For the four months ended April 2007, sales in the UK, Europe and Asia were up by 19% on the same time last year. This includes an incremental contribution from the recent buy-out of its Australian distributor in February and the acquisition of French distributor SDM Electronique in March.

‘These acquisitions have been assimilated quickly and within budget,’ says Ward. ‘Although they have been under group ownership for only a short period, Raymarine's acquisitions have been well received, trading has been good and results to the end of 2007 are anticipated to be in line with or better than expectations.’

In the first four months of the year, US sales were down by 3% compared to the first four months of 2006 and the company no longer expects the US market to meet its targets for the full year.

Raymarine says its recent outsourcing project is nearing completion. ‘The transfer of manufacturing to Hungary was completed as planned in 2006,’ says Ward. ‘The transition of component supplies to low cost sources, which involves re-sourcing of over 2,300 components, the commissioning of nearly 500 new tools and the transfer of a further 250 tools, is also nearing a conclusion.’

By the end of April 2007, 99% of the components to be transferred have had their new source approved, over 80% are now on order with new suppliers, and over 40% are already in use in production, he added.