Asia downturn and forex causing headaches for Renishaw

Revenue at Renishaw fell in the third quarter, the company revealed on Wednesday, to £109.6m from £145.9m a year earlier.

The FTSE 250 firm’s cumulative revenue for the nine months to 31 March also fell to £308.1m, compared with £369.7m for the same period last year.

Renishaw had noted in its half-year statement that revenue last year benefitted from a number of large orders in the Far East which have not been repeated to the same extent this year.

Foreign exchange was also proving a headache for the company’s numbers - after adjusting for that and the lack of large Asian orders, the board claimed underlying growth of 5%.

Profit before tax for the third quarter was £20.2m, down from £53.2m, and cumulative profit before tax up to the end of March was £46.3m, compared with £109.8m last year.

The company’s cash balances at the end of March were £48.8m, down from £74m a year ago, which includes the pension fund escrow account of £15.7m and after year-to-date capital expenditure of £38m.

“[We have] agreed that Kath Durrant, currently a non-executive director of the company and member of the remuneration committee, should take the role of chair of the remuneration committee with immediate effect,” Renishaw’s board said in a statement attached to the trading update.

“She replaces David Grant, who remains the senior independent director and member of the remuneration and audit committees, and the board thanks him for his contribution as chair of the remuneration committee.”

Renishaw reaffirmed its full-year expectations for revenue to be in the range of £420m-£440m, and a profit before tax in the range of £67m-£83m.