http://www.judges.uk.com/


Judges Scientific plc (formerly Judges Capital plc)

Judges Scientific is an AIM-listed company specialising in the design and production of scientific instruments. Rapid expansion is being pursued, both through organic growth within its subsidiary companies and through the acquisition of top-quality businesses with established reputations in world-wide markets.
Judges Scientific is a mini-conglomerate focused on scientific instruments. It owns seven specialised businesses, such as Fire Testing Technology, which measures the way materials react to fire and Global Digital Systems, which tests soil and rock ahead of large civil engineering projects.
These businesses are diverse, but they are all based in Britain and they all sell their products and services worldwide.


http://www.aitcheeengineering.co.uk/
http://www.fire-testing.com/

Trading Statement
RNS
RNS Number : 2432W
Judges Scientific PLC
24 January 2013



Judges Scientific plc

24 January 2013

Judges Scientific plc (the "Group" or "Judges")

Trading Statement

The Directors of Judges (the "Board") are pleased to update shareholders on the Group's trading performance in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2012.

The year concluded positively with the Group maintaining momentum in sales, profits and cash flow. The Board expects that adjusted earnings per share for 2012 will achieve the market's expectations with a good measure of comfort. The financial position at the year-end is robust and reflects an active year that witnessed two acquisitions and a £3.0 million placing.

The Group's order book at 31 December 2012 represents almost eleven weeks' sales; this is higher than at the previous year-end but the figure is flattered by the inclusion, for the first time, of Global Digital Systems Limited, which tends to have a longer order book.

The Board believes that global economic conditions are somewhat less turbulent than at the outset of 2012 and are hopeful that Judges will continue to display its resilience in 2013 with another year of progress.

Ends

Judges Scientific advances on trading forecast
Thu 24 Jan 2013

JDG - Judges Scientific


LONDON (SHARECAST) - Judges Scientific gained three per cent Thursday after the group said it maintained momentum in sales, profit and cash flow last year.

In a trading update, the manufacturer of scientific instruments estimated that adjusted earnings per share for the financial year to December 31st would meet market expectations.

Results were buoyed by an active year with two acquisitions and a £3.0m placing. The group purchased Global Digital Systems and KE Developments during the period as the businesses strengthened its position and expanded its product offering.

“The group's order book at December 31st represents almost eleven weeks' sales. This is higher than at the previous year-end but the figure is flattered by the inclusion, for the first time, of Global Digital Systems,” the company said in a statement.

The organisation forecast another year of progress ahead following turbulent global economic conditions in 2012.

Shares climbed 3.1% to 1,017.50p at 10:56 Thursday.

Final Results





Highlights:

· Record basic earnings per share, excluding exceptional items, of 81.3p (2011: 61.0p); corresponding figures including exceptional items: 4.2p loss (2011: 45.2p profit)

· Proposed final dividend of 10.0p (2011: 6.7p), making a total distribution for the year of 15.0p (2011: 10.0p)

· 42% increase in pre-tax profit to a record £5.6million (2011: £3.9 million) before exceptional items, tax and non-controlling interests

· Record revenues of £28.0 million (2011: £20.8 million), including a 7.5% increase on a like-for-like basis

· Cash in hand of £5.4 million as at 31 December 2012; adjusted net debt of £1.8 million (2011: £0.7 million)

· Completion of two acquisitions in 2012

· £3.0 million placing at 600p completed in May 2012, three times subscribed.





http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4559849

Acquisition and Trading Update

RNS


RNS Number : 9611H

Judges Scientific PLC

27 June 2013






Judges Scientific plc



ACQUISITION OF SCIENTIFICA LIMITED



27 June 2013



JUDGES SCIENTIFIC plc

("Judges Scientific", "Judges", the "Company" or the "Group")

ACQUISITION OF SCIENTIFICA LIMITED AND TRADING UPDATE

Judges Scientific, the parent company of a group engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of scientific instruments, announces that on 26 June 2013 it acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Scientifica Limited ("Scientifica"), specialist manufacturers of electrophysiology equipment, for a cash consideration of £12.0 million and an earn-out capped at £1.0 million (the "Acquisition").

An additional payment will be made to reflect any excess working capital over and above the ongoing requirements of the business. Judges expects such payment to be covered by the cash inherited as at the completion date.

