THE parent company of west Belfast scientific camera maker Andor Technology has revealed a swing to a pre-tax loss for 2017 after a poor performance at three of its divisions.
Despite higher revenues, Oxford Instruments - which paid nearly £180 million to buy Andor in February 2014 - saw a profit of £9.7 million in 2016 swing to a £25.5 million loss in the year to March 31 this year.
It was primarily due to the impairment charges of non-current assets and other items totalling £45.8 million, which reflected the deterioration in the performance of its Asylum Research and Ol Healthcare businesses, and its joint venture ScientaOmicron.
On an adjusted basis, stripping out amortisation, impairment-related costs and other exceptional items, pretax profit rose to £36 million from £33.6 million the year before.
Sales at Oxford jumped to £348.5 million from £319.7 million as the company benefitted from the movement in currency exchange rates, and regionally strong performances in Asia and Europe, despite a flat performance in the US.
Oxford Investments - where the order book is 9.3 per cent ahead of where it was a year ago - says it will pay a final dividend of 13 pence per share, unchanged from the year before.
Chief executive Ian Barkshire said: "In a year of transition, the group delivered a stable performance, supported by currency tailwinds.
"Whilst academic and R&D funding levels remain uncertain, we believe that progress with our strategic initiatives and favourable currency effects will deliver an outcome for the year in line with expectations."
He added: "Our focus is on markets with long-term growth drivers where nanotechnology has the potential to address some of the world's most complex and pressing challenges.
"Fundamental improvements to our structure, operations and strategy are under way and give us a solid platform to return to sustainable growth, at improved margins over the medium term," said Barkshire.
Andor Technology, which started out as a spin-out from Queen's University, manufactures high performance scientific imaging cameras, spectroscopy solutions and microscopy systems for the research, forensic science and astronomy markets.
Employing close to 300 people at its Belfast base at Springvale business park, Andor has been involved in the photonics industry for more than 20 years and is expert in light measuring solutions that allow consumers to perform light measurements previously considered impossible.
Shares in Oxford Instruments were up more than 6 per cent at 1,082.18 pence on Tuesday.
