ENGINEERING firm Renishaw has reported an order book increase of £7.9 million since the end of June last year.

The announcement was made in the company’s latest interim report released today, Wednesday, January 27, which also revealed that order intake exceeded revenue in each of the last six months.

Workers at Renishaw’s three units in Gloucestershire began the year with full pay restorations, having accepted voluntary salary cuts since February 2009.

Commenting on the results, Renishaw’s chairman and chief executive Sir David McMurtry said: "I am delighted to announce that the improvements in order intake and revenue previously reported for the first three months have accelerated throughout the second quarter.

"This has resulted in the order book increasing from £9.7m at 30th June 2009 to £17.6m by 31st December 2009."

He added that the total group revenue for the six months amounted to £73.9 million, which represents an eight per cent increase on the £68.6 million predicted for the period.

Elsewhere, capital expenditure for the six months was significantly reduced to £1.1 million, of which £600,000 was spent on property costs and £500,000 covered plant and machinery overheads.

Further efficiencies were achieved in inventory costs, which reduced by £4.2 million in the half year period.

As a result of these encouraging figures, the board has now resolved to pay an interim dividend of £4 to shareholders on March 31.

Summing up the report, Sir McMurtry added: "After a serious and protracted global downturn we are encouraged by the progress in this first six months.

"Overall we are cautiously optimistic for the full year and are grateful for our employees’ understanding and continued commitment and look forward to returning to consistent growth for our shareholders."