A BELFAST-BASED maker of specialist digital scientific cameras has reported a sharp increase in sales and profit.

Andor Technology said yesterday that full year pre-tax profits jumped 37 per cent to an all-time high of £9.7 million. Turnover was 34 per cent up at £57.4 million in the year to the end of September last.

Chief executive Conor Walsh said it had been an “exceptional” year for the company, the 14th in succession in which the company has reported growth.

In the past three years, he said, the company had grown pre-tax profits by more than 350 per cent.

“Andor is a unique business. We are proud and passionate about what we do.

“We understand that science is at the heart of our success and innovation is what delivers our performance,” Mr Walsh added.

Andor was established as a spin-out from Queen’s University, Belfast in 1989. It now employs more than 321 people in 16 offices worldwide.

Last week it announced an £18 million investment programme that is expected to create 166 additional jobs in Belfast.

In its latest set of accounts the company says it made a number of investments during the 12 months to September including a multi-faceted expansion programme that will deliver significant additional capacity.

Mr Walsh said that at current growth rates Andor will need to invest in further facilities in the coming years.

The latest set of figures show basic earnings per share increased to 21.58 pence per share in 2011 from 15.72 pence per share in 2010.

Underlying organic growth was 32 per cent with the balance coming from latest acquisitions, Bitplane and Photonic Instruments. Mr Walsh said in the 12 months to September each of the company’s segments and markets had delivered growth of more than 20 per cent but the largest growth had come from the sale of systems which grew by 109 per cent.

He said significant improvements in Andor’s production delivery had seen Andor’s closing order book increased by £400,000 to £13.8 million.

“There is no doubt that the continuing economic uncertainty is a concern for all business. At Andor we believe we are well positioned to deal with changing market conditions.

“We have never allowed ourselves to take the short-term view and our continued investment in people, faculties and products is testament to our long-term confidence,” he added.

By the end of the period under review the group had cash balances of £12.7 million.