BUSINESS LIVE: Raspberry Pi profits surge; AG Barr shrugs off cocktails dip; Card Factory hit by wage inflation

The pound hit €1.20 against the euro last night for the first time in more than two years as figures suggested Germany was on course for a recession.

Sterling was up by nearly a cent against the single currency at levels not seen since April 2022 – as monthly business survey data showed a stark contrast between the UK and eurozone.

Raspberry Pi profits surged in the tech group’s first six month reporting period as a London-listed company, as strong demand for higher margin products offset weaker than expected sales volumes.

The group, which raised £178.9million when it debuted on the FTSE 250 in June, said sales surged 61 per cent to $144million in the six months to 30 June.

This saw adjusted earnings before nasties climb 55 per cent year-on-year to $20.9million.

‘The IPO was the watershed moment of the first half, with Admission to trading just two weeks before the period end. In continued pleasing trading in the first half, we saw strong uptake of our latest flagship SBC, Raspberry Pi5, the launch of the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, and the successful ramp to production of RP2350, our second-generation microcontroller platform.

‘The higher than usual customer and channel inventory levels which were evident at the time of the IPO have continued to unwind, and there is a growing sense that this will have concluded by the year end. We have an extraordinary team, a world class product set backed up by an exciting future roadmap, and a loyal and engaged customer base that we can continue to grow. In the second half, we have further planned product releases and a number of initiatives to further expand our engagement within our Industrial and Embedded market.’