XP Power sees fourth quarter resurgence

(ShareCast News) - Critical power control component developer and manufacturer XP Power issued a trading update for the fourth quarter to 31 December on Friday, claiming a strong finish to the year, trading in line with the board's expectations as the acceleration in order intake reported in the third quarter fed through into revenue growth in the final quarter.The London-listed firm said the momentum in order intake continued to strengthen in the fourth quarter.It said order intake in the fourth quarter of 2016 was £37.1m compared with £35m in the third quarter and £30m in the fourth quarter of 2015.Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2016 were £37.1m, up from £32.3m in the third quarter and £27.8m in the fourth quarter of 2015.Order intake for the twelve months ended 31 December was £133.5m, an increase of 21% over 2015, or 9% in constant currency.Revenues for the twelve months were £129.8m, an increase of 18% over 2015, or 7% in constant currency.The firm said net cash at 31 December was £3.6 million compared with a net debt position of £3.7 million at the end of 2015."The recommended dividend for the fourth quarter of 2016 will be announced with the 2016 final results but is not expected to be less than 25p per share, representing a minimum total dividend of 70p per share for 2016, an increase of 6% over the total dividend of 66p per share paid for 2015," XP's board said in a statement."We are encouraged by the strong order intake we have experienced during the second half of 2016."We enter 2017 with positive momentum and therefore expect that we should be able to show further growth in revenues in 2017."