Shares in industrial components specialist Spectris (SXS) rose 3 per cent to hit record highs as it announced a solid set of results and rewarded investors with a 16 per cent dividend increase. Investors Chronicle readers have enjoyed a strong run if they followed our buy advice, but much of the good news now looks priced in, and with growth slowing, we downgrade to a hold.
Much of the reported revenue was driven by acquisitions. Exclude these and currency effects, and organic growth of 3 per cent was slightly behind the historic average of 5-6 per cent. Across the divisions it was Industrial Controls driving the results. Acquisitions almost doubled revenue to £217m, while adjusted operating profit leapt from £22.1m, to £46.3m, a fifth of the total. Slowing demand from the mining industry at the end of 2012 meant like-for-like sales growth in the Materials Analysis slowed from 21 per cent to 5 per cent, and the trend has continued into the new year.