Honeywell performance soars

Global engineering and technology giant Honeywell International turned in a stronger than expected start to the year thanks to a fast-recovering aerospace market and increased demand for diesel turbochargers in Europe.

According to Honeywell, its aerospace operations had an ‘outstanding’ first quarter of 2005, fuelled by growing demand for new planes from the world’s commercial airlines. Aerospace sales grew by nine per cent compared to the first quarter of 2004 with commercial markets racing ahead by 12 per cent, providing further evidence that the world’s civil aviation sector is returning to health following its post-9/11 slump. Defence aerospace sales grew by five per cent.

The last quarter saw Honeywell complete the purchase of Novar, a UK specialist in fire protection systems, and the US group has a cash pile of up to $4bn (£2.2bn), leaving it plenty of ammunition with which to target further acquisitions.

The group reported growth in its automation and control, and its security systems businesses. In security, Honeywell has picked up new orders in areas such as CCTV, contraband detection and mobile tracking from customers such as the Australian Immigration Service.