{"id":12756,"date":"2012-07-25T13:31:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T11:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/07\/update-1-lower-precious-metals-prices-dent-johnson-matthey-q1\/"},"modified":"2012-07-25T13:31:50","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T11:31:50","slug":"update-1-lower-precious-metals-prices-dent-johnson-matthey-q1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-lower-precious-metals-prices-dent-johnson-matthey-q1\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-Lower precious metals prices dent Johnson Matthey Q1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

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LONDON, July 25<\/span> (Reuters) – Johnson Matthey, the
\nworld’s largest supplier of catalytic converters, posted a
\nvirtually flat first quarter, as the impact of lower platinum
\nand palladium prices offset the benefit of increased car and
\ntruck sales in North America.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The British speciality chemicals company said on Wednesday
\nunderlying profit before tax came in at 99.9 million pounds
\n($155.1 million) in the three months to end-June, against 98.2
\nmillion a year ago, on the back of a 6 percent rise in sales.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Good growth” in profit at its key environmental
\ntechnologies and fine chemicals divisions was offset by the
\neffect of weaker platinum and palladium – with prices down 16
\npercent and 17 percent against the same period last year – on
\nthe services business of its precious metal products arm, as
\nrefining demand dropped.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It expects that business, which saw sales down 8 percent in
\nthe quarter, to remain weak throughout the year, offsetting
\ngrowth elsewhere, as North American and Asian growth help
\ncounter softer European markets, the group said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“If market conditions and precious metal prices remain as
\nthey are today, the outlook for the group in the second quarter
\nof 2012\/13 is expected to be broadly similar to that of the
\nfirst quarter,” Chairman Tim Stevenson will tell shareholders at
\nthe group’s annual meeting later on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“For the year as a whole, we expect that growth in
\nEnvironmental Technologies and Fine Chemicals divisions will be
\noffset by continued weakness in the Precious Metal Products
\ndivision.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The group’s core environmental technologies arm, which makes
\ncatalysts for cars and heavy industry and accounts for almost
\nhalf group profit, saw sales in the quarter rise 12 percent and
\noperating profit was “well ahead of last year”, as the sale of
\ndiesel catalysts for trucks grew strongly in North America.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The division was hit in the same period last year by
\nheadwinds associated with higher rare earth prices and the
\nJapanese earthquake and tsunami.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It said the order book for the next few months was “strong”.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson Matthey – which makes catalysts to convert toxic
\nengines emissions, sells pharmaceutical ingredients and refines
\nplatinum – last month proposed its first ever special dividend
\nafter posting larger than expected full year profits.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) – Johnson Matthey, the world’s largest supplier of catalytic converters, posted a virtually flat first quarter, as the impact of lower platinum and palladium prices offset the benefit of increased car and truck sales in North America. The British speciality chemicals company said on Wednesday underlying profit before tax came in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-12756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}