Macclesfield-based engineering and thermal processing giant Bodycote said its 2017 revenue grew 14.9% to £690.2 million and its headline operating profit rose 24% to £123.9 million

Full year ordinary dividend will rise 10% to 17.4p, and a special dividend of 25p will be paid.

Bodycote employs about 5,000 people at 190 locations around the world and has a current stock market value of around £1.8 billion.

Bodycote CEO Stephen Harris said: “2017 has once again demonstrated the quality of Bodycote’s business.

“Strong growth was achieved through contributions from contract wins on automotive and aerospace programmes, excellent growth in emerging markets (where our investments are yielding good returns), and broad-based growth across the general industrial sectors, an element of which was due to some customer restocking.

“The group’s revenue growth, combined with continued discipline on costs, helped lift headline operating profit by 24%.

“Return on sales increased to 18.0% from 16.6%.

“To ensure that the business continues to deliver good results, we will continue to focus on efficiency, maintaining price discipline in light of increasing inflation across many economies, and the execution of our successful strategy.

“Our business, by its nature, has limited forward visibility, but we have entered the year with good momentum.

“Accordingly, and in spite of the foreign exchange headwind at current exchange rates, 2018 has started in line with our expectations.”