Zytronic PLC on Tuesday said its annual profit rose, as revenue steadily increased, while it also declared an increased annual dividend to shareholders.

The Tyne & Wear, England-based touch sensors manufacturer said pretax profit in the financial year that ended September 30 was £705,000, up 56% from £453,000 a year earlier.

This was largely because revenue was up 5.1% to £12.3 million from £11.7 million. Gaming and vending revenue increased by 62% and 39% to £4.7 million and £3.6 million respectively, which were offset by a 59% fall in financial revenue to £1.2 million.

Zytronic declared a final dividend of 2.20 pence to shareholders, up 47% from 1.50p a year earlier. Zytronic paid no interim dividend either year, so the final dividend is the full-year payout.

Zytronic said order intake in the first two months of its new financial year was at a similar level to a year earlier, despite continued global supply chain concerns. It noted this meant current order intake was lower than the equivalent two-month period during financial 2021.

‘The board maintains the opinion that this is also being impacted by the more than two years of postponed face-to-face business development and marketing activities due to the prolonged global impact of Covid-19. Encouragingly, those global activities have now resumed to pre-pandemic levels, which is observable in the improved volume and value of opportunities in our pipeline log,’ said Acting Executive Chair Mark Cambridge.

‘Whilst supply chain issues persist equally for Zytronic and its customer markets...we are encouraged by the full return of our key face-to-face global business development and marketing. These activities provide the basis for progress, as we continue to accelerate the rebuilding of the opportunities pipeline.’

Shares in Zytronic were up 2.0% to 140.20p each in London on Tuesday morning.

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