IMI, the UK provider of engineering equipment and services, plans to pick up its pace of acquisitions in the energy industry after buying Analytical Flow Products, a Canadian company that serves refineries.

IMI may spend as much as £1 billion (€1.17 billion) on purchases over the next five years, chief executive Martin Lamb said yesterday. “We have the capacity to make larger acquisitions,” he added, after IMI reported first-half earnings that exceeded estimates.

IMI is interested primarily in the energy industry as shale gas development in the US boosts opportunities for it to serve petrochemical producers.

It may make a series of acquisitions of £100 million to £120 million each, Mr Lamb said, it being well-placed to provide technology and services needed to upgrade nuclear power reactors to meet new safety standards. – (Bloomberg)