Mounting global competition has prompted more and more companies to differentiate themselves by offering localised websites and customer service across myriad devices and media channels. That helped SDL (SDL) - which provides social, e-commerce, language and other 'customer experience management' tools to the likes of Canon - post a 38 per cent rise in half-year adjusted operating profit to £9.4m.
Strong demand in the Americas and new clients such as Huawei and Mitsubishi Electric drove language services revenue up 4 per cent. Moreover, the division's pre-tax profit margin widened by 5.6 percentage points to a record 21.6 per cent. That reflected tight cost control, including greater use of automated translation technology and low-cost production centres.