The industrial conglomerate Smiths Group has been suffering from a credibility problem. The drawn-out disposal of its misfit medical business helped claw some back, but management’s ability to grow the top line is less convincing.
Over the past five years the shares have gone sideways and underperformed the FTSE 100 index by a wide mark. Compare Smiths’ performance to UK-listed peers and the group’s deficiency is more stark. Over the same timeframe, the shares have delivered a total return of just under 4 per cent, versus 180 per cent and 159 per cent generated by FTSE peers Spirax Sarco and Halma. It also trails that of smaller industrial specialists like IMI and Spectris.
Weak and inconsistent organic growth means Smiths, which makes everything from airport
