(Alliance News) - Spectris PLC on Tuesday announced a GBP300 million share buyback programme after selling its Omega Engineering subsidiary to Arcline Investment Management. Read More
(Alliance News) - Stock trading in London is set for a downbeat return following the long Easter weekend, with traders mulling global growth prospects. Read More
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News: Read More
(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Wednesday morning and Tuesday afternoon: Read More
(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Monday morning and Friday: Read More
Spectris PLC - Egham, Surrey-based supplier of precision instrumentation and controls - Chief Financial Officer Derek Harding purchases 4,000 shares at 2,545.45 pence each on Monday, totalling GBP101,818. Read More
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended lower on Monday amid ongoing concerns about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has sent global oil prices soaring. Read More
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were struggling at the start of the new week with the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine sending commodities to record levels and equities - particularly travel, banking and retail shares - in the other direction. Read More
(Alliance News) - Stock markets in Europe sunk at the open on Monday, with the FTSE 100 outperforming its mainland peers, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to send investors into safe-haven assets such as gold, while crude prices spiked on worries that Russian oil will be banned. Read More
(Alliance News) - Spectris PLC said on Monday it has ended discussions for a proposed GBP1.8 billion takeover of Oxford Instruments PLC, due to market uncertainty following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Read More
(Alliance News) - The global market turmoil caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine claimed an M&A victim in London on Monday. Read More
(Alliance News) - Equities look set for another tough week, with stocks in London called sharply lower on Monday morning, as Russia intensified its attack on neighbouring Ukraine and China trimmed its growth outlook. Read More
(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Thursday morning and Wednesday: Read More
(Alliance News) - Blue-chip European equities showed promising signs of recovery in afternoon trade on Monday, paring heavier declines, though traders remain on edge as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to send shockwaves through global markets. Read More
(Alliance News) - Oxford Instruments PLC on Monday confirmed it has received a new takeover offer proposal from Spectris PLC worth about GBP1.8 billion. Read More
<p>(Alliance News) - Spectris PLC said on Thursday it had swung to profit in 2021, despite a drop in revenue as Covid and supply chain issues hit sales conversion in the second half. <br /><br />The Egham, England-based supplier of precision instrumentation & controls swung to a pretax profit of GBP388.6 million, from a loss of GBP4.1 million in 2020. Basic earnings per share were 305.1 pence, up from a loss of 14.6p the year before.<br /> <br />Spectris reported revenue in 2021 of GBP1.29 billion, down 3.3% year-on-year from GBP1.34 billion. <br /><br />Supply chain challenges hit sales growth somewhat in the final quarter, which grew by 2% over the previous year, compared to the average of 10% growth for the full-year. The Omicron wave in the fourth quarter and supply chain issues in the second half constrained the conversion of orders into revenue, with some orders to be carried through into 2022. <br /><br />Spectris reported strong demand from customers in the year with orders 19% higher on a like-for-like basis. Its operating margin grew by 320 basis points to 16% from 13% the year before. Like-for-like sales recovered to within 2% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels. <br /><br />In 2022, Spectris said orders and sales were both strong in January, and it is making good progress to return to and exceed its previous adjusted operating margin high of 18%. As a "more focused, less complex, asset-light, highly cash generative" business, it is also considering merger & acquisition opportunities, it said.<br /><br />It proposed a final dividend of 48.8p per share, up 5% year-on-year, to a total of 71.8p for the year. This is down from 111.6p in 2020, which saw an additional dividend. <br /><br />Spectris' share price was down 7.6% to 2,996.00 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.<br /><br />Chief Executive Andrew Heath said: "We delivered a good financial performance in 2021 and have made significant progress in executing our strategy for profitable growth, thanks to the hard work of the whole Spectris team. <br /><br />"Demand for our products and services has been strong, and although supply chain and Covid challenges somewhat constrained our ability to maximise sales in the fourth quarter, we entered 2022 with a record order book, and a strong start to the year. This gives us confidence in our ability to deliver continued good sales growth this year, noting the ongoing supply chain challenges."<br /><br /><br />By Elizabeth Winter; [email protected]<br /><br />Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.</p> Read More
(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Tuesday morning: Read More
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