Halma plc is a global group of life-saving technology companies, focused on growing a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day. The company is listed on the LSE main market, is a constituent of the FTSE100 and has a market cap of £8.1bn. Full year results to 31st
March 2022 were released on 16th June.
We were delighted to welcome Charles King, Head of Investor Relations, to a webinar for private investors to talk about these record full year results and how the company is performing in the current environment. A recording of the webinar is available here.
Halma has just reported record results and along with those record results the company announced a long-planned change of leadership and Charles started by talking about the forthcoming change in CEO. Andrew Williams, the CEO for the past 18 years will be retiring next year to be succeeded by Marc Ronchetti, the current CFO. This change has been many years in the planning and is testament to the strength in depth of the leadership team. Andrew will support Marc through the transition process until the time he succeeds on 1 April 2023. It’s a fantastic opportunity for a new CEO as the group could not be better placed to take advantage of the many opportunities arising in their markets.
Moving onto the results, 2022 was a year of significant achievement and Halma passed a number of new milestones. The company reported record revenue in excess of £1.5bn and this was the 19th consecutive year of record profits, as well as the 43rd year when dividends have been raised by 5% or more. This is all despite the global financial crisis, Brexit, Covid and more recently the war in Ukraine. There has been increased investment in technology, more spent on acquisitions with over £250m spent on 13 companies and R&D and management believe they are well positioned to deliver further progress this year and in the longer term. (Editor’s note – hard to bet against this given their track record).
In terms of the numbers: Revenues grew 16% to £1,525m, profits were up 14% to £316m and operating profit to cash conversion was 84%. Growth was achieved across all major regions and came both organically and through acquisitions. The balance sheet is in excellent shape and financial gearing at the end of the year came in below the half…
