(Alliance News) - Telit Communications PLC on Monday said it swung to profit in the first half of the year, helped by the sale of its automotive division.
The wireless technology company sold Telit Automotive Solutions NV to TUS International Ltd in February for a total of USD105.0 million. The sale drove Telit to an interim pretax profit of USD58.1 million from a USD12.8 million loss in the first half of 2018.
Revenue in the first six months of 2019 fell by 5.5% to USD190.7 million from USD201.7 million, though excluding the contribution from the automotive business, it rose by 7.6% to USD180.3 million from USD167.5 million.
The automotive unit generated USD10.4 million in revenue during the first half before the disposal. In the first six months of 2018, the business recorded revenue of USD34.2 million.
Geographically, all of Telit's segments reported revenue growth in the first half. In the Americas region, revenue rose by 7.3% to USD88.1 million from USD82.1 million, in line with company expectations.
In Europe, Middle East & Africa, revenue grew fractionally by 0.4% to USD54.1 million from USD53.9 million. Telit said it forecasts this market to grow at a faster rate "with growing adoption of 4G products".
In the Asia-Pacific division, revenue rose by 21% to USD38.1 million from USD31.5 million.
Telit continued a cost reduction and restructuring programme during the period, helping to trim research & development expenses by 25% to USD26.1 million from USD34.7 million.
The company anticipates meeting internal expectations for the full-year and said it is well positioned to "capitalise on growth opportunities" in the internet of things market.
Chief Executive Paolo Dal Pino said: "Since I joined Telit, our key focus has been on the completion of the automotive sale, the reorganisation of our management team and the refocus of our company's portfolio towards more innovative industrial internet of things products and services.
"Thanks to these efforts, we have seen significant improvement in our cash generation, driven by solid revenue growth and our cost optimisation plan is fully on track to meet our targets. We are encouraged by our performance in the first half and remain confident that full-year results will be in line with the board's expectations."
Shares in Telit were flat at 169.80 pence each in London on Monday morning.