Spectris PLC on Thursday reported a decline in its third-quarter sales as a softness in demand persisted around the globe.

The London-based supplier of precision instrumentation and controls said its quarterly sales fell by 13% to £302.7 million from £349.1 million the year prior. On a like-for-like basis sales fell by 10% with lower sales reported across all regions.

The firm emphasised continued softness in academia and batteries when addressing the challenges for its Spectris Scientific division and added that the weaker order intake seen by Spectris Dynamics reflected the ‘broader, recent pull back in demand across the sector.’

Spectris shares are down 2.9% at 2500.00 pence on Thursday morning in London.

The firm noted that the recovery it anticipated as part of its half-year results in July is taking longer to materialise, but that its third-quarter performance indicates stabilisation.

Spectris is guiding a decline in full-year adjusting operating profit of 24% to £200 million from £262.5 million the previous year.

It expects its restructuring programme to deliver £50 million in run rate benefits.

Spectris Chief Executive Andrew Heath said: ‘During the third-quarter the headwinds that we described at the half year - most notably continued softness in China, pharma and academia - have persisted and, from what we can see today, are likely to continue into the early part of 2025.

‘Against this backdrop, we have increased and accelerated cost reduction activities to improve the group’s productivity and drive profitability. This decisive action on cost, and a strong focus on executing our strategy, means the group is well placed to benefit as our end markets recover.

‘The high-quality acquisitions we have made this year have strengthened our platform significantly, and the enhancements to our customer propositions, and confidence in synergy delivery is structurally increasing our ability to deliver against our medium-term financial targets.’

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