600 Group plc (www.600group.com), the diversified industrial engineering company, issued the following trading update ahead of its latest AGM on 25 September.

“While most of our markets remain subject to current global economic and political uncertainty, trading in the current financial year continues to be in line with the Board’s expectations.

"Control Micro Systems (CMS), acquired towards the end of June 2019, has integrated well with the Group’s existing laser activities.

"As part of the integration process, the management team has been strengthened, and its sales and marketing functions have been significantly enhanced through combination with the Group’s established sales and marketing platform.

“Notwithstanding the uncertainty impacting customer sentiment across our markets, the work undertaken to eliminate the Group UK pension scheme completed in May 2019 — resulting in the return of a $5.2 million surplus to the Group and the elimination of $270 million of liabilities — and the restructuring of operations in the UK have significantly de-risked the Group, reduced capital expenditure requirements and improved its financial strength.”

The Group expects to announce results for the half-year ending 28 September in early December.

The 600 Group is a distributor, designer and manufacturer of industrial products with three principal areas of activities: machine tools; precision engineered components; and industrial laser systems.