After two successive profit warnings early in the year, results from high tech measurement specialist Renishaw were never going to be pretty.
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After record first-quarter results, the deterioration in trading was sudden and brutal - sales slumped 37 per cent in the second half, and 14.9 per cent to £171.2m over the year. And it was only thanks to drastic cost-cutting measures that the company remained profitable, albeit only just - pre-tax profits slumped 89 per cent to just £4.7m. The group finished the year with a much thinner bank balance, too, with cash 46 per cent lower at £20.5m, forcing it to cut its final dividend.
