he boss of safety and medical equipment giant Halma is to step down after 18 years at the helm after the firm announced record results.
Departing chief executive Andrew Williams told the Standard the firm was starting to feel the bite of supply chain disruption and rising inflation.
“Like many others we recognise that costs are going up and we’ve got individual businesses that have had to increase wages,” he said.
“Our biggest challenges are around semiconductors and packaging issues [but] in the markets we’re in we’re selling critical components so there is some pricing power there. We’ve leveraged our balance sheet to stock up on raw materials.”
Williams joined Halma in 1994 and became CEO in 2005, as the company was transformed from a mid-sized business with £300 million annual sales to a FTSE 100 firm with revenues of £1.5 billion. In April next year he will be replaced by Marc Ronchetti, who has been CFO since 2018.
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How the Met Police is supporting and listening to its officersThe company posted revenues of £1.5 billion in the year to March 31 2022, a 16% rise on 2021, while profits were up 14% to £316 million, a 19th consecutive year of record profits.
Halma announced it would issue a dividend of 18.88p per share, a 7% increase on the previous year and the 43rd consecutive year of dividend growth for the business.
Halma made a record 13 acquisitions during the year as part of a £164 million investment programme, including the takeover of childbirth technology business PeriGen in a £40 million cash deal, and the acquisition of wireless fire system Ramtech for £16 million.
Halma shares were down 4% to £19.41 in early trading.
