Halma PLC on Thursday declared a higher dividend as it posted profit growth, noting that the current operating environment presented both challenges and opportunities.

The Buckinghamshire, England-based safety equipment company said in the six months to September 30, pretax profit rose 3.2% to £150.2 million from £145.5 million a year prior. Revenue climbed 8.6% to £950.5 million from £875.5 million.

Halma declared an interim dividend of 8.41 pence per share, up 7.0% from 7.86p a year prior.

Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Marc Ronchetti expects the company ‘to deliver good organic constant currency revenue growth’ in the current financial year ending March 31.

Halma anticipates financial 2024 adjusted pretax profit to be in line with analyst consensus, which it said is £389.0 million, with a range of £377.4 million to £396.2 million. The lower end of the range would be 4.5% higher than the adjusted pretax profit of £361.3 million the company reported for financial 2023.

‘The current operating environment presents both challenges and opportunities. Our continued success in current varied market conditions is enabled by our sustainable growth model,’ CEO Ronchetti said.

Halma shares rose 3.7% to 2,038.50 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

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