Spectris develops and markets productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls. Operating in four segments - Materials Analysis, Test & Measurement, In-line Instrumentation and Industrial Controls. I have a holding in my growth portfolio (epic code: SXS).
Today Spectris issued a trading update for their fourth quarter and year-end. They reported like-for-like (LFL) sales for the fourth quarter up 3% from last year and reported sales for the full year up 2%, with an equal 1% contribution each from acquisitions and foreign exchange movements. Therefore, LFL sales for the full year were broadly flat compared to 2012.
By region, LFL sales in Asia grew by 12%, North America 2% and Europe 1% in the fourth quarter. For the full year, LFL sales in Asia Pacific grew by 1%, North America declined by 3% and Europe grew by 2%.
Management expect adjusted operating profit to be £214.7 million (2012: £216.9 million), giving an adjusted operating margin of 17.9% compared to 18.4% last year.
Although the performance is not outstanding, it does show a continuation of improvement from their first quarter. LFL sales growth by quarter has been:
Qtr. 1 -9%
Qtr. 2 +3%
Qtr. 3 +3%
Qtr. 4 +3%
At the interim stage the adjusted operating profit had declined by -14%, so to end the year with just a -1% decline to £214.7m was a reasonable performance. It was also good to see growth in the fourth quarter in all regions and most significantly the 12% growth seen in Asia that followed a weak third quarter for that region.
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