Johnson Matthey has posted half year sales excluding precious metals (sales) 1% ahead at GBP1.3bn (US$2.08bn), with underlying profit before tax down 6% at GBP191m and flat underlying earnings per share.
“Against a difficult market environment, particularly the impact of lower average precious metal prices, Johnson Matthey delivered growth in operating profit from Environmental Technologies and Fine Chemicals, although this was more than offset by the weaker performance of Precious Metal Products,” said Johnson Matthey chief executive, Neil Matthey.
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“Underlying earnings per share were maintained at 72.9p. While precious metal prices have improved from their lows during the summer, largely due to the labour unrest in South Africa, the outlook in some of our other markets has weakened and visibility remains limited.
“We therefore expect that the group’s performance in the second half will be similar to the first half of the year.”
