Renishaw interim profits halve

27th Jan 2010 07:49

A near-doubling of orders over the past six months put some gloss on a sharp fall in interim profits at high-tech precision tool maker Renishaw.The order book increased from £9.7m in June to £17.6m by end December with orders exceeding revenue in the each of the past six months, the group said.Total group revenue for the six months to December tumbled to £73.9m from £102.7m. Interim pre-tax profits halved to £7.1m from £14m. Operating profit slumped to £6.9m (£11.9m), but Renishaw said this represented a marked recovery from the operating loss of £5.9m in the second six months of the previous financial year. Favourable currency movements benefited revenue and operating profits by £3.6m and £2.5m respectively. "After a serious and protracted global downturn we are encouraged by the progress in this first six months, particularly by the performance in this last quarter and the improvements in the rate of order intake. Overall we are cautiously optimistic for the full year and thereafter," the firm added.The interim dividend is nearly halved from 7.76p to 4p.