Trading Update

RNS Number : 8014Y

Spectris PLC

20 May 2016

 

20 May 2016

Spectris plc

Trading Update

20 May 2016 - Spectris plc (SXS: LSE), the productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls company, issues a trading update covering the period from 1 January to 30 April 2016 ("the period"), ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held later today.

TRADING UPDATE

Reported sales increased by 2% in the period. Acquisitions contributed 2% points of sales growth, foreign currency exchange movements positively impacted growth by 4% points, whilst Group like-for-like¹ ('LFL') sales declined by 4%. Regionally, LFL sales grew by 2% in Asia Pacific, whilst sales to North America, Europe and Rest of the World declined by 4%, 8% and 11% respectively.

We are making good progress implementing the targeted restructuring measures that we announced last July and remain focussed on better aligning our cost growth to sales growth and extending our operational excellence initiatives across the organisation.

The Group continues to be highly cash generative and we maintain a strong financial position.

ACQUISITIONS

During the period we completed the acquisition of Clean Air Service AG ("CAS"). CAS is a leading cleanroom-services company, providing measurement services, process qualification, calibration services and product sales, primarily to the pharmaceutical and life science sector. The acquisition reinforces our strategic intent to focus on the provision of innovative solutions to customers, encompassing hardware, software and services, and will enhance our presence in the key strategic life science market.

SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK

Commenting on trading, John O'Higgins, Chief Executive, said: "Trading conditions in the period continued to be challenging. Within this environment we remain focused on implementing our targeted restructuring programmes. The benefits of these, together with our operational excellence initiatives, will enable us to better align our cost growth to sales growth in 2016.

We continue to focus on transitioning our customer offering from the supply of products towards the provision of solutions encompassing hardware, software and services, both via organic investment and acquisitions. Whilst we have limited visibility on trading, we have good end-market and geographic diversification and will benefit from our self-help actions to improve future profitability. These factors all underpin the Board's view that the outlook for 2016 remains unchanged and that we are well positioned for the future."

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 08.00 today to discuss this statement. To access the call, please dial [phone], Toll Free 0808 237 0030 - Pin code: 33185799#. Or for replay, please dial [phone], Toll Free 0808 237 0026 - Pin code: 672154#.

Spectris will publish its half-year results for the six months ending 30 June 2016 on 28 July 2016.

¹ Organic, constant currency

- ENDS -

Contacts:

Spectris plc

John O'Higgins, Chief Executive	[phone]
Clive Watson, Group Finance Director	[phone]
Matt Jones, Head of Corporate Affairs	[phone]

FTI Consulting

Richard Mountain / Susanne Yule

[phone]

ABOUT SPECTRIS

Spectris plc is a leading supplier of productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls. The Company's products and technologies help customers to improve product quality and performance, improve core manufacturing processes, reduce downtime and wastage and reduce time to market. Its global customer base spans a diverse range of end user markets. Spectris operates across four business segments which reflect the applications and industries it serves: Materials Analysis, Test and Measurement, In-line Instrumentation and Industrial Controls. Headquartered in Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom, the Company employs approximately 8,300 people located in more than 30 countries. For more information, visit www.spectris.com.

 

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