Spectris sales slump 20% in first four months of year

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Measurement instrument group Spectris said its sales slumped 20% in the first four months of the year, partly owing to the Covid-19 crisis.

The company also announced the head of its Malvern Panalytical division, Paolo Carmassi, was leaving to take up a new external role.

He had been succeeded by Mark Fleiner, business group director of the industrial solutions division.

Like-for-like sales in the fourth months through April slipped 12%, with asset disposals reducing sales 9%, partly offset by a 1% forex gain.

Like-for-like sales in the month of April had dropped 21%.

'As expected, the global macro-economic environment has remained challenging, impacting the majority of our customers,' chief executive Andrew Heath said.

'While sales in China recovered strongly in April, activity in Europe and North America slowed sharply.'

Spectris said it continued to be highly cash generative, with a cash conversion of over 150% for the period.

At the end of April, it net cash of £59.9m, with a cash balance of £244.2m and gross borrowings of £184.3m.

'We entered this crisis with net cash on the balance sheet and good liquidity,' Heath said.

'Since then, we have continued to generate cash and take further cost actions.'