IMI boss says decade-long transformation complete

Martin Lamb, the outgoing boss of engineering group IMI, declared the decade-long transformation of his company complete on Wednesday as he announced the $1.1bn (£690m) sale of two non-core businesses to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

The FTSE 100 company has sold its retail divisions – which comprise a unit that makes drinks dispensers for fast food outlets and a marketing intelligence arm – as it chases growth in its lucrative valve making business.

IMI, whose valves are used to control fluid supply in everything from nuclear power plants to fuel-efficient vehicles, said it would return £620m of the proceeds to shareholders, with the remaining £70m contributing to the company’s pension pot.

The sale is likely to be the last major event in Mr Lamb’s 13-year tenure as chief executive, which ends in January. During that time shares have risen by 500pc and the company has been remodelled from a building materials maker to a global engineering giant.

“It’s been a long journey for IMI, and [today] feels like the completion of that journey, it’s been a decade of transformation,” Mr Lamb said.

He said the sale would further focus the company on high growth areas where it considers itself to be a market leader. IMI aims to get the proportion of its revenues from these "sweetspot" areas up to 75pc from around 60pc before the disposal of the Beverage Dispense and Merchandising divisions, and 71pc excluding those businesses.

Shares in the company, which are trading at an all-time high, rose as much as 2.7pc.