IN JUNE 2008, Smiths Group announced a reorganisation of its corporate centre and divisional headquarters to improve customer focus and reduce cost. The Specialty Engineering division was disbanded on 31 July 2008 and its three constituent businesses - John Crane, Smiths Interconnect and Flex-Tek - will be reported as separate divisions from the start of the current financial year. In addition, we announced that we will report the corporate centre costs separately in order to provide greater clarity to the underlying margins of the divisions and provide a clear incentive to minimise corporate costs.
The financial results for the six months to 31 January 2009 will be reported on this basis. The pro-forma results for the comparative period are set out below and are subject to review as part of the process for reporting the half year results.
| Sales £m | Headline operating profit £m | |
|---|---|---|
| Smiths Detection | 222.0 | 35.0 |
| John Crane | 282.8 | 40.7 |
| Smiths Medical | 346.3 | 66.8 |
| Smiths Interconnect | 121.1 | 23.3 |
| Flex-Tek | 99.6 | 10.5 |
| Marine Systems* | 16.0 | 0.8 |
| Corporate | - | (19.0) |
| 1087.8 | 158.1 |
*Marine Systems was sold in November 2007.
The results for the six months to 31 January 2009 will be announced on 25 March 2009.