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LONDON (Alliance News) - Renishaw PLC on Thursday hiked its annual payout following strong earnings growth across all of its geographies.
The engineer reported a pretax profit of GBP155.2 million for the year to the end of June, up by a third from GBP117.1 million profit posted the year before.
Revenue grew 14% to GBP611.5 million from GBP536.8 million. On a constant currency basis, it was 18% higher year-on-year.
The company said revenue growth was boosted by a strong performance across all regions and divisions. Continental Europe came in as the best performer during the year with revenue up 19% to GBP154.2 million from GBP129.9 million.
Although UK & Ireland was the weakest performer, its revenue grew by 11% to GBP30.5 million from GBP27.6 million a year earlier.
Renishaw lifted its annual dividend by 15% to 60.00 pence from 523.00p paid the year prior.
In financial 2018, the company said it continued to invest in research & development within its Metrology division, with engineering costs totalling GBP77.1 million, up from GBP68.8 million spent the year before.
Turning to Renishaw's Healthcare segment, the company said the US Food & Drug Administration cleared the combined use of the neuromate stereotactic robot with neuroinspire planning software. Elsewhere, Renishaw said it experienced growth in all of its product lines.
"We have experienced strong growth in 2018 and, whilst noting ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit and currency exchange rate volatility, your directors remain confident in the long-term prospects for the Group due to our innovative product base, extensive global sales and marketing presence and relevance to high-value manufacturing," said Chairman David McMurtry.
"At this early stage in the year, we anticipate growth in both revenue and profits in the current financial year," added McMurtry.
Shares in Renishaw were trading 0.8% higher at 5,460.00 pence each on Thursday.
