24th Apr 2015 06:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Spectris PLC Friday said it is "well positioned for 2015 and beyond", as acquisitions helped boost its sales growth in the first quarter of 2015.
The instrumentation and controls company said its sales rose 6%, driven by acquisitions and broadly neutral impact from exchange rates. On a like-for-like basis, excluding acquisitions and at constant currency, sales rose 1%.
Within this, like-for-like sales were up 10% in Europe, but declined 3% in North America and 2% in Asia Pacific.
The company made two acquisitions during the period, including ReliaSoft Corp in January, and an undisclosed distributor in Taiwan in March.
The company said it had been encouraged by progress in end markets for its Material Analysis business and by the contribution from acquisitions, but this has been offset by weaker than expected trading in North America and China, and on-going weakness in the pulp and paper market.
"In addition to a strong product portfolio and an encouraging acquisition pipeline, our broad end-market exposures together with our strong financial position and on-going investment in the business all underpin the Board's view that the company is well positioned for 2015 and beyond," said Chief Executive John O'Higgins in a statement.
Spectris will announce its first half results July 30.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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