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LONDON (Alliance News) - Johnson Matthey PLC Thursday raised its full-year guidance after reporting a strong third quarter, driven by sales increases in its emission control technologies unit, as it also announced that Chief Executive Neil Carson had decided to step down after a decade at the helm and will be replaced by Finance Director Robert MacLeod.
In a statement, the chemicals and precious metals products company said Carson, who has been with the company for 34 years in total, will step down as CEO June 5 after the company reports its full-year results. He will remain on the board until September to help ensure a smooth handover.
"The board has conducted a thorough review of the requirements for successful implementation of the company's strategy and considered both external and internal candidates for the role of Chief Executive. As a result, the board is delighted to announce the appointment of Robert MacLeod as the new Chief Executive," it said in the statement.
It said succession plans for the Finance Director role are well advanced and it expects to make announcement on MacLeod's successor soon.
MacLeod, 49, joined Johnson Matthey as group finance director in 2009.
In its trading update, the company said its sales excluding precious metals were GBP708 million in the three months to end-December, up from GBP635 million a year earlier. Its underlying pretax profit rose to GBP96.0 million, from GBP82.7 million.
The growth was driven by the emission control technology unit, which makes products like car and truck catalytic converters. Sales rose to GBP397 million in the fiscal third quarter, from GBP346 million a year earlier, while operating profit was up "substantially".
It said sales of light duty vehicle catalysts were up 11%, slightly better than in the first half and outperforming global vehicle sales growth of 3%. It said it had been lifted by strong growth in Asia, and a sales of more profitable products in Europe. Sales of heavy duty diesel catalysts were up 26%.
Sales also rose 11% in its process technologies and fine chemicals units, with operating profits in those units also well ahead of the year-earlier period. Precious metals sales fell slightly to GBP95 million from GBP97 million.
The company said the outlook for its emission control technologies business for the second half as a whole has now improved, although it can't yet judge the impact of heavy buying of trucks in Europe in the autumn ahead of new emissions rules that came into force at the start of this year. The improved outlook for that unit will be partly offset by lower returns from its precious metals products refining business as a result of lower precious metals prices.
"The outlook for the group for the remainder of this year has improved slightly from the guidance we gave in our half-yearly report. Excluding the loss of the Anglo Platinum contracts, we now expect that the group's performance in the second half will be slightly ahead of that of the first six months of the year," Johnson Matthey said in its statement.
The company had previously warned that sales in its precious metals products unit would be down about GBP10 million a quarter after long-standing contracts with Anglo Platinum expired at the end of 2013.
Johnson Matthey shares were down 0.5% at 3,283 pence early Thursday.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1
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