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LONDON (Alliance News) - Testing and measurement product maker AB Dynamics PLC hiked its dividend Tuesday, as it said it had an "excellent" start to the year.
Interim profit and revenue rose, and it continues to expand operations, AB Dynamics said.
For the six months ended February, pretax profit expanded to GBP2.9 million from GBP1.6 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose to GBP15.3 million from GBP11.0 million the year before.
Profit performance was held back by a doubling of administrative expenses in the six months. Administrative costs rose to GBP2.0 million from GBP898,286 the year prior.
AB Dynamics lifted its interim dividend 10% to 1.465 pence per share, up from 1.331p the year prior.
"We are pleased to report on an excellent start to the current financial year based on a strong commercial performance," AB Dynamics Chairman Tony Best said. "We have built a good forward order book, both for the remainder of 2018 and into next year which gives us confidence in meeting market expectations."
"The group continues to invest in its people, products and facilities, and we now have 130 employees, an increase of 41% over the last year," Best added. "We continue to evolve our structure to support a large and growing installed base of equipment and systems across the world, whilst also ensuring we carry on delivering the innovative new products and services that our customers expect. During the period, we established a new operating entity in Germany which will provide improved customer support and a local engineering resource."
Shares in AB Dynamics were 8.5% higher at 998.35 pence on Tuesday.
