Halma PLC on Thursday celebrated a revenue boost from its Environmental & Analysis unit amid a positive start to the new financial year, as it reported a profit jump and a higher dividend.

The Buckinghamshire, England-based safety equipment maker said pretax profit jumped 17% to £340.3 million in the financial year ended March 31 from £291.5 million a year prior, as revenue climbed 9.8% to £2.03 billion from £1.85 billion.

The company noted sound overall demand for its products and services, with the Environmental & Analysis sector delivering ‘very strong revenue growth’ in the photonics business, and supported by Water Treatment and Analysis.

Environmental & Analysis revenue surged 19% to £658.4 million from £552.1 million.

‘This was another successful year for Halma. We delivered record revenue and profit, continued high returns. Strong cash generation enabled us to make substantial investments in opportunities for future growth, while maintaining a strong balance sheet,’ said Chief Executive Officer Marc Ronchetti.

Halma recommended a final dividend of 13.20 pence per share, up 7.0% from 12.34p a year prior. This brings the total payout to 21.61p, up 7.0% from 20.20p.

Looking ahead, CEO Ronchetti said: ‘We have made a positive start to the new financial year. Our order intake in the year to date is ahead of both revenue and the comparable period last year. We expect to deliver good organic constant currency revenue growth in the year ahead, and an adjusted earnings before interest and tax margin of around 21%, in the middle of our target range. We remain well positioned to make further progress this year and in the longer term.’

Halma shares were up 9.2% to 2,569.00 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

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