600 Group share price surges on positive trading update

600 Group’s order book increased by 70% during March

600 Group’s (LON:SIXH) share price soared by 28.8% on Thursday, closing at 11.27p per share, following a positive trading update.

The machine industry company said it expects its revenue to fall by 20% to $53m due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite this reduction in revenues, the firm expects to report underlying EBIT of approximately $2.5m for the full year due to the implementation of operational cost savings and government assistance programmes.

The performance surpassed the AIM-listed company’s expectations, and a robust increase in activity during March, means the order book increased by 70% from the previous year to $14m.

So far in April, 600 Group has received another $4m worth of orders.

The improvement in the order book, the company said in its statement, was helped by a good performance from the custom laser side of the business, which has higher margins.

Paul Dupee, group executive chairman, commented on 600 Group’s response to the Covid-19 crisis:

“The particularly strong order activity over the last two months, supported by a level of government assistance, has enabled the business to maintain its skilled workforce during the pandemic. This has allowed us to respond quickly to recent demand and significantly improve the size and quality of the Group’s orderbook, leaving the business well placed as markets improve.”