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Yorkshire-based industrial engineers the 600 Group has seen a big lift in recent orders after taking a significant hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Heckmondwike company, designs, makes and distributes industrial products including machine tools, precision engineered components and industrial laser systems, and has posted an upbeat trading update for the year ended March 31 2021.

Despite the impacts of Covid-19, it expects to report revenues of around $53m (£38.4m), down over 20% on the previous year.

It also said it expects to report underlying EBIT of approximately $2.5m (£1.81m) for the full year, as a result of operational cost savings and Government assistance programmes.

The group said the performance is above the board’s post-pandemic expectations, aided by a strong increase in order activity in March which has boosted the overall orderbook to approximately $14m (£10.15m) at the year end - almost 70% up on the 2020 figure.

Over the last few weeks the 600 Group said activity has significantly increased, bringing in a further $4m (£2.9m) of orders so far in April.

It said: “This much improved order book is particularly strong in the higher margin custom laser side of the business, providing a strong platform for the group to grow in the current financial year and benefit from operational gearing within the businesses.

“The group has pleasingly been able to largely maintain pre-pandemic employment levels, with assistance from Government furlough in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ and Australia, and forgiveness of USA Government Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. This should enable to the group to ramp up operations sufficiently to match the increase in order book.”