Dublin inventor McMurtry finishes year on a €1.5bn high after Renishaw shares surge

DAVID McMurtry, the Dublin-born co-founder of global precision engineering giant Renishaw, has seen the value of his 36pc stake soar to more than €1.5bn after shares in the UKbased firm surged 60pc.

In particular the shares have risen in the last half of the year, from £35.45 to their current price of £52.85.

While there had been some speculation among small investors that Renishaw’s growing 3D printing division could be of interest to US conglomerate GE, which bought three such companies in the past 18 months, City analysts pointed to a 26pc growth in revenue, to £142.3m for the three months to the end of September, as the key factor in driving the share price to a record high.

Ben Thefaut, an analyst at London-based Ardent Partners who covers the sector, said: “Renishaw are a world leader, keeping all their manufacturing in-house and capturing all of the profit margin.”

Revenue grew due to a number of large orders from Far East customers in the consumer electronics markets, the company’s most recent trading statement said. Pre-tax profit was up to £36.9m from £10.7m year-onyear in its first quarter.

The company is under the control of engineer and inventor McMurtry and co-founder John Deer. It is believed to be a key supplier to makers of smartphones for Samsung and Apple in China and South Korea, but has never commented on this.

Clontarf native McMurtry (77) saw record sales of €600m for the firm’s 2017 financial year to the end of July. Other customers of the firm, which also employs over 220 people in Dublin and another 4,000 around the world, include Airbus and Rolls-Royce.