Spectris PLC (LON:SXS) saw its shares fall on Tuesday after the precision instruments maker left its full-year guidance unchanged despite reporting solid growth in first-half results.
The FTSE 250-listed firm posted a 6% increase in its adjusted pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June, to £67.4mln, as sales rose by 3% to £728mln, driven by demand from automotive and pharmaceuticals companies.
READ: Spectris shares jump as chief executive steps down and sales rise
The group raised its interim dividend by 8% to 20.5p, up from 19.0p a year earlier.
Spectris’ chief executive John O'Higgins – who announced in May that he would retire in the course of the next 12 months - said: "Our performance in the first half of the year reflects good demand in our end markets.”
He added: “We are pleased to see 5% organic sales growth although we continue to expect that pace to ease a little in the second half, given the tougher comparator with 2017. Overall, our expectations for the full year remain unchanged."
Spectris said its Project Uplift programme was on track for £3mln of net gains in the current financial year but failed to provide hoped-for details of the plan's next stage.
In February, the engineer had said that Project Uplift would be delayed because of an IT upgrade.
Lack of Project Uplift details slightly disappointing
In a note to clients, analysts at Shore Capital said: "We were hoping for concrete details of the resumption of phase 2 of Uplift at this stage. However, these details are now expected later in the year.”
They added: "At first glance, this is slightly disappointing. Our forecasts include broad assumptions for the costs and benefits of phase 2 and this uncertainty will now persist for longer."
Shore Capital, however, retained a ‘buy’ rating on Spectris shares.
In late morning trading, the stock was 6.7% lower at 2,426p.