King's Lynn-based specialist filtration company Porvair yesterday recorded a good start to the financial year noting that revenues were up 6pc from the previous 12 months.

The EDP Top 100 company said in an interim statement that outlook for the coming months was encouraging, buoyed by new growth in India and China.

The news comes on the back of a 40pc increase in pre-tax profits to £6.3m, up from £1.8m previously announced in its end of year results.

In February, Porvair sealed a deal with Reliance Industries, India's largest private enterprise company, to work on a gasification plant in Jamnagar.

In January it announced plans to expand its manufacturing division in China, investing £1m in relocating from Wuhan, China, to a new operation in Xiaogan province.

Meanwhile its microfiltration division also secured a £11.3m contract with the UK government for the design and manufacture of a nuclear remediation filtration system.

Porvair, which employs 240 staff at its global plant on Wisbech Road, is expecting to see a slight rise in turnover to more than £30m this year, as it continues to export hardware to sugar plants, power stations and cement works within heavy industry.

Ben Stocks, chief executive, said: 'Order books have strengthened significantly over the period with the addition of an £11m order from the UK government and the contract for gasification filtration with Reliance Industries in India. Work is already under way on both projects. In the last few days further modules have been ordered by Reliance Industries, increasing the scope for that project by a quarter. As previously announced the financial impact of this work is expected to be spread over several years.'

The company will be announcing its interim results on June 24.