Renishaw stays upbeat amid eurozone gloom Shares in Renishaw, the engineer, surged in early morning trading on Wednesday after it said trading ought to strengthen in spite of eurozone economic gloom. The FTSE 250 group, which makes specialised measuring equipment, said the outlook for demand from the automotive, civil aviation, agriculture and energy sectors was "increasingly favourable." It expected a recovery in the electronics sector, where a slowdown has constrained its Asian sales, the Gloucestershire-based company added. Shares in Renishaw rose 14 per cent to £13.15 in early morning trading in London on Wednesday after the forecast, which was contained in the company's first half results. However, the shares are still well off their six-month high of £18.86. In the last six months of 2011, sales were £147.1m, up 11 per cent from the £132.2m posted in the same period a year earlier. The strongest revenue increase was in Europe, where sales were up by a quarter. But Asian sales outside Japan were off 17 per cent, hit by weakness in the micro-electronics and opto-electronics markets. Pre-tax profit was £31.2m, down 11 per cent from £35.2m. Earnings per share fell 11 per cent to 34.7p. Renishaw said the profit decline reflected "continued investment in staff and infrastructure to support growth." An interim dividend of 10.3p per share has been declared, the same sum as last year.