Raspberry Pi Holdings PLC on Tuesday said first-half profit was better than expected as it delivered its first earnings report since debuting on the London Stock Exchange in June.

In the six months to June 30, the Cambridge-based budget computer firm said pretax profit rose 0.9% to $10.8 million from $10.7 million a year prior. Revenue jumped 61% to $144.0 million from $89.3 million.

Gross profit rose 47% to $34.2 million from $23.2 million although gross margin declined 2.3 percentage points to 23.8% from 26.1%. Basic earnings per share fell 11% to 3.92 US cents from 4.39 cents.

Raspberry Pi said first half profitability was ‘stronger than expected’, and while volumes were marginally lower than predicted, sales were skewed towards ‘higher margin variants’.

In response, shares in the firm rose 6.8% to 372.00 pence in London on Tuesday, 33% above June’s initial public offering price of 280p. The firm is valued at around £717.5 million.

Raspberry Pi said that having previously expected performance to be weighted towards the second half of the year, ‘this is no longer the case, with profitability in the first half ahead of internal expectations.’

Higher unit volumes are anticipated for the second half, supported by new product launches, although an expected product mix will contribute to ‘lower unit economics’, the firm added.

Inventory levels remain higher than usual but the firm noted signs that this should normalise towards the end of the year.

‘Overall, we are encouraged by the resilient performance of the business given the market conditions widely reported by our peers. Our expectations for the full year remain unchanged.’

No dividend was declared.

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