A classy British engineer to buy now

Britain can be rightly proud of this world-class Birmingham-based engineer. So it's no wonder that manufacturing giants GE and Siemens have reportedly had their eyes on buying it, says Paul Hill.

Here's something not everyone knows about Birmingham: it lays claim to some of the world's finest engineers. One of them is IMI. Eleven years ago, the firm was written off as a traditional metal basher, selling commoditised widgets and delivering returns below its cost of capital.

Since then, under long-serving chief executive Martin Lamb, it's been transformed into a specialist manufacturer of niche parts. During Lamb's tenure, profit margins have increased from 7.7% to 17%, equity returns have almost trebled to 20% and the shares are up 250%. By any standards, IMI is a class act that Britain can be proud of.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.