UK's Halma posts 20% rise in annual profit, CEO to retire

(Reuters) - British technology company Halma reported a 20% jump in annual profit on Thursday and said its chief executive officer Andrew Williams would retire next year after 18 years at the helm.

Williams will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Marc Ronchetti, the FTSE 100-listed firm said, adding that a search was on to name a new finance head.

Statutory profit before taxation rose 20% to 304.4 million pounds ($369.33 million), the Britain-based safety equipment maker said, adding that the earnings included a one-time gain of 34 million pounds from the sale of electronic security systems provider Texecom.

Halma also said it expected to maintain high returns in the 2022-23 financial year and a return on sales similar to the second half of the 2021-22 financial year.

However, shares of the firm were down 3% early on Thursday amid weakness in the broader market.

($1 = 0.8242 pounds)

(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)