Renishaw profit powers ahead

26th Jan 2011 07:54

Precision engineer Renishaw posted a sharp rise in half year pre-tax profit and upped its dividend following a surge in demand from Asia and metrology products."The performance of our Metrology business exceeded our expectations in the first half year, with revenue of £120.4m, compared with £65.9m in the corresponding period last year," the group said in a statement."Demand for all product lines grew compared with last year, with machine tool and encoder products showing particularly high increases," it added.Pre-tax profit surged to £35.5m in the six months ended 31 December 2010 from £7.1m the same time a year earlier. Revenue increased to £129.3m during the period from £73.8m before.Far East revenue, which counts for 42% of total revenue rose to £54.1m. China is now the company's largest market. Meanwhile revenue from its Healthcare products rose 11% to £8.9m.Renishaw said it started the second half of this financial year with an increased order book of £28.4m compared to £23.3m at 30 June 2010. "There are, of course, potential uncertainties and challenges, but your directors view the future with great confidence," it said.The interim dividend has been increased to 10.3p, up from 4p the same time in 2009.