AGM Statement

RNS Number : 5749N

Oxford Instruments PLC

10 September 2013

 



Oxford Instruments plc

Chairman's AGM Statement 2013

Oxford Instruments plc, a leading provider of high technology tools and systems for industry and research, is holding its annual general meeting today in which the Chairman, Nigel Keen will make the following statement:

"In June 2011 we outlined our 14 Cubed objective to achieve a compound annual revenue growth rate of 14% and a return on sales of 14% by the financial year ending March 2014. It was anticipated that this objective would be achieved predominantly through organic growth and continuing internal efficiency improvements, augmented by targeted acquisitions.

The year to March 2013 was the second year of the 14 Cubed plan and we saw compound revenue growth of 15.6% over the two years with return on sales last year of 14.2%.

In the current year, average monthly orders in our Nanotechnology Tools sector are ahead of last year in Asia but are behind in North America and Europe as government agencies in these territories examine their spending on Research and Development.  We believe this is particularly true in the USA where the uncertainty caused by budget sequestration has caused orders to be delayed.  Asylum Technology, which we acquired in December 2012, is performing well, with results in line with expectations.

Our Industrial Products sector has seen growth in average monthly orders over the previous year in Asia and Europe as global economies begin to recover.  North America is still down on the prior year but the trend is improving.

Our third party service business is performing well with the recently acquired Platinum Medical Imaging business continuing to gain traction and delivering the integration benefits.

Outlook

The growth in the order intake rate in Industrial Products and third party Service is encouraging but the slowness in R&D markets in the Western economies means that the year is likely to be more second half weighted than has been seen in recent periods.  This will be aided by the continuing recovery in trading conditions in North America

Enquiries:

Oxford Instruments plc                                                Tel: [phone]

Jonathan Flint, Chief Executive

Kevin Boyd, Group Finance Director

MHP Communications                                                 Tel: [phone]

Rachel Hirst / Rory King

 

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