As a business, Halma is all about safety, but how secure a bet are the shares? The strength of the fire alarm and security technology specialist’s stock helped to propel it into the FTSE 100 just over a year ago and, as it stands, its position as a blue-chip company looks solid, albeit not unassailable.
The market values the shares, down 2p at £14 yesterday, at a rich 34.4 times last year’s earnings for a yield of barely above 1 per cent. That is a pretty bullish valuation for a dividend payout well below inflation. Is it justified?
Halma started life in 1894 as The Nahalma Tea Estate Company, operating in what is now known as Sri Lanka, but was then Ceylon. Having ditched its