LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Platinum refiner Johnson MattheyPLC saw profits dip in the third quarter because oflower sales of catalysts for vehicle exhaust systems in thehigh-value diesel category in Europe and weaker demand in Japan.
The British group said it saw no upturn in Europe and Japanfor its catalytic converter business in the new calendar year,but the weaker markets should be mitigated by slightly morepromising prospects in North America.
It said on Wednesday that it still expected the group'sperformance in the second half to be similar to the first half.
Sales, excluding precious metal sales, were down 2 percentat 635 million pounds ($1 billion) in the third quarter, whileunderlying pretax profit was down 19 percent at 84.3 millionpounds, mainly because of the change in mix in its catalystsbusiness and lower sales in its precious metals unit.
Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
