DCC, the sales, marketing distribution and business support services company, has reported a 54% increase in profit over the six months to the end of September to £80.6m.
The company also said it expects that both operating profits and adjusted earnings per share for the year to the end of March will be "significantly" ahead of the prior year and ahead of current market expectations.
The London-listed by Dublin headquartered company said its revenues for the first half of its financial year rose by 10.5% to £5.597 billion, while its operating profits increased by 33.% to £117.8m.
The company's interim dividend increased by 12.5% to 37.17 pence a share.
The company also announced today that it has bought Gaz Européen, a natural gas retail and marketing business in France for €110m and Medisource, a pharmaceutical procurement, sales and marketing business here for €32m.
DCC said the Gaz Européen business is "highly complementary" to its Butagaz's strong market position in liquefied petroleum gas in France.
The deal, which is conditional on competition clearance from the French Competition Authority, is expected to complete in the first calendar quarter of 2017.
The firm is a specialist retailer of natural gas and focuses on supplying energy management companies, apartment blocks with collective heating systems, public authorities and the service sector.
In its financial year to the end of December, Gaz Européen generated revenue of €205m and operating profit of €15.7m.
DCC's chief executive Tommy Breen said the deal marks its first substantial acquisition in the natural gas sector and a major development for the Butagaz LPG business acquired during 2015.
"In recent years DCC has developed a presence in natural gas organically in selected geographies, as natural gas markets have been deregulated. The acquisition of Gaz Européen will significantly accelerate our development in this area in France," he added.
The company, which has in the past bought assets from oil companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total, has especially been scouting for opportunities to purchase distribution and market assets from oil majors as they slim down their portfolio to ride out an oil price slump.
Mr Breen also said the company's results reflected continued execution of its strategy to grow the business organically, deliver a very strong cash flow performance and redeploy capital at attractive rates of return.
"The group continues to have the ambition and capacity for further development and importantly, as DCC increases in scale and geographic reach, also has the opportunity to build substantial market positions in its chosen sectors," Mr Breen added.
Revenue at DCC Energy rose by 12.5% in the six months to the end of September, while operating profits jumped by 43.8% to £76m, boosted by acquisitions completed in the previous year and very strong performances from its LPG and retail and fuel card business.
DCC Energy sold a total of 6.6 billion litres of product over the six months, up 13.3% on the same time last year.
Meanwhile, revenues at DCC Healthcare grew by 2.2% to £244.3m while operating profits rose by 7% to £19.8m, despite the trading headwind of weaker sterling.
DCC noted that the business in Ireland generated good sales and profit growth across its product portfolio, especially in hospital pharmaceuticals.
Operating profits at DCC Technology jumped almost 32% to £11.3m while revenues rose by 5.1% to £1.144 billion.
The business, which trades as Exertis, saw very strong growth in the UK despite continued weak market conditions in the computing and smartphone markets. It also achieved strong growth in Ireland and over the last year has developed a "modest" presence in the United Arab Emirates.
DCC also said that revenues at its Environmental division rose by 13.9% to £89.3m while operating profits grew by 26.7% to £10.7m. It noted that the growth was broad based and reflected good business development activity and the continuing focus on operating efficiency.
Shares in the company moved higher on London's FTSE 100 index today.
