1st Aug 2019 10:46
(Alliance News) - Spirent Communications PLC said Thursday its profit rose in the first half of 2019, amid strong revenue growth and order intake driven by continued demand.
For the six months to the end of June, the FTSE 250 communications technology firm posted pretax profit at USD18.7 million, up 7.5% from USD17.4 million a year before, on revenue that grew 4% to USD217.4 million from USD209.2 million.
Order intake for the period increased by 6.8% to USD219.5 million from USD205.6 million.
Spirent said its strong financial performance was due to growth in its Networks & Security and Lifestyle Service Assurance segments in the period.
Networks & Security benefited from continued demand for satellite simulators provided by its Positionings business, while Lifestyle Service Assurance's revenue growth was buoyed by demand for its mobile infrastructure test services.
Spirent declared an interim dividend of 1.94 cents per share, up 10% from 1.76 cents the year before.
Looking ahead, Spirent expects its 2019 performance to be more weighted towards the second half; however it remains confident of continued progress with its outlook for the year remaining unchanged.
"Spirent is well respected by our customers globally and the technical ability, passion and engagement of our resource is impressive," said Chief Executive Officer Eric Updyke.
"As we move forward, I will be looking to identify specific opportunities to broaden our offerings and to expand our customer base and of course, maximise opportunities that current technology trends can offer such as 5G, 400G high-speed Ethernet and cloud development. The first half results represent a solid platform from which we can drive growth," Updyke added.
Shares in Spirent Communications were up 3.5% at 163.46 pence on Thursday.
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