UK's Smiths Group beats annual profit estimates, starts process to offload asbestos liability

(Adds details and background throughout) Sept 22 (Reuters) — British engineering firm Smiths Group reported a better-than-expected full-year operating profit on Tuesday and launched a process to sell its US asbestos liability, as the 175-year-old company completed a sweeping portfolio overhaul that netted more than £3 billion ($4.01 billion). The results mark a first full-year showing for a slimmed-down Smiths, which has reshaped itself into a focused industrial technologies group serving energy, industrial and construction markets after shedding its detection and interconnect businesses under pressure from US activist investor Engine Capital. Smiths also launched a marketing process to divest its largest unit's legacy US asbestos liability, which, if successful, would remove the liability from its balance sheet, increase free cash flow and reduce earnings volatility. The company's full-year adjusted operating profit of £399 million for the year ended July 31 came above a company-compiled analyst consensus of £388 million. ($1 = 0.7478 pounds) (Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((Yamini.Kalia@thomsonreuters.com)