Mobile phone and electronic equipment repairer CRC Group is eyeing new opportunities in Eastern Europe after increasing first-half pre-tax profits 67 per cent to £2.5 million.

AIM-quoted CRC increased turnover nearly 12 per cent to £34 million in the six months to June as the Thame-based company continued to build new corporate relationships following key customer Nokia's decision early last year to take most of its UK business elsewhere. Chairman David Ryan recalls that Nokia had provided CRC with nearly 80 per cent of its revenues at that time, a share which has fallen to 18 per cent as the company has won new business worth £5 million with Vodafone and NTL in the UK, Sony and Nokia itself in Poland and Fujitsu Siemens in Germany.

A key plank in CRC's strategy is the acquisition of Teleca and Kronos 2002, the mobile handset repair arms of Italy's Progetto Electronica, for up to £4.7 million, as well as taking on £1.7 million of debt. Final approval is expected soon of a deal that CRC suggests could start to swell group profits next year.

The company has also extended its links with Siemens at its Padeborn facility in Germany, including laptop LCD screens, and with the Apple group for its iPods at the Huntingdon and Glenrothes plants. Ryan contends rapid innovation and shorter model life is paradoxically increasing business as hasty modifications breed imperfect production.

He says CRC is looking for expansion possibilities in Eastern Europe, rather than China or South-East Asia, because, with product model changes becoming ever more frequent, the advantage in container shipping time has become a relevant factor. Moreover, Ryan maintains that labour in Shanghai has now become as costly as in outlying parts of Poland.

CRC increased interim earnings 43 per cent to 7.82p a share and broker Investec reckons the company could earn 19.5p a share for the full year. That would put the shares at 269.5p – up from 157p in June last year when Growth Company Investor recommended them – on an undemanding prospective p/e ratio of 14.

Hold on.