(Reuters) -Smiths Group named insider Roland Carter as its new CEO on Tuesday effective immediately as the British engineering company reported higher half-year profit and announced 100 million pounds ($126.49 million) of new share buybacks.
Carter, 57, most recently led the FTSE 100 company’s unit that makes security screening systems, Smiths Detection. He has notably increased the unit’s aftermarket revenue stream to greater than 50% of sales, Smiths said.
Before this, the British national was involved with the setting up of Smiths’ joint venture in China, which builds electronic components, subsystems and radio frequency products for industries like commercial aviation, railways and telecommunications.
Incumbent CEO Paul Keel, 54, who is stepping down to take on a role as CEO of a U.S. public company, took the top job at Smiths in 2021.
“The big news is the CEO change as we are still relatively early in Paul Keel’s tenure although the internal promotion suggests no major change in strategy,” RBC analysts said in a note.
Smiths also reported a 5.3% organic rise in half-year operating profit to 246 million pounds ($311.19 million) on strong orders in markets like aerospace, energy and security.
The group makes highly engineered seals, filters and electric heating elements used in clean hydrogen, carbon capture, and zero emission steel mill projects among other areas.
“We expect growth to improve in the second half, driven by a record order book for Smiths Group, continued strength in end markets like aerospace, security and energy, as well as gradually improving conditions in the industrial segments that were softer in the first half,” Keel said in a statement, as the company reaffirmed its full-year revenue growth targets.
($1 = 0.7906 pounds)
(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Christian Schmollinger)
