Spirent's interim profits improve as order intake and revenues grow

Telecommunications testing company Spirent saw pre-tax profits pick up in the first half of its trading year as both order intake and revenues advanced throughout the period.

Order intake improved 7% to $219.5m in the six months ended 30 June, reflecting good progress across all segments.

Revenues forged ahead 4% to $217.4m as the group continued to see a growth in demand to support its customer base with their 5G development requirements, leading to pre-tax profits coming in 7% higher year-on-year at $18.7m.

Earnings per share grew 14% to 2.72 cents, while Spirent hiked its interim dividend 10% to 1.94 cents.

Looking forward, Spirent said it would continue to invest in its chosen growth after establishing "a strong technical and operational platform" to leverage market opportunities. The group also noted that its performance was expected to be weighted to the second half of the year.

New chief executive Eric Updyke said: "As we move forward, I will be looking to identify specific opportunities to broaden our offerings and to expand our customer base and of course, maximise opportunities that current technology trends can offer such as 5G, 400G high-speed Ethernet and cloud development.

"The first half results represent a solid platform from which we can drive growth."

As of 1030 BST, Spirent shares had advanced 3.98% to 164.29p.