UPDATE 2-Engineer IMI steps up cuts as 2009 revenues tumble
* Says revenues in 3 months to end-Feb down 15 percent
* Cuts 1,500 jobs, 750 more to go before June
* Year adjusted pretax up 24 percent
* Shares fall over 4 percent
(Adds CEO comment, shares, analyst)
LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - British engineer IMI Plc (IMI.L) said it had seen a sharp deterioration in trading conditions since late November and joined fellow UK-based engineers in accelerating cost cuts, sending shares down. The Birmingham-based company, which makes drinks dispensers, valves and heating and air conditioning equipment, on Wednesday said revenues for the three months to end-February were down 15 percent year on year and it had accelerated a cost-cutting programme.
"We saw a slowdown in some of our sectors at the back-end of November which has continued into the early part of this year, particularly in areas like truck, automotive, factory automation and construction markets," Chief Executive Martin Lamb told reporters.
He said IMI, which employs 15,000 people worldwide, had cut around 1,500 jobs already and was seeking to cut a further 5 percent of staff by June, in line with the 15 drop in revenues.
IMI, which was one of the four founding companies of Imperial Chemical Industries, said it was also bringing forward plans to move production from North America and Europe to lower-cost facilities in China, the Czech Republic and India.
Other British engineers with exposure to the automotive sector, such as Bodycote (BOY.L), Tomkins (TOMK.L) and Morgan Crucible (MGCR.L) are also cutting costs and reducing capacity as the lack of credit dries up demand for cars and trucks. [nLP324465]
At 0844 GMT, shares in IMI were down 3 percent at 248 pence, compared with a 1.3 percent rise in the FTSE 250 midcap index .FTMC.
"The results were quite good at 7 percent ahead of our forecasts, but the outlook will be heavily scrutinised," said Numis analyst Nick Webster.
"IMI has some major areas of weakness but has accelerated the restructuring programme, which should certainly help."
IMI posted a 24 pct rise in full-year adjusted pretax profit of 254.7 million pounds ($359.4 million), beating expectations, as sales rose 19 percent to 1.9 billion.
Lamb declined to make predictions for the rest of the year, saying only: "In terms of trends, it's important that February has been no worse than January."
Lamb said he expected resilience in those parts of its business that serve the energy and infrastructure markets. Fellow engineer Rotork on Tuesday said it too expected a boost from government-backed investment in infrastructure. [nL3636895]
For a factbox on job losses in the UK, click on [nL3467475] (Editing by Paul Sandle and Hans Peters) ($1=.7087 Pound) (victoria.bryan@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 9688; Reuters Messaging: victoria.bryan.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
