The grand auction of businesses in the Smiths engineering and technology conglomerate is on schedule for the spring of 2011, chief executive Philip Bowman indicated today.

Bowman arrived at Smiths a little over 18 months ago with a track record for selling up FTSE 100 companies, having done that at Allied Domecq and Scottish Power.

Today he said he is halfway through shaking up Smiths, a sprawling group split across five businesses, which he has likened to managing a private-equity portfolio of unrelated companies.

“We have said there is value to be generated in due course but not in these markets,” he said.

“We said it was a three-year job to improve the business and assuming that markets are in better humour at the end of those three years we can start looking at something more fundamental.”

Smiths today reported a fall in profits limited to 2% at £371 million for the year.

Business is best at the John Crane operation, making seals for the oil and gas industry. Struggling is the airport detection and scanning business, hobbled by government and airport decisions to hold back investment. The dividend is being held at 34p.