12th Jul 2007 07:00
Spectris PLC12 July 2007 Date: Embargoed until 7.00am, Thursday 12 July 2007 Contact: John O'Higgins, Chief Executive, Spectris plc Tel: 01784 470470 Clive Watson, Group Finance Director, Spectris plc Tel: 01784 470470 Richard Mountain, Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7269 7121 SPECTRIS PLC 2007 FIRST HALF TRADING UPDATE Spectris plc, the precision instrumentation and controls company, issues atrading update ahead of its half year results announcement for the period ending30 June 2007, due to be released on 24 August 2007. The company has continued to make good progress during the first half of 2007.We expect sales growth from continuing businesses, on a constant currency basis,to be approximately 7%, although reported sales growth will reflect the strengthof sterling. Profit before tax for the half year is expected to have shownstrong year-on-year growth despite the adverse effect of currency. Operatingmargins will be more than 2 percentage points higher than in the correspondingperiod last year for continuing businesses. Cash conversion will remain strong. The share buy-back announced in February iscontinuing, with 3.5 million shares purchased up to the end of June at a cost of£32.5 million. As reported, the sale of the company's Ircon business was completed on 15 June2007, concluding the previously announced disposal programme. Looking forward, we anticipate continued good progress in line with expectationsfor the remainder of 2007. - ENDS - Copies of this announcement are available from the company's registered officeat Station Road, Egham, Surrey TW20 9NP and on the company's website atwww.spectris.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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