Oxford Instruments PLC on Tuesday reported a rise in revenue in the most recent financial year, and it expects a good result in the new year.

Oxford Instruments is an Abingdon, England-based manufacturing and research company.

For the financial year that ended on March 31, the company posted a pretax profit of £47.6 million, down 8.8% from £52.2 million a year ago. Oxford Instruments said profit was hurt by a non-cash charge on currency hedges and an increase in amortisation of acquired intangibles after the acquisition of WITec, an optical imaging business.

Oxford Instruments completed the purchase of Ulm, Germany-based microscope maker WITec Wissenschaftliche Instrumente & Technologie GmbH back in September last year.

Operating profit margin narrowed to 13.2% in financial 2022 from 16.6% in financial 2021, but on an adjusted basis, this widened to 18.1% from 17.8%.

Revenue rose 15% to £367.3 million from £318.5 million. The company noted strong growth to both commercial and academic customers, with the proportion of revenue to commercial customers increasing to 47%, compared to 45% in 2021.

Chief Executive Ian Barkshire said: ‘The business has performed strongly this year, despite supply chain disruption impacting the conversion of orders into revenue and cost inflation holding back margin progression. Looking ahead, we do not foresee short term relief from the current economic headwinds and ongoing supply chain constraints.

‘However, our diverse end-markets remain resilient, and we enter the year with good visibility due to a strong order book and continued order growth. This supports a full-year outlook in line with our expectations.’

Oxford Instruments reported a strong order book of £260.2 million, up 32% from £197.9 million. The increase was due to positive order momentum and the strength of its end markets, Oxford Instruments explained.

It declared a total dividend of 18.1 pence per share, growing by 6.4% from 17.0p a year ago.

Looking ahead, Oxford Instruments said it remains confident in its strategic direction as a platform to deliver sustainable growth and further margin enhancement.

Oxford Instruments shares were down 0.3% at 2123.56 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

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