e2v technologies benefits from low consumer exposure

Reporting its financial results for the six months to 30 September, the Chelmsford, Essex-based plc that was once an arm of Marconi, saw half year sales climb 12% to £107 million (£96m last time) and adjusted pre-tax profit up 8% to £8.5 million (£7.9m). The company, which provides sub-systems to the medical and science, aerospace and defence, and commercial and industrial sectors, said its order book over the period had increased by 4% to £118 million. Chief executive Keith Attwood (pictured) said the strong first half performance reflected the resilience of e2v's business model. “The business remains on course to meet management's expectations for the full year," he went on. e2v said its research and development costs were down by 8.7% from £7.7 million to £7 million due to engineering resource being temporarily focused on the resolution of manufacturing problems and improving the development process, particularly in the electron devices and subsystems division. The engineers would revert to working on R&D programmes in the second half. The company said it would continue to focus on those sectors of the economy where spend is largely non-discretionary, such as the medical, science and defence sectors. It was not a significant supplier to markets like automotive where sales were only about 5% of revenues. Geographic and market spread meant e2v had a level of resilience to economic downturns. While commercial and industrial customers may be non-committal about the future, it said, the Group recently received an £11 million renewal contract for a two year supply of electron devices for use in cancer radiotherapy and cargo screening equipment.