Johnson Matthey profits fall on lower PGM prices, inflation

Johnson Matthey reported a fall in annual profit on Thursday as lower average precious metal prices and higher costs hit the bottom line.

The specialist technology group said underlying operating profit came in at £465m the year to end-March, down 21% from a year earlier, but higher than the £455.1m forecast in company-compiled estimates. Revenue fell 7% to £15bn.

“The main factors driving performance were lower precious metal prices - £55m - and lower auto related volumes in Clean Air and PGM Services. The cost inflation of £150m suffered in the year, particularly energy, raw materials and labour was almost completely recovered through pricing of £95m and transformation savings of £45m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com