PLEXUS Holdings has declared profits after tax will be "materially ahead of" market expectations when it announces its full-year results in October.

The oil and gas engineering company told the stock market it had continued to win new and repeat orders for its POS-GRIP wellhead technology in its latest financial year, notably in the North Sea, Africa and Asia.

While profits have been forecast to beat analysts' consensus, Plexus said revenue for the year ended June 30 will be in line with expectations.

It also noted its current financial year had started brightly, with a strong order book in place for the POS-GRIP system. The company said momentum is gathering on its Asian expansion strategy following the formation of a Malaysian Joint Venture Company.

The PPA venture with Malaysia's Integrated Petroleum Services was set up to become a major supplier of wellhead equipment to the local industry.

Plexus also highlighted the progress being made by its joint industry project, which is currently seeing six major oil and gas operators working on the development of a new and safer subsea wellhead (HGSS).

Plexus Holdings' chief executive Ben van Bilderbeek said: "I am very pleased with our performance as we have continued to achieve strong growth in revenues, margins and profitability.

"We have maintained the excellent progress made during last year as we continue to win new and repeat orders to supply operators with our proprietary best-in-class POS-GRIP wellhead technology for exploration activities.

"In addition, we continue to pursue a number of important strategic initiatives as we look to build Plexus into the global wellhead provider of choice and necessity across exploration, production and in due course subsea applications."

Shares in Plexus closed up 10p, or 3.9 per cent, at 266.12p.