(Alliance News) - Judges Scientific PLC on Friday reported a robust performance in the first half of 2021, with a double-digit increase in profit and revenue fostering confidence that the company will beat market forecasts for the year as a whole.
Shares in the London-based scientific instrument sector investor were 7.1% higher at 7,500.00 pence on Friday in London.
For the six months ended June 30, Judges Scientific posted a pretax profit of GBP6.7 million, up 55% from GBP4.3 million the same period a year before. This was on revenue which grew 15% year-on-year to GBP43.0 million from GBP37.4 million.
Organic revenue rose 5%, as a result of a 25% rise in the company's organic order intake despite travel restrictions, university closures and the cancellation of scientific conferences, with the organic order book at 16.1 weeks of budgeted revenue, compared to 10.8 weeks a year prior.
Judges Scientific declared an interim dividend of 19.0 pence per share, up 15% at 16.5p a year before.
Looking ahead, Judges Scientific said that its organic order intake has remained positive, being up 23% for the eight months to the end of August. Although travelling restrictions and university closures have started to ease, supply chain issues have become more of a problem.
Nevertheless, Judges Scientific remains confident that its performance for 2021 will be ahead of consensus expectations.
"Pleasingly, the group's performance has started to recover from the initial impact of the pandemic. Whilst there are further obstacles to overcome, the group's resilience and adaptability and the contribution of the recent acquisitions have enabled the first half performance to reach the record established in 2019," said Chair Alex Hambro.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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Judges Scientific (JDG)