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Investing.com -- Rotork (LON:ROR) shares climbed 3% on Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected results for the first half (H1) of the year.
The British engineer posted EBITA of £80.8 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of £80 million. Group EBITA margin rose 140 basis points year-on-year in organic constant currency terms, reaching 22%, underscoring continued margin discipline.
Pretax profit of £81.2 million and EPS of 7.1p also both beat forecasts, and the company ended the half with £66.4 million in net cash.
Sales for the period came in at £367 million, up 3.3% organically, broadly in line with consensus estimates.
Orders grew 6.3% organically, with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.06.
The strongest order growth was recorded in the Water & Power segment, while Oil & Gas and CPI also delivered solid performance.
By division, Oil & Gas grew sales 2.3% organically, with EBITA margin improving to 25.8%, up 330bps.
Water & Power saw organic sales rise 8.6%, driven by strong demand in water infrastructure and treatment, though margins declined 110bps to 25.4%.
The CPI division was flat, with a modest 0.3% rise in sales and an 80bps improvement in margin to 23.4%.
Jefferies described the performance as one that “should be taken well by the Street,” adding that the company’s Growth+ strategy is working well.
The brokerage sees a “supportive” market backdrop and highlighted successful integration of the recent Noah acquisition.
Rotork’s annual guidance was left unchanged, with management confident in the visibility of the order book and strength of the project pipeline.