By Abigail Townsend
Date: Wednesday 22 Nov 2023
LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Rotork reiterated its full-year outlook on Wednesday, on the back of solid trading during the second half.
The flow controls specialist said trading in the four months to 29 October had been in line with expectations, with order intake up on the same period in 2022 on an organic constancy currency (OCC) basis.
All divisions had shown improvement, it noted, led by oil and gas and water and power.
In the ten months to October end, group order intake was up nearly 10%.
Rotork, which is due to publish full-year results in March 2024, said: "The supply chain challenges, which held back deliveries to customers earlier in the year, are improving.
"Rotork confirms expectations for strong growth in full-year revenues on an OCC basis, and for year-on-year improvement in full-year adjusted operating profit margins."
As at 1000 GMT, shares in the FTSE 250 firm - which employs around 3,000 people worldwide - were down 1% at 308p
Shore Capital, which has a 'hold' rating on the stock, said: "We downgrade our 2023 full-year revenue and adjusted operating forecasts by 2%, due to the impact of FX movements.
"Oil and gas capex projections - a proxy for activity in the sector - indicate low-teen growth in the 2023 full year.
"Rotork's offering has historically been focussed on the oil and gas sector, with a large portion of its current products primarily designed for the sector. Many of them are therefore too sophisticated and expensive for applications in other markets, making volume growth at a group level difficult to achieve."