23rd Jul 2014 07:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Engineering company Renishaw PLC Wednesday reported an increase in profit for the recent full year, boosted in part by the sale of Declam PLC and a strong performance from its metrology division.
Renishaw shares were up 10% at 1,620.00 pence at the open, leading the FTSE 350.
The company, which designs, manufactures and sells advanced precision metrology and inspection equipment for the healthcare sector, posted pretax profit of GBP96.4 million for the year ended June 30, up from GBP82.1 million a year earlier.
Profit was boosted by a GBP26.3 million gain on the disposal of Renishaw's 19.4% stake in Delcam. AIM-listed Delcam was sold to US software group Autodesk Inc, in a deal worth GBP172.5 million in 2013. Renishaw held 1.5 million Delcam shares resulting in a total consideration of GBP32.0 million.
Revenue rose to GBP355.5 million from GBP346.9 million. In the final three months of the year, Renishaw said it recorded revenue of GBP107.0 million, following large contract wins from Far East customers.
Renishaw said revenue from its metrology business rose to GBP326.6 million, from GBP317.9 million a year earlier. The company said it saw strong demand for its 3D metal additive manufacturing products and good growth in its measurement automation and encoder product lines.
Metrology is the science of measurement.
However, revenue from Renishaw's healthcare business dipped to GBP28.9 million from GBP29.0 million a year earlier. Renishaw said it experienced growth in its dental products, but the strength of sterling hurt the sales performance of its spectroscopy products.
In March 2014, the group purchased Advanced Consulting & Engineering Inc, a US supplier of dimensional measurement products and services focused on the automotive industry, for an undisclosed fee. Renishaw said as it continues to focus on supplying end-user metrology solutions, the specialist programming and applications knowledge within the ACE team will be "particularly valuable".
Looking ahead, the company said it started the new financial year started well, "with the ever-growing range of products, processes and applications and our skilled and experienced employees, your directors remain confident in the prospects for the group."
On the back of its performance the group increased its dividend to 29.87 pence per share from 28.67 pence per share, making a total dividend of 41.2 pence compared with 40.0 pence a year earlier.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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