Smiths Group profit rises on sales to oil & gas industry

Sept 18 (Reuters) - Britain's Smiths Group Plc, whose products range from bomb detectors to bearings and seals, said full-year profit rose 7 percent, helped mainly by sales to the oil and gas industry.

The company said it expects sales to keep growing although spending cuts by governments could hurt some of its businesses.

Headline pretax profit rose to 497 million pounds ($807.85 million) for the year ended July 31 from 463 million pounds a year earlier.

Headline revenue grew 7 percent to 3.04 billion pounds.

Revenue from the John Crane unit, which makes mechanical seals for the oil and gas industry and accounts for 32 percent of total revenue, rose 9 percent on higher demand.

The company increased its total dividend payment to 38 pence per share from 36.25 pence a year earlier.

Smiths Group shares were up 2.7 percent at 1,070 pence on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The stock had risen 9.33 percent over the past year up to Tuesday's close.