30th Jul 2015 08:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Spectris PLC Thursday said its operating profit for the full year, stripping out exceptional costs, will be at the low end of market expectations due to a challenging trading environment and cost reduction measures, as it posted a decline in pretax profit for its first half.
The instruments and controls company provided analysts forecasts for this full-year operating profit figure of between GBP200.0 million and GBP223.4 million.
For the half year to end-June, Spectris posted pretax profit of GBP49.2 million, down from GBP58.2 million a year before, as revenue rose to GBP563.2 million from GBP539.8 million but this was offset by higher operating costs and higher amortisation.
Spectris said its first half revenue was boosted by acquisitions, which contributed about 4% to revenue. Sales in North America fell 2%, and in China they fell 4%. Overall sales in the Asia Pacific area rose 1%, as a strong performance from India and South East Asia offset the decline in China, and a 5% fall in Japan. In Europe, sales rose 4% in the first half. All the regional figures include acquisitions.
In the second half, Spectris said recent acquisitions and new product launches are expected to benefit its performance. It also has taken cost-reduction measures to improve its profitability.
"Our broad end market exposures, continuing investments in new products, strong cash flow and robust financial position underpin the Board's view that the company is well positioned to deliver on its growth strategy," said Chief Executive John O'Higgins in a statement.
Spectris proposed a dividend of 17.3 pence, up from 16.0 pence a year before.
Shares in Spectris were down 0.9% at 1,930.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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