LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Metrology and engineering company Renishaw said it now expects full-year revenue to be below previous guidance, as it posted a drop in sales and profit for the first quarter.
In an update for the three months ended 30 September ahead of an AGM, the company said revenue for the first quarter of the current financial year was £98.2m, a touch lower than the £101.4m achieved last year.

Pre-tax profit, meanwhile, slipped to £16.3m from £21.3m in the same period last year.

Renishaw said that while it has experienced growth in most regions, Far East revenue fell to £43.2m from £48.8m last year.

Revenue in the metrology business came to £93.7m compared with £99.0m last year, while underlying growth, after adjusting for large Far East revenues last year, was 6%. Revenue in the healthcare business rose to £4.5m from £2.4m.

Renishaw said its cost base has grown, reflecting targeted investment opportunities in its research and development programmes to accelerate the time to market for new products.

The company said that as at 30 September, the net cash balance was £66m, up from £44.3m in 2014.

"In the last financial year the group benefitted from a number of significant large orders. It remains difficult to predict the extent to which there will be further such orders during the current year," it said.

Renishaw maintained its pre-tax profit range for the year at £85m to £105m but downgraded its revenue guidance to between £440m and £465m from a previous range of £460m to £485m.

After a slow start, Renishaw shares were up more than 6%, having since late on Tuesday fallen in anticipation of worse results.

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