Shares in Spirent Communications PLC rose on Thursday after the telecommunications company reported growth in annual profit after navigating all of 2021’s challenges.

Spirent shares were up 7.6% to 242.60 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

‘In 2021, Spirent delivered another year of robust revenue growth and a material increase in earnings despite supply chain challenges ensuing from the pandemic which were very effectively managed,’ said Chief Executive Eric Updyke.

Spirent is a Crawley, England-based provider of testing, analytics and security for telecommunications networks.

Pretax profit in 2021 came in at $103.6 million, increasing 8.1% from $95.8 million in 2020.

The rise in profit was supported by strong revenue growth, which was up 10% to $576.0 million from $522.4 million.

Updyke said: ‘2021 was a year of increasing momentum at Spirent with the results showing that our strategy continues to be a winning one. Our business model is becoming increasingly resilient, supported by a strong financial and operational platform, and we are pleased to begin the new financial year with a growing orderbook, improved visibility and lower cyclicality.’

Spirent declared a final dividend of 4.37 US cents per share, bringing the total annual payout to 6.76 cents. This was 12% higher than 2020’s 6.04 cents.

However, no special dividend was declared for 2021, compared to 7.50 cents a share in 2020.

Looking ahead, the company said: ‘Our strategy of leveraging our market-leading technology and expertise to address key customer business challenges is working. 5G remains an important enduring driver for Spirent and we continue to benefit across the portfolio from customers utilising our leading expertise and solutions.’

It added: ‘The board is confident that the group is well-set to deliver sustainable growth in 2022 and beyond.’

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