividend was boosted 1.7% to 3.00p from 2.95p.

Shares in Rotork were down 0.1% at 486.40 pence each in London on Tuesday. In July, the FTSE 250-listing agreed a £4.14 billion cash takeover by Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd worth 506p per share in cash. The deal is expected to complete in the first half of 2027.

Rotork said strong order intake in its Chemical, Process & Industrial, and Water & Power divisions helped partially offset the impact of Middle East-related disruption in Oil & Gas.

Operating margin expanded to 19.6% from 17.6% on-year, with return on capital employed easing to 36.5% from 37.0%.

Chief Executive Kiet Huynh said: "Rotork delivered a robust first half performance, demonstrating the strength of our portfolio and the continued benefits of the Growth+ strategy."

The CEO said Rotork is confident in delivering mid to high single-digit revenue growth and adjusted operating profit margins in the mid-twenties over time.

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