28th Feb 2025 12:04
(Alliance News) - Spectris PLC on Friday said it expects to trade in line with market expectations for the new financial year as it posted weaker sales figures for 2024.
The London-based supplier of precision instrumentation and controls reported a 63% jump in pretax profit to GBP302.7 million in 2024 from GBP185.6 million in 2023. This boost was driven by the disposal of its Red Lion Controls business for GBP210.7 million throughout the period, bolstering its bottom line.
On an adjusted basis, pretax profit fell 27% to GBP191.5 million from GBP263.6 million.
Sales declined by 10% to GBP1.30 billion from GBP1.45 billion the prior year, with Spectris noting like-for-like sales were lower in all end-markets.
On a like-for-like regional basis, they were 6% lower in each of North America and Europe. In Asia, like-for-like sales were down 9%, driven primarily by China against a strong comparator, the company said.
Spectris said its end markets were subdued in 2024, with it not witnessing the pickup in demand it expected to when entering the year. However, it added that they are showing signs of recovery.
Spectris declared a final dividend of 56.6 pence per share, taking the year's total dividend to 83.2p. This represents a 5.1% uplift on 2023's dividend of 79.2p and is in line with its commitments to a progressive dividend policy.
Looking to 2025, Spectris said it has entered the new financial year with "good momentum", owing to its "decisive actions" on cost and its focused portfolio.
It expects its 'profit improvement programme', announced in October, to deliver GBP50 million of full run-rate benefits, of which GBP30 million is expected in 2025 and GBP20 million in 2026. It said these cost savings underpin its 2025 guidance.
Spectris added that it expects to trade in line with market expectations for 2025, and to return to strong levels of adjusted operating profit. For 2024, adjusted operating profit fell 20% to GBP202.6 million from GBP262.5 million.
Shares in Spectris were down 0.5% at 2,868.00 pence on Friday morning in London.
Chief Executive Andrew Heath commented: "While it is too early to state that we are seeing a sustained recovery in end markets, we are encouraged by the positive demand signals observed in the final quarter.
"We take confidence from the quality of our portfolio, which has been significantly strengthened by three highly synergistic acquisitions. Their contribution, alongside our accelerated value-realisation plan, in the form of our profit improvement programme, will underpin a significant increase in profit in 2025 and 2026.
"While the pace of end market recovery remains unclear, the decisive actions we have taken on cost and our focused portfolio, mean we entered 2025 with good momentum, underpinning progress towards our medium-term financial targets".
By Christopher Ward, Alliance News reporter
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