Cash is pouring in at technology group Laird as revenues pick up, as the company saw strong demand in the second quarter from the information technology and automotive markets.
The company makes components that protect devices from electromagnetic interference and heat. It also has a wireless and antennae systems business, but got shot of its handset antennae business last month.
Revenues in the six months to the end of June were £249.6m against £243.1m at the same point in 2011, with the group seeing a pick-up in the second quarter; revenue in the second quarter was £127.6m, up from £122m in the preceding quarter and £123.1m in the second quarter of 2011.
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Underlying profit before tax rose by 7% year-on-year to £27.3m from £25.4m the year before. Statutory profit before tax, which includes one-off items, was £16.8m, versus a loss of £113.0m the year before. The underlying margin improved from 11.7% to 12.4%
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Operating cash flow shot up 77% to £36.2m from £20.5m in the first half of last year. Despite that, net borrowings increased during the half year by £17.4m, to £135.1m. Nevertheless, the board is recommending a generous 26% hike in the interim dividend to 3.4p from 2.7p last year, as the first part of its previously announced intention to pay a full year dividend of 10p. The full year divi is set to go up to 12p in 2013.
Laird's Executive Chairman, Nigel Keen, said Laird was "benefiting from the strength of a number of our markets and the breadth of our customer base."
In the second half of the year, when Keen will return to a non-executive role once new Chief Executive David Lockwood joins on August 15th, the company has more new product launches planned, as well as an upgrade to its production capacity, which will enable the group to cash in on the growing demand for hand-held computing devices.
The most noticeable blot on Laird's copybook is the thermal business, as the increasing pressure on bandwidth consumption in the telecoms infrastructure industry did not produce the expected demand for base stations, where Laird supplies thermal management systems for the battery back-up systems. However, industry forecasters are expecting a return to growth in the telecoms infrastructure market later in the year, Laird revealed.
At 11:52 the stock was up 12%.
BS
