Hints and tips:
...The biggest drag, Whitestone said, came from Oxford Instruments, a provider of scientific equipment which last month came close to being bought up by UK rival Spectris....
...Exane remains positive on Weir , “a stock where the scale of a 2018 [oil and gas equipment] recovery remains under-appreciated by consensus”, as well as seeing Melrose , Spectris and Vesuvius as good value...
...Spectris upgraded to “overweight” at JPMorgan Cazenove. Royal Bank of Scotland raised to “hold” at Investec. Stifel raises Spirax Sarco to “buy”. Macquarie raises Diageo to “neutral”....
...Including the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency fluctuations, revenues rose about 11 per cent during the year, Spectris said....
...Shares in Spectris jumped on Friday after the precision instrument maker bucked the trend of dismal earnings from UK industrial companies....
...Recent acquisitions helped Spectris, the precision instrument and industrial controls company, overcome tougher trading conditions to report a jump in both revenues and pre-tax profit for the first half...
...“The investment case for Spectris really depends on your world view,” he said. “If you are worried about slowing global growth and a double dip recession, then Spectris is not the place to be....
...The British government in 2010 set boosting manufacturers’ exports of advanced services as a priority and some British manufacturers are already ahead in this: Spectris, which specialises in making precision...
...Strong demand from China and North America helped Spectris, the maker of precision instruments and industrial controls, lift profits 38 per cent in 2011....
...Spectris , reporting on Friday, lost 6.7 per cent to £15.49 with broker N+1 Brewin cutting the controls maker from its “buy” list....
...But it also means the willingness to commit money and resources to research programmes, even when the economy takes a turn for the worse, says Roger Stephens, of Spectris, a British company that specialises...
...Spectris will fund the takeover using cash and new bank facilities....
...Spectris shrugged off the threat of a slowdown in global manufacturing growth as the UK-listed supplier of industrial controls said trading in recent weeks had remained in line with expectations....
...Spectris rose 5.1 per cent to £14.82 after the instrumentation maker said trading had remained strong in November and December....
...The UK has medium-sized companies with strong global positions in niche technologies, including Halma, Spectris, Renishaw, Spirax Sarco and Rotork, which make items from optical lenses to steam control systems...
...Renishaw faded 6.1 per cent to £13.96, Spectris was down 2.4 per cent to £17.79 and Halma eased 1.4 per cent to 401¾p....
...Spectris took on 2.5 per cent to £16.60 and Rotork advanced 3.5 per cent to £19.69 ahead of results due tomorrow and Tuesday, respectively....
...Customer collaboration Servomex, an East Sussex-based division of the Spectris instruments maker, is trying to persuade customers to use its “Hummingbird” sensors brand name on the outside of their own equipment...
...John O’Higgins, chief executive of Spectris, the instrumentation maker, says the specialist niches occupied by many of his product lines demand some element of in-house control over production and development...
...Instrumentation maker Spectris rose 4 per cent to £15.51 after reporting a stronger than expected start to the year. Sector peer Renishaw, the machine tools specialist, rose 6.3 per cent to £17.80....
...- Corporate: Aga Rangemaster, Arena Leisure, BAE Systems, Bovis Homes, Morgan Crucible, Spectris, Rockhopper, Wellstream, Ted Baker, Lookers, Crosby Asset Management...
...Liberum Capital, meanwhile, said Spectris shares had been trading at a 16 per cent discount to the sector, which it described as anomalous....
...Spectris , the controls maker, jumped 7 per cent to £13.80 after it said trading in November and December had exceeded expectations across all its businesses....
...Weir Group rose 1.8 per cent to 14.05 and Charter International took on 3.4 per cent to 683½p, while Spectris gained 2.7 per cent to £10.43....
...Malvern Instruments, a subsidiary of Spectris, wins an innovation award for instruments that measure particles in fluids....
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