UK's Melrose Industries to focus on aerospace after automotive spin-off

(Reuters) -Melrose Industries Plc said on Wednesday it will continue as a pure-play aerospace company post the recent spin-off its automotive unit, after its premium engines business helped lift revenue for the first four months of the year by 19%.

The company also said it expects annual revenue between 3.35 billion pounds ($4.23 billion) and 3.45 billion pounds, while analysts are expecting a revenue of 3.4 billion pounds, according to company-compiled estimates.

Melrose also said it will not seek acquisitions of "an unrelated industrial business or, in the near term, a material aerospace business," as it shifts its strategy to focus on aerospace.

In April, Melrose listed shares in the former automotive division of British engineer GKN on the London Stock Exchange.

Newly created Dowlais, which encompasses GKN's Automotive, Powder Metallurgy and Hydrogen businesses, was spun off to existing Melrose shareholders. Melrose had acquired GKN in 2018 through a hostile takeover.

It is still holding on to GKN's Aerospace division, which manufactures airframe and engine structures and interconnection systems for the aerospace industry.

On Wednesday, the company said it will now report results under two divisions - Engines and Structures.

($1 = 0.7923 pounds)

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)