Dialight confident of beating FY forecast

25th Jul 2011 08:26

LED lighting developer Dialight reported half yearly underlying profit growth of 17%, increased its dividend and is increasingly confident it will exceed full year forecasts.Operating profit growth rose to £6.2m for the six months ended 30 June 2011 from £5.3m in 2011 after a strong performance in signals and illumination. Group revenues increased 12% to £51.7m."Despite the uncertain prospects for the world economy, our strategy of bringing compelling value propositions to sizeable and regulated markets through the application of LED technology continues to drive strong growth in both revenues and profits," Dialight said in a company statement.Signals/illumination revenue jumped 31% to £34.1m, driven by 161% growth in solid state lighting and 51% growth in obstruction lights."Expectations for 2011 are already high but the results of the first half give the board confidence that the current outlook will be exceeded and that the group's strategy will deliver strong results in the coming years," the group added. Underlying earnings per share rose to 12.6p from 10.8p in 2010.Chief executive Roy Burton commented, "We have continued to see strong performance in the Signals/Illumination segment during the first half. This gives us even more confidence in the positive outlook for Dialight, not only for 2011 but also for the coming years, as our Solid State Lighting products continue to penetrate the industrial market place." An interim dividend of 3.3p has been recommended, up from 2.8p the year before. CJ