Judges Scientific says coronavirus won't have significant impact on trading

(Sharecast News) - Judges Scientific said on Monday that the coronavirus is not expected to have a significant impact on 2020 trading but that "the situation remains under active review".
The AIM-listed company, which designs and makes scientific instruments, said it continues to "closely monitor" developments in China and the potential effect of the COVID-19 epidemic on its business.

"With the current scale of the outbreak, and provided it does not last more than three months and remains largely contained within China, it is not expected that there will be a significant impact to the group 2020 trading," it said.

The company operates with an average three-month order book, so in the near term the current travel restrictions are expected to only have a temporary impact, deferring rather than reducing revenue.

In 2019, unaudited revenues for China/Hong Kong represented ?9.5m, it said.

As far as the supply chain is concerned, Judges said direct and indirect supply from China varies from business to business within the group, with only one subsidiary having significant supply chain exposure.

"The board is monitoring developments closely and at this stage of the outbreak, currently considers that supply chain disruptions will be manageable," it said.

The company currently consists of 17 businesses acquired since it was re-admitted to AIM in 2005. These are primarily UK-based, with products sold worldwide to a range of markets including higher education institutions, the scientific communities, manufacturers and regulatory authorities.

At 1345 GMT, the shares were down 7.7% at 5,195p.