Orders and revenue up for 600 Group

The Group hinted at positive future developments saying that it has a "strong" delivery schedule for the second half of 2006/7. The global market for machine tools has enjoyed it fourth successive year of growth and the Group has seen growth from "all sectors, and from most of its territories", it was reported. Most notably, Eastern Europe has remained very buoyant and new distribution channels have been opened both in the Russian Federation and the Baltic States. Both the UK and North American markets have continued to strengthen despite the loss of confidence suffered early last year by the UK automotive industry. Demand in Germany began to improve during the final quarter of the year. During the year the Group undertook an increased programme of new product development. On the machine tool side this included the launches of the TS Harrison Alpha XS and XT ranges, the 5-axis Tornado T8MSY from Colchester, and the introduction of the new 2plus2 chuck by Pratt Burnerd International. New laser marker developments included the completion of the Electrox Cobra V series and the introduction of the Electrox Razor laser markers. Most importantly, the Group developed the Electrox Scorpion fibre lasers coupled with the MaxBox workstation, designed to make the Scorpion range accessible to low volume first time users.