Britain's Bunzl sees 15 percent revenue growth on North America boost

(Reuters) - British business supplies distributor Bunzl Plc (BNZL.L) forecast an about 15 percent rise in full-year group revenue, helped by new business wins in North America.

The company, which supplies products ranging from safety gear for builders and packaging materials for supermarkets, said it spent about 600 million pounds ($805.20 million) on acquisitions this year ending Dec. 31, nearly double its previous high of 327 million pounds in 2015.

Bunzl said on Thursday it would buy UK-based Lightning Packaging, an industrial packaging products distributor, and added that the acquisitions pipeline remained active.

"The growth in organic revenue is principally due to the previously announced additional business won, albeit at lower margins, in North America towards the end of 2016," Bunzl said.

As a supplier of low-value products such as carrier bags and toilet rolls to supermarkets, hospitals and hotels, Bunzl is more exposed to consumer spending than most of its support services peers that contract orders from large private firms and public budgets.

While a slide in UK consumer confidence has squeezed retail sales there, most of Bunzl's revenue comes from North America, where it expects to see an uplift from President Donald Trump's plan for more local manufacturing.

(Reporting by Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)