AGM Statement

IMI PLC
18 May 2007


                                                                     18 May 2007

                                                                                

                         IMI plc Annual General Meeting 
                                                                               
                              CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT 

                                                                                              
IMI plc, the major international engineering group, is holding its 2007 Annual
General Meeting at 12 noon today. At the meeting Norman Askew, Chairman, will
comment:

'In 2006 IMI continued to make good progress with strong advances over the prior
year in revenue, operating profit, operating margins and earnings per share.

The Fluid Controls businesses performed particularly strongly with an 8% organic
growth in revenue. The Retail Dispense businesses were affected by lower
investment levels within the beverage and retail markets which resulted in an
organic decline in revenue of 3%. The fundamentals in these businesses however
remain strong and we remain confident in the longer term outlook. Overall, we
delivered organic sales growth of just over 4%.

Operating profit, before restructuring costs and intangible amortisation,
increased by 17%. We have moved closer towards our long term margin objectives
and saw our operating return on sales advance from 12.3% to 12.7%. The three
year restructuring programme that we announced last year is on track and nearly
£20m was invested to move more of our manufacturing to our already established
lower cost facilities in Mexico, The Czech Republic and China. We have
additional investments of around £20m planned for each of this year and next and
we are now starting to see the benefits of this programme.

Our balance sheet is in excellent shape and we are well placed to fund further
acquisitions. The Truflo acquisition, concluded in April 2006, is delivering
excellent results.

£35m was invested in our share buy back programme during 2006 and in the current
year we have spent an additional £29m on this continuing programme.

The Board is recommending that the final dividend be increased by 8% to 11.7p.
This makes the total dividend for the year 18.7p, an increase of 7% over last
year's 17.5p.

In the current year to date momentum is encouraging. In Fluid Controls, the
Severe Service and Indoor Climate businesses continue to benefit from buoyant
markets, and continued strength in European capital equipment markets within
Fluid Power has more than offset the expected downturn in the US truck market.
Within Retail Dispense there are some more encouraging signs, with Beverage
Dispense exhibiting growth over the prior year and Merchandising Systems
building a promising position for the second half. Our programme to relocate
manufacturing to, and increase procurement from, lower cost economies is on
track and remains essential in combating the effect of rising materials costs
and the impact of unfavourable exchange rate movements. We remain confident of
delivering another year of good progress in 2007.'

We will, in accordance with our usual practice, comment further on our first
half business performance in a trading update to be issued on 29 June 2007.

 

                                    - Ends -                                    

 

For further information contact:

IMI plc
Graham Truscott, Communications Director                      Tel: [phone]
 
Weber Shandwick Financial
Nick Oborne / Stephanie Badjonat / Charlie Hooper             Tel: [phone]

 

Note to editors:

IMI is a dynamic, worldwide company delivering innovative engineering solutions
to leading global customers in clearly defined niche markets. Its five
businesses share a common goal - to convert their industry knowledge and market
insight into customised, design-engineered solutions which create customer
advantage and value. These include severe service valves, motion and fluid
control systems, indoor climate controls, beverage dispense systems, and
merchandising display systems for retail operations.

Close customer relationships, strong positions in growing markets and clear
differentiation through technological innovation or service are the defining
characteristics of all IMI businesses.

IMI is quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Information about IMI plc can be
found on the website: www.imiplc.com.

 

 



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