Austerity measures and industrial upturn deliver for Oxford Instruments

Announcing its financial results for the year to 31 March today (15 June), the company said that the restructuring programme it had initiated in response to the global downturn in industrial markets in the autumn of 2008 was completed in May 2009. Although it had resulted in a reduction in headcount and the closure of two operating sites, this was achieved without significant loss of the skill base or reduction in turnover. Last year Oxford Instruments introduced a pay freeze in addition to enacting a number of other austerity measures and this year it had announced proposals to close its defined benefit pension schemes. Group sales per head were now 17% ahead and all businesses in the Group were currently contributing profitably. Chief executive Jonathan Flint (pictured) said that during the second half of the year, the company had seen a recovery in those industrial markets which had been hit hardest by recession. He went on: "Our order book grew to £102 million. Order in-take in the year was £250 million, a record for Oxford Instruments. This position was helped by the large contracts awarded to us in August and September 2009 by ITER, a multinational collaborative programme to prove the viability of a new form of carbon free energy production. For the year, revenue was up 2.4% to £211.5 million (2009: £206.5m) while pre tax profit turned from a £9.3 million loss last time to an £18.1 profit. Chairman Nigel Keen said the restructuring in 2008/09 and new product technologies introduced in the past year had served to ensure that Oxford Instruments continued to perform to expectations. Now that global markets were recovering, he was confident the efficiency improvements and new products would deliver further growth in the current year.