Spirent Communications posts substantial rise in half-year profit

Cost cutting has helped telecommunications specialist Spirent Communications post a 73% increase in profits in the first six months of 2016.

The Sussex-based firm posted an adjusted operating profit of $10.4m (£7.9m; €9.3m) in the January to June period, compared to a $6m profit in the same period last year.

But Spirent said it was "slightly disappointed" by revenue falling to $213.5m from $218.7m, with the drop attributed to orders received too late in the second quarter to be converted to earnings.

The telecommunications tester kept its profit outlook unchanged for the whole year.

"There are good growth opportunities in the key areas we have identified for investment, including high-speed Ethernet, cloud and virtualisation, 4G and 5G mobile networks and security," Spirent chief executive Eric Hutchinson said in a statement.

"Revenue growth is emerging from our targeted investments, proving we are focusing attention in the right areas.

"Decisive action taken last year to reduce operating expenditure and right size the businesses in our more challenging markets contributed significantly to the substantial increase in operating profit compared to the same period last year."

Revenue growth in the first half of the year was driven by strong demand for telecommunications infrastructure in China, while Europe, Middle East and Africa saw flat growth.