Carclo raises £3.5m to fund growth

The Osset-based company, which has a diverse range of products including lighting for super cars and blood testing equipment, said trading in the second half of its financial year is continuing in line with its expectations.

"Divisional operating profits should be well ahead of the first half and underlying profits for the full year are expected to be at a broadly similar level to last year," the group said.

The placing of five new cent of its shares was achieved at no discount to the market price, and proceeds are being used to fund new opportunities, mainly at its Conductive Inkjet Technology (CIT) division.

In December CIT won a landmark deal to develop and launch a new touch screen for use in mobile phones.

CIT, which prints "invisible" metal lines on plastic products such as touch screens and medical sensors, signed a deal worth up $2m (1.2m) with US electronics heavyweight Atmel Corporation.

The group said CIT is on track to install a production line in its Cambridge plant to manufacture touch screen sensors,which should be operational by the end of this calendar year.

Its technical plastics division "continues to perform well" and win new business in medical and optical.

Its precision products arm sees continued subdued demand in aerospace but its Wipac subsidiary is seeing a stronger second half, benefitting from its supercar lighting programmes.

"The group's finances remain strong, its main businesses continue to demonstrate their underlying strengths and CIT is now commercialising rapidly," said the group in a statement. "The board is confident of delivering further progress in the next financial year."