Volex (LSE:VLX) reported record first-half revenue of $723.6 million for the six months to 30 September, up 23.9% from $583.9 million a year earlier.
The London-listed specialist manufacturer of power and data transmission products, which moved to the Main Market in July and joined the FTSE 250 in September, said underlying operating profit rose 40.9% to $80.6 million from $57.2 million, with underlying operating margin expanding 130 basis points to 11.1%.
All five of the group's end-markets grew during the period, with organic growth of 23.6% at constant exchange rates; stripping out Data Centre, organic growth still ran at 19.5%, which the company said showed momentum was broad-based rather than concentrated in one segment.
"This was another record first half for Volex. We grew in all five of our end-markets and increased underlying operating profit by 41%, delivering margins above 11% for the first time," said chief executive Nat Rothschild.
EV & Electrification was the standout, with organic growth of 46.8% as Volex won a greater share of its largest EV customer's requirements.
Complex Industrial Technology, the group's data-centre and defence-linked franchise, grew organically by 41.2%, with Data Centre revenue up 47.0% year on year, though still below the second half of the prior financial year when customers placed additional short-term volumes amid supply constraints elsewhere in the chain.
Aerospace and defence customers also contributed, including about $10 million of revenue brought forward ahead of the group's US manufacturing site consolidation, a plan it had flagged at its October trading update.
Consumer Electricals and Medical, both of which had faced headwinds in the prior financial year from Chinese competition in Europe and customer destocking respectively, returned to organic growth of 9.5% and 1.8%.
Medical also picked up an $11.3 million revenue contribution from Kepler SignalTek, after Volex completed the acquisition of the remaining 64.3% stake in July, taking it to full ownership and extending the group's reach into patient-to-device cables.
North America remained the largest region, with revenue up 35.8% to $390.4 million, now 54.0% of group revenue against 49.2% a year earlier, driven by EV, Data Centre and the KST contribution.
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Europe grew 4.9% to $229.3 million and Asia rose 33.5% to $103.9 million.
Covenant leverage rose to 1.1x from 0.8x at the last financial year-end, reflecting the KST acquisition and $22.7 million spent on the now-completed £20 million share buyback, while return on capital employed improved to 23.3% from 21.0%.
The board declared an interim dividend of 1.7p per share, up 6.3% on the prior year, and said the second half has started well with full-year expectations, upgraded at October's trading update, left unchanged.
Second-half revenue is expected to be broadly in line with the first half excluding the brought-forward revenue, as the drawdown of buffer stock is offset by a full six months of KST's contribution.
"Our strong balance sheet provides further opportunity to keep investing where our customers need us and to add strategically relevant businesses like KST... I'm delighted with the momentum in our current trading, and beyond that, we remain confident of delivering our medium-term targets," Rothschild said.