Struggling precision engineering company IMI PLC (LON:IMI) expects little change in the trading outlook for the rest of the year.
The group posted a 1% decline in revenue to £910mln in the first half of 2019 from £915mln in 2018; on a like-for-like basis, revenue was down 3%.
Adjusted profit before tax, which excludes what the company regards as one-off items, fell 3% to £110mln from £113mln the year before while reported profit before tax held steady at £93mln.
The interim dividend has been nudged up by 2% to 14.9p from 14.6p.
The company said the first-half performance was in line with expectations and it expects the full-year outcome will be likewise, thanks to business improvements implemented as part of management’s strategic review.
"Our strategic review process is focused on developing a plan to increase value for all our stakeholders. We are looking at all aspects of our business and we will report on the outcome of the review with the 2019 preliminary results. In the meantime, we have immediately implemented a number of important profitable growth initiatives to optimise our performance," said Roy Twite, the chief executive officer of IMI.
"The trading outlook for the group remains substantially unchanged. In the second half of 2019 we continue to expect that organic revenue will experience a decline similar to that in the first half when compared with the same period in 2018. Nonetheless, second half profits are expected to be similar to last year, supported by the business improvement initiatives pursued by each of the three divisions," he added.
Shares in IMI were down 0.7% at 1,024p in early deals.