Martin Professional reports a good start to 2008 based on healthy activity in all the markets the company operates in.

Martin lifted revenue slightly to $55.7 million in Q1 2008 from $54.9 million in Q1 2007. Underlying the slight improvement is organic growth partly offset by the weaker DKK/USD exchange rate.

Consistent with expectations, profit before tax was $4.6 million in Q1 2008 compared with $1.8 million in Q1 2007.

The Q1 numbers come on the heels of excellent 2007 numbers for the company. Revenue in 2007 improved by 14.1% to a record level of $234.5 million from $205.5 million in 2006. Profit before tax increased to $16.2 million in 2007 from $3.8 million in 2006.

Martin continues to reap the benefits of quality and product development improvements that have resulted from a completed business transformation process.

With the prospects of the DKK/USD exchange rate remaining very low coupled with continued tough price pressure, Martin has only moderately increased its profit forecast for 2008. Martin expects to generate revenue of approximately $250 million in 2008 with a profit before tax of just over $16 million.