Aveva delivered its annual set of record results and said it was looking aggressively to spend its sizeable cash balance on acquisitions.

Buoyant markets in commodities, shipbuilding and nuclear power pushed revenues for the year to March 31 up 34 per cent to £127.6m at the engineering software group. Pre-tax profit rose 83 per cent to £45m and net cash doubled to £82.8m, ahead of analysts’ estimates.