4imprint (asi/197045) said Tuesday that it increased revenue to $298.91 million during the first half of 2017 – an 11% increase over the same period from the prior year. The Top 40 distributor also engineered a 41% gain in profit before tax, rising to $15.7 million. Similarly, basic earnings per share rose 39%.

“The results for the first half of 2017 were encouraging and consistent with our strategic objective to deliver profitable organic revenue growth,” said 4imprint Chairman Paul Moody, adding that organic growth occurred in both the North American and UK markets.

In the first half of the year, the company produced 587,000 individually customized orders, a tally that was 11% more than the comparable period from 2016. 4imprint also acquired 125,000 new customers while generating a 14% increase in orders from existing customers. Net operating cash at the end of the half-year was $33.26 million, up from $21.68 million at the end of December.

“Our business continues to benefit from stable gross margins and tight control of the marketing budget and other overheads,” said Moody, who added that 4imprint aims to keep driving growth with proactive, marketing-led initiatives. “In addition to refining our existing data-driven marketing platform, the team is constantly looking for, and testing, different or complementary marketing techniques to assist with new customer acquisition and the retention of existing customers. This culture of innovation in the ways that we reach our customers remains a key focus moving forward.”

With reported 2016 North American promotional product revenue of $540.6 million, 4imprint ranked second on Counselor’s 2017 list of the largest distributors in the industry.