25th Sep 2007 14:00
Oxford Instruments PLC25 September 2007 25 September 2007 Oxford Instruments plc Chairman's AGM Statement 2007 Oxford Instruments plc, the high technology tools and systems company, isholding its Annual General Meeting today at which the Chairman, Nigel Keen, willmake the following statement: Two years ago Oxford Instruments embarked on a strategy to reposition thebusiness towards future growth markets such as those benefiting from nanotechnology and bioscience. The industries using these technologies show strongintrinsic growth. This, coupled with an increasingly commercial approach acrossthe Group is proving to be a successful growth engine for us. We provideinnovative systems solutions to help our customers in fields such aspharmaceutical research and environmental monitoring. In June we reported on the first full year of this strategy. We achieved progress in line with our plan to double the size of the business in five years and improve EBIT margins by ten percentage points. Last year we met our targets through organic growth. This year, acquisitionswill also contribute. To date we have acquired two companies, WorldwideAnalytical Systems (WAS) and Vericold, both based in Germany. WAS willsignificantly strengthen and complement the existing product range of industrialspectrometers produced by Oxford Instruments Industrial Analysis business unit.Vericold will give our Nanoscience business unit access to growth segmentsoutside its traditional academic research markets including quantum computingand airport security. The integration of both acquisitions is proceedingaccording to plan. Our turnover to date this year is ahead of the same period last year. This hasbeen achieved despite, as previously reported in our Interim ManagementStatement last month, the slowdown in demand for new MRI machines in NorthAmerica and a reduction in sales relating to hazardous substances (RoHS)legislation. The impact of these factors and unfavourable foreign exchange rateshave been offset by growth across other parts of our business. This demonstratesthe continuing strength of our core markets and we look forward to new productscoming on stream in both our Analytical and Superconductivity businesses in thesecond half of the year. As a result the Board is confident that the performancefor the year will meet its expectations. Enquiries: Oxford Instruments plc Tel: 01865 393200Jonathan Flint, Chief ExecutiveKevin Boyd, Group Finance Director Hogarth Partnership Limited Tel: 020 7357 9477 Rachel Hirst / Andrew Jaques / Ian Payne Notes to Editors Oxford Instruments designs, supplies and supports high-technology tools,processes and solutions with a focus on physical science, bioscience,environmental and industrial research and applications. It provides solutionsneeded to advance fundamental nanoscience research and its transfer intocommercial nanotechnology applications. Innovation has been the driving forcebehind Oxford Instruments' growth and success for over 40 years, and itsstrategy is to effect the successful commercialisation of these ideas bybringing them to market in a timely and customer-focused fashion. The first technology business to be spun out from Oxford University over fortyyears ago, Oxford Instruments is now a global company with over 1,300 staffworldwide and a listing on the London Stock Exchange (OXIG). Its objective is tobe the leading provider of new generation tools and systems for the PhysicalScience and Bioscience sectors. This involves the combination of core technologies in areas such as lowtemperature and high magnetic field environments, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance,X-ray electron and optical based metrology, and advanced growth, deposition andetching. Our products, expertise, and ideas address global issues such asenergy, environment, terrorism and health and are part of the next generation oftelecommunications, energy products, environmental measures, security devices,drug discovery and medical advances. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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