Renishaw's third-quarter profit soars on Asia boost

May 13 (Reuters) - British precision engineering company Renishaw Plc (LSE: RSW.L - news) 's pretax profit more than tripled in the third quarter as it saw continued growth in its Asia-Pacific markets.

Renishaw, which makes machine tool probes and gauges, said pretax profit rose to 53.2 million pounds ($83.42 million) in the three months ended March 31 from 14.4 million pounds a year earlier.

Revenue for the period rose almost 73 percent to 145.9 million pounds.

Renishaw has reported strong results over the past few quarters, which some analysts have linked to the launch of new products from Apple Inc (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) .

Contract manufacturers are believed to use Renishaw's tools, including precision measurement and calibration systems, to make Apple products.

The company said on Wednesday that revenue from the Asia-Pacific region rose 124 percent in the nine months to March.

Revenue from the region had grown was 90 percent in the first six months.

Renishaw also stood by its full-year revenue and pretax profit forecast. ($1 = 0.6378 pounds) (Reporting by Roshni Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)