High-tech company Oxford Instruments is poised for more expansion after increasing its workforce by ten per cent over the past year.

Announcing pre-tax half-year profits of £10.6m, more than triple those of a year ago, chief executive Jonathan Flint said the company was still recruiting engineers for its headquarters at Tubney Woods, near Abingdon.

Revenue rose 22 per cent to £113.2m, helped by recovery in industrial markets, and the company said it expected strong demand to continue in the second half.

Mr Flint said: "I'm quite confident our products are very good. we have some very bright people at our Oxford site and we have seen very strong demand, particularly from the Far East."

He did not expect sales of its research equipment to be affected by public spending cuts, since UK sales were less than five per cent of total revenue.

He added: "In Asia, research spending is going up all the time."