UK's Raspberry Pi shares hit record as industrial demand boosts outlook

June 5 (Reuters) - Britain's Raspberry Pi on Friday upgraded its full-year profit outlook, sending shares of the single-board computer maker to an all-time high.

The Cambridge-based company said strong pricing and demand from industrial customers helped it weather soaring memory-chip costs, though its profitability per unit would moderate in the second half as the inventory of chips secured at lower prices begins to shrink.

Raspberry Pi said it expected full 2026 core profit to be "significantly ahead" of current market expectations and forecast core profit for six months to June 30 of at least $38 million, close to the current $42 million analyst consensus for the whole year.

Its FTSE 250-listed shares soared as much as 18% to a record 972 pence in early trade, having more than tripled in value from the IPO price of 280 pence in 2024.

Raspberry Pi said it would tap debt facilities to make strategic memory purchases to secure supply amid an unprecedented scarcity driven by surging AI demand.

"While macroeconomic uncertainty persists, and the pricing and availability of DRAM and non-volatile memory remains challenging, the company is confident that it can secure the inventory necessary to meet its FY 2026 production goals," it said in a statement.

The company's low-cost, credit-card-sized computers are used in factory automation, robotics, digital signage, medical devices and energy management systems and Raspberry Pi said demand from equipment manufacturers and industrial customers remained robust.

According to the company, about one-third of its boards and modules by volume either use no memory chips or use an older type for which the company maintains a separate inventory buffer not exposed to market volatility.

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(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Tomasz Janowski)