Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The Cambridge-based firm said that pre-tax profits had risen to £24.65m for the year to the end of March, from £11.16m the year before on a 44 per cent rise in revenues, up to £94.9m from £65.9m last time. It added that R&D investment had increased during the year by 27 per cent to £17.6m.

The record results prompted the group to increase its total payout by 70 per cent to 4.18 from 2.46p for 2006.

“We have seen unprecedented growth in revenue and profits reflecting AVEVA's position in the expanding global markets for marine, oil and gas and power engineering,” said chairman, Nick Prest.

Despite the robust results, AVEVA's share price has seen a two per cent dip, falling 20.5p to 865.5p.