Water technology firm, Xylem, has told analysts that it will seek to achieve “above-market organic growth” along with “accelerated acquisition activity.”
Xylem’s president and chief executive officer, Patrick Decker told attendees at the company’s investor and analyst day: “Xylem has a powerful arsenal to fuel our growth and create value for our shareholders.”
He went on to say improving markets for Xylem’s products will help the company to outstrip underlying market growth. He said the firm expected to improve operating margins by more than 300 basis points over the coming five years “through focused business simplification and continuous improvement initiatives.”
He said the firm would implement a “balanced capital deployment strategy,” to use up to US$ 3.5 billion for “disciplined M&A and opportunistic share repurchases over the plan period.”
Xylem reaffirmed its full-year outlook, including full-year 2015 revenue of some US$ 3.7 billion, 6-7% down from the 2014 full-year results. Full-year 2015 adjusted operating income was expected to be US$ 470 million to US$ 483 million, providing earnings per share (EPS) of US$ 1.82 -1.87.
Stripped of unfavourable foreign exchange influences, Xylem expected adjusted EPS growth to be 4-7% over the previous year. The company’s outlook for projected restructuring and realignment costs was unchanged at US$ 20 million for the year.