Oxford Instruments has reported a 9.8% increase in annual revenue to £470.4m despite posting a fall in profits.

The manufacturing and research company, which designs tools and systems for industry and research, saw its operating profit fall to £68.3m, down from £72.4m last year.

Oxford Instruments was reporting its full-year results for the 12 months to the end of March. The group provides academic and commercial organisations with scientific technology and expertise across its key market segments, which are materials analysis, healthcare, life science, and semiconductors.

The group’s order book, at £302m, is down from £320m last year although it said that its order book is still “providing good visibility for year ahead”.

CEO at Oxford Instruments, Richard Tyson, said the group had rebalanced its positions in regional markets “in the face of geopolitical shifts”, focusing resources on non-sensitive areas in China, and successfully growing revenue and orders in Europe and elsewhere in Asia.

“We have continued to make organic investments to support our future growth, with our state-of-the-art compound semiconductor facility now operational,” Tyson said. “Underlying order intake has remained robust, with a positive book to bill even though we had stronger growth in the second half, and the orderbook gives us good visibility into the year ahead.

“We are in a strong position to improve and grow the business, putting it on a sustainable growth footing through our market-leading offering together with operational and efficiency improvements.

“Given our strong order book and pipeline, coupled with positive business improvement actions, we expect to make good constant currency progress in the full year ending March 2025.”

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