Tomkins leans against headwinds

CEO James Nicol said: "Tomkins' performance to date has been resilient. Our managers continue to take steps to mitigate the continuing US headwinds and to offset the impact of rising commodity prices through global sourcing, lean initiatives and price increases to our customers. Our businesses have continued to grow in emerging markets and we have seen strong demand in the global industrial sector. Good progress has been made in our stated Group priorities, including the three-year performance improvement programme, and we have made two bolt-on acquisitions and a joint venture in high-growth markets since the beginning of the year." Tomkins’ Industrial & Automotive division had performed in line with expectations during the early months of the year, generating good growth in the global industrial and agricultural businesses. In the oil and gas markets it was bolstered at the beginning of March by the acquisition of A.E. Hydraulic (Pte) Ltd., a provider of hydraulic and industrial hose solutions and services for the oil exploration industry in Asia. The Schrader Electronics business had announced a contract to supply breakthrough technology for fuel level sensors to BMW Motorcycles. In the building products area Tomkins’ Air Systems Components (ASC) saw a steady performance in the North American non-residential construction market and continued to make good progress with its expansion plans in India. Looking ahead, Tomkins said the majority of the end markets the Group sold into remained reasonably robust. However some – the North American automotive market and US residential housing market - had weakened further. Nevertheless, internal action plans were progressing well and the Group’s outlook for 2008 remained in line with previously expressed expectation