Questor share tip: Bunzl a hold after spectacular run The acquisition establishes a bridgehead for the group and its strategy is then to expand from there. Bunzl only entered Brazil in 2008 and has so far bought companies in the safety, cleaning and hygiene sectors. Expect more purchases ahead. Significantly, most analysts do not include forecasts for unannounced acquisitions in their models, so any new purchases can result in upgrades to consensus expectations. It also appears that the pipeline of potential new purchases is growing. Last year, Bunzl spent £272m adding record annualised revenue of more than £500m. It entered four new countries in South America through its purchase of personal protection equipment specialist Vicsa Safety in Chile, as the group has subsidiaries in Peru, Argentina and Colombia. Of the 27 countries Bunzl operates in, there are many opportunities for consolidation in sectors in which the group already operates as well as new areas of business. When Questor spoke to Bunzl chief executive Mike Roney yesterday, he said this consolidation in existing territories would more than likely to be the main driver of acquisitions, however, he is interested in places where the group does not operate such as the Nordics, Austria and Turkey. The company posted its annual results last week, which were well received. In the year to December, revenues rose 5pc to £5.4bn, with pre-tax profits rising 39pc to £269.3m. The reason why profit growth was so strong is down to costs associated with a disposal last year. Stripping out these and other one-offs, operating profit rose 5pc to £293.8m. The final dividend of 19.4p brings the total dividend for the year to 28.2p, a 7pc year-on-year rise. The payment date is July 1 and the prospective yield, based on the current forecast, is 2.3pc. The shares hit another all-time high yesterday, something they have been doing on an almost daily basis over the past few months. They are now trading on a 2013 earnings multiple of 17.3, falling to 16.3 in 2014. This rating is high, despite Bunzl's record speaking for itself. Questor is reluctant to recommend a buy at these levels, given the fact the shares have risen by almost a third since the start of the year.