Johnson Matthey to sell Research Chemicals business for £256m

Specialty chemicals group Johnson Matthey said on Thursday that it has agreed the sale of its Alfa Aesar Research Chemicals business to Thermo Fisher Scientific for £256m in cash.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the 2015 calendar year, subject to satisfaction of typical pre-closing conditions.

In the financial year ended 31 March 2015, the Research Chemicals business had sales excluding the value of precious metals of £77m,

Chief executive Robert MacLeod said: "The divestment of the Research Chemicals business is a further step in delivering our long term strategy to focus the group on growth areas where we can apply our expertise in complex chemistry to create long term value for our shareholders."

At 15:01, shares were down 1% at 3,163p.