IMI profits hit by weak European demand and currency headwinds

Engineer IMI said a strategic review and challenging market conditions weighed on its full year pre-tax profit but said it was already starting to see benefits from its new strategic plan.

The FTSE 250 group posted a pre-tax profit of £245.7m in 2014, down 1.44% year-on-year, while revenue fell 2.87% to £1.69bn and adjusted operating profit fell 7.5% to £298m.

IMI said weaker demand from Europe in the second half of the year and currency headwinds weighed on results, with revenue and operating profit taking a £96m and £18m hit respectively as a result of the strong pound.

Including exceptional items, which included the sale of non-core businesses over the year, total annual profit rose 195.6% £671m, while earnings per share rose 7% to 78p.

The group hiked the final dividend 7% to 24.0p, making a total dividend for the year of 37.6p.

"Despite challenging economic and market conditions in a number of our key sectors, we delivered results in line with expectations while at the same time making significant investment which will drive future growth," said group chief executive Mark Selway.

"Our new strategic plan is now being executed across the group and I am pleased to report that we are already starting to see early signs of tangible benefits."