29th Jan 2008 07:00
Johnson Matthey PLC29 January 2008 For release at 7.00 am on Tuesday 29th January 2008 Johnson Matthey Plc Interim Management Statement Johnson Matthey is hosting an analysts' visit today at its Process TechnologiesBusiness in Billingham. At the meeting Neil Carson, Chief Executive of JohnsonMatthey, will provide the following statement on trading in the company's thirdquarter: "Trading has been strong in the third quarter of Johnson Matthey's financialyear. Sales for the continuing businesses were up 18% as a result of goodunderlying volume growth and higher prices for platinum group metals (pgms).Sales excluding the value of precious metals increased by 23%. Operating profitfor the continuing businesses rose by 17%. Environmental Technologies Division's sales were well ahead of the third quarterof last year. Emission Control Technologies (ECT) achieved good growth in salesof autocatalysts in Asia and increasing sales of diesel particulate filters inEurope. Sales of heavy duty diesel catalysts were also well ahead of last year.Market conditions for Process Technologies continue to be favourable with gooddemand for syngas catalysts and high energy prices encouraging demand for newprocess technology. Precious Metal Products Division achieved good sales growth in the quarterbenefiting from high prices for platinum group metals and good growth in itsmanufacturing businesses. Fine Chemicals & Catalysts Division was also wellahead of the same period last year with continued growth in the US. On 29th November 2007 we announced that two new emission control catalyst plantswould be constructed over the next two years. The first of these will belocated in Macedonia to serve the European market and will manufacture bothlight duty diesel autocatalysts and selective catalytic reduction (SCR)catalysts for heavy duty diesel vehicles. The initial investment in theMacedonian plant will be approximately £34 million. The second plant will be constructed in south west Pennsylvania in the USA andwill be a dedicated facility to produce SCR catalysts for the North Americanmarket. Initial investment will be approximately £21 million. On 10th December 2007 we announced that we had signed an agreement to buyArgillon Group for €214 million. Argillon is an international groupspecialising in catalysts and advanced ceramic materials, with leadingtechnology for the control of emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx). Thetransaction is conditional upon regulatory clearance in Germany. The acquisition of Argillon will be financed using existing borrowingfacilities. At 30th September 2007 the group had net debt of £419 million andequity of £1,065 million. On a pro forma basis the acquisition of Argillonwould increase the group's debt by £160 million and increase the group's gearing(debt / equity) from 39.3% to 54.4% which is within the target range for gearingannounced last year. As a result we have suspended the share buy-back programmefor the time being. The outlook for the fourth quarter is encouraging despite some signs of weaknessin the North American car market. Operating profit growth in the fourth quarterof 2006/07 was strong with Precious Metal Products benefiting from tradingprofits on minor pgms which we do not expect to be repeated at the same levelthis year. Consequently, this year's fourth quarter profit growth will be lessthan in the third quarter, but we expect profit before tax for the full year tobe towards the top end of current market expectations." Enquiries: Ian Godwin Director, IR and Corporate Communications 0207269 8410John Sheldrick Group Finance Director 020 7269 8408Howard Lee The HeadLand Consultancy 020 7367 5225 www.matthey.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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