Discoverie Group hails record interim profits, on track to meet FY expectations

(Sharecast News) - Discoverie Group said on Tuesday that it remained on track to deliver full-year adjusted earnings in line with the board's expectations as it hailed record interim profits. In the six months to 30 September, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 7% to £25.5m, on revenue of £216.4m, up 2.5% on the same period a year earlier.

Adjusted operating profit grew 4% to a record £30.2m and the interim dividend was lifted to 4.05p a share from 3.90p.

As at 30 September, the order book was £157m, representing circa 4.3 months of annualised first-half sales and providing good visibility for the second half of the year, it said.

Discoverie also said that new design opportunities and design wins remained strong. Design wins during the period had an estimated future lifetime revenue value of £210m, up slightly from last year and adding to the bank of previously-recorded design wins.

Chief executive Nick Jefferies said the company, which designs and manufactures customised electronics to industry, delivered a "good" first-half performance, with "excellent" cashflow and a return to organic sales and orders growth.

"Trading momentum improved through the first half with second quarter orders increasing by 8% organically, sales increasing by 1% organically and orders being ahead of sales," he said.

"Three of our four operating units (Sensing, Connectivity and Magnetics) have now returned to good levels of organic growth after a period of significant customer destocking. Controls, which comprises typically later-cycle businesses, is expected to follow.

"We remain focused on generating good organic growth through the cycle, with a healthy pipeline of design wins. Additionally, we have numerous acquisition opportunities in development, including our most recent signed bolt-on transaction, Keymat."