Hi-tech measurement and medical device manufacturer Renishaw boosted revenue by 11% to a half-yearly record of £147.1m in the six months to December 31. However, pre-tax profits fell by the same percentage to £31m following significant investment in staff and infrastructure to support growth, according to its interim results published this week.
Wotton-under-Edge based Renishaw said all of its product lines saw growth, aside from encoder products which it expects to do better as the Far East electronics sector recovers. Meanwhile global investment in production systems in automotive, civil aviation, agriculture and energy looks “increasingly favourable”.
Geographically, revenue in Europe increased strongly by 25% over the comparable period and the Americas also showed strong growth of 23%. In the Far East, Renishaw saw 12% growth in Japan but a fall of 17% in the rest of the Far East which includes China mainly due to an industry and world-wide slowdown in the micro-electronics and opto-electronics markets.
Chairman and chief executive Sir David McMurtry said revenue from Renishaw's core metrology business was up 10% at £135.9m while the healthcare business boosted revenue by 27% to £11.2m. He added that the group's healthcare business had been refocused on a smaller number of projects, particularly in its neurological products line. Operating loss for the healthcare business was £6m, after restructuring costs of £600,000, compared with a loss of £4.2m for the comparable period last year.
Sir David added: "We continue to grow and expand our global marketing and distribution activities with additional staff recruited to support the new products introduced. Also, we maintain our focus on our research and development programmes and capabilities to support the group's strategic targets for growth." Headcount at the end of December 2011 was 2,701, an increase of 26 since the start of the financial year and 421 more than a year earlier.
The group has established a new subsidiary company in Mexico to market and support growth in central American countries. It has also acquired premises for the Canadian and Italian subsidiaries while expanding its working premises in Germany, Brazil and China – and refurbishing a 16,000sq ft building in the US.
