6th Aug 2020 11:46
(Alliance News) - Spirent Communications PLC on Thursday announced "strong" first half performance despite challenging conditions and expects the second half to show marked improvement.
The automated testing and assurance solutions provider said pretax profit for the first half of 2020 almost doubled to USD36.0 million from USD18.7 million a year prior.
Revenue in the half increased 7% to USD233.7 million from USD217.4 million a year before.
The company put its success during the Covid-19 pandemic down to the resilience of its supply chain operations, which helped ensure all customer shipments were made.
Spirent's Networks & Security division, which makes up 61% of group revenue, delivered 8.4% revenue growth to USD142.0 million in the recent six months from USD131.0 million a year prior. This was primarily thanks to its 400G ethernet test and positioning business which was driven by 5G, Cloud, Internet of things, or IoT, and internet traffic growth, Spirent said.
Lifecycle Service Assurance division revenue also rose in the half, by 15% to USD58.5 million from USD51.0 million a year prior, but Connected Devices revenue was down 6.3% to USD33.2 million from USD35.4 million.
Spirent declared a dividend of 2.17 US cents per share, a 12% increase from 1.94 US cents a year prior.
Spirent said it expects performance to be weighted to the second half of the year as markets recover from the lockdown. Its outlook remains unchanged.
Chief Executive Eric Updyke said: "Spirent has demonstrated a resilient business model at a time when remote connectivity is critical. We delivered progress across the portfolio and materially improved our profitability."
The FTSE 250 stock was down 2.3% at 276.11 pence each on Thursday morning.
By Greg Roxburgh; [email protected]
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