Not quite a Bond film, Spectris might nonetheless be a favoured investment of Q, as it deals in measuring instruments and controls.
The company has a bit of reputational damage to repair after its interims failed to come up to snuff, with operating margins down year-on-year and organic growth of 0.7% deemed to be lacklustre.
It indicated that the second half should be better, thanks to a mixture of new product launches and self-help initiatives, but since then, broker Numis notes, the industrial market has weakened materially, and the fear is that it will fail to meet market expectations of organic growth of 1.0%.
“Consequently we expect quite a cautious trading update likely followed by further downgrades to consensus,” Numis said.
Significant announcements expected
Interim: Alpha Real Trust (LON:ARTL) , Fuller, Smith & Turner (LON:FSTA)
Trading statement: Spectris (LON:SXS)
Economic: UK – public sector finances, Eurozone – consumer confidence