Turnover for the six months to June 30 was up by ten per cent to £316 million while pre-tax profit was down by five per cent to £43.9 million.

But the period has been one of success for the Crawley company which has seen a breakthrough in development.

New product development investment was up by 32 per cent to

£19.1 million.

Chief executive Nicholas Brookes said progress has been made in implementing the company's strategy of focusing on high growth, high technology markets. This includes the acquisition of U.S. company Netcom Systems and the proposed sale of the thermal management operations.

These developments have significantly altered Bowthorpe's business profile and are seen as critical in achieving high long-term returns.

Over the last three years Bowthorpe has become the world leader in the development and

manufacture of telecoms testing equipment.

The interim dividend has been raised by eight per cent to 4p.

Bowthorpe is an active supporter of the Government's Action 2000 taskforce and as a signatory of its Pledge 2000 scheme is committed to promoting awareness and openness on millennium bug issues.

As a member of the National Mentoring Scheme it has hosted a number of workshops to assist smaller companies with their Y2K preparations.

Bowthorpe has also announced that chairman Anthony Vice has retired for the board for reason connected with his health. He has been a non-executive director for 21 years and chairman for the past seven years.

The new chairman is Dr George Sarney, currently chief executive of the Intelligent Automation Division of Invensys, from which he will be stepping down.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.