Focusrite Confident In Outlook As Interim Revenue And Profit Rises

LONDON (Alliance News) - Focusrite PLC in a trading update on Friday said that its revenue, profits and cash all grew in the first half of its current financial year ending August 31 compared with the first half the prior year.

The music and audio products company saw a growth in sales of the Scarlett and Launchpad product groups, driven by increased demand over the Christmas holiday period. As a result, the company expects interim revenue to the end of February to be over GBP38.0 million, up 1.2% from GBP32.0 million the year before. On a constant currency basis, the company assumes its revenue to grew 25%, it said.

Focusrite said that cash conversion also has remained "positive". The group reported net cash at February 28 was GBP19.7 million, which is more than doubled compared with GBP9.4 million the prior year. On August 31, Focusrite said it had GBP14.2 million in cash.

Focusrite Chief Executive Officer Tim Carroll said: "I am delighted that we have continued to drive growth across our diverse product portfolio and in many different geographical regions. This past holiday season resulted in a particularly strong boost, which may signal a wider consumer appreciation of our products and possibly the early signs of a change in the phasing of revenue within our financial year.

"We keep a close and cautious eye on some of the headwinds being experienced by the music retail industry, particularly in the US, but overall believe we remain well positioned to continue to grow as our strategy of 'making music easier to make' resonates with consumers throughout the world. We continue to innovate and to invest across all areas of our business to sustain future growth and we remain confident about the outlook for the current financial year and beyond."

Focusrite shares were up 2.5% at 363.95 pence per share early Friday.