Strong demand for metals and minerals from China and India helped Bateman Engineering, the designer and constructor of process plants for the mining industry, to report a 43 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to $21.2m (£10.5m) in the year to June. Revenues rose from $342.4m to $471.1m.

The South African-based company has also agreed to pay up to $35m for the mining process division of Intertech Trading, which is incorporated in the US but operates mainly in the former Soviet Union. The acquisition is the third since Bateman floated on Aim in October 2005.