Victrex quarterly revenues surge after big electronics order

Plastics manufacturer Victrex reported a very strong start to the year, with industrial sales led by consumer electronics to offset slightly weaker performance from medical customers.

First quarter revenue of £78.7m was up 41% on the prior year as sales volumes increased 30% to 1,051 tonnes, though the comparative period was quite weak.

Chief executive Jakob Sigurdsson said: "If the strength in our industrial business continues to offset weakness in medical, it could offer a limited degree of upside potential to expectations, although it remains very early in the year and our underlying momentum is broadly unchanged from the second half of 2017."

Alongside strength in industrial that continued from the end of the prior financial year, the performance in the quarter was boosted by three factors that were not in the comparative period: currency hedges taken on at the most favourable post-Brexit rates; the acquisition of aerospace and automotive specialist Zyex; and a large volume of orders for a large consumer electronics contract, compared to negligible volumes last time.