Information on Scientifica

Scientifica designs, manufactures and sells complete instrument rigs used in electrophysiology, comprised of micromanipulators, optical microscopes and associated mounting solutions. The company also distributes a range of complementary products including imaging systems, multi-electrode arrays, amplifiers, perfusion equipment and light sources. The products are sold worldwide to academic institutions, research centres and pharmaceutical companies for the purpose of conducting electrophysiology research with a particular emphasis on neuroscience.

Scientifica was founded in 1996 by Mark Johnson and David Rogerson, who developed it as joint Managing Directors and who each owned a 50% interest in the company's share capital. During recent months, Matt Kemp joined the senior management team as Sales Director. Shortly before completion, Mr Kemp exercised options to acquire 5% of the enlarged equity, thereby reducing the respective holdings of Mr Johnson and Mr Rogerson to 47.5% each. Following the Acquisition, Mr Rogerson will not stay with the company, which will be run by Mr Johnson and Mr Kemp who will remain in their respective positions.

The company has concentrated its operations on the supply of systems, which are configured to meet the specific requirements of individual customers. This customer focus has enabled Scientifica to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 31% over the past five years. Exports represent two-thirds of total revenues and Scientifica's performance in overseas markets was recognised in 2012 when the company received a Queen's Award for Enterprise - International Trade.

Scientifica's unaudited accounts for the financial year to 31 March 2013 show revenues of £9.2 million and pre-tax profits of £2.2 million. Operating profit adjusted to eliminate non-recurring items and to reflect Judges' practices would have totalled £2.1 million. The accounts show net tangible assets of £3.65 million, including cash of £1.25 million.

The earn-out will amount to £1.0 million if Scientifica generates operating profits of £2.167 million or more in respect of the twelve month period to 31 March 2014, reducing by six times any shortfall below £2.167 million. Half of the earn-out will be paid in cash and half through the issue of new Ordinary shares ("Ordinary Shares") in Judges at a price of 1180p per Ordinary Share, based on the prevailing price of Judges' Ordinary Shares on the day the Acquisition was agreed in principle. For accounting purposes, fluctuations in the share price will have a commensurate impact on the book value of the earn-out cap.

The Acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing with immediate effect. The Board believes that Scientifica is an excellent business operating in an expanding niche with considerable worldwide growth potential.

Financing of the Acquisition

As at 31 December 2012, the date of the last published balance sheet, the Group's adjusted net debt amounted to £1.7 million supported by borrowing facilities of £10.7 million. The Acquisition and associated transaction costs are being financed from existing cash resources and an additional £9.0 million term loan ("Loan") provided by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets. The Loan is repayable over a five year period.

Judges' Trading Performance

The Group's trading performance since the beginning of the current financial year has remained satisfactory. Order intake was strong in the first quarter and more subdued since, resulting in 4.7% organic growth in order intake compared to the first 25 weeks of 2012. This is consistent with market expectations for the year as a whole.

Alex Hambro, Chairman of Judges, commented:

"The purchase of Scientifica represents the largest acquisition made by Judges Scientific and its impact on the Group's financial performance should be significant. We are delighted that Mark Johnson and Matt Kemp will continue to manage the company and we welcome them to Judges' expanding team."

Judges Scientific: WH Ireland moves target price from 1400p to 1450p and reiterates a buy recommendation.

IC VIEW

Judges Scientific is expected to grow significantly as the string of acquisitions start to make a full contribution. However, the shares have shot up 85 per cent since the start of the year. Trading on 18 times forecast EPS of 101p for 2014, that growth looks factored in. Hold.

Judges Scientific: the precision instrument maker that came about by chance
Telegraph
By Alistair Osborne | Telegraph – 13 hours ago


David Cicurel explains how he built a £100m scientific instrument group after stumbling across a sector boasting 2,000 UK companies

It is the £100m precision instrument maker that, incongruously enough, came about by chance.

Judges Scientific (LSE: JDG.L - news) was not what David Cicurel had in mind when he listed a £2m investment vehicle on the Aim junior exchange just over a decade ago. His plan was to buy stakes in small public companies and push them into being taken private at a fat premium.

He ended up creating a company about as far removed from the original concept as possible. Instead, Judges became a vehicle for buying private companies making scientific instruments. Its businesses test everything from a material’s flammability to the properties of soil, inhabiting a niche bit of British industry that’s as cutting-edge as it’s overlooked.

In the eight years since Cicurel, 64, paid £3.7m for his first acquisition Fire Testing Technology (FTT) he has stealthily turned Judges into a group today worth £105m. Original investors are within a whisker of making 20 times their money.

Ask him how he came across such a money-spinning sector and the Judges chief executive says, laughing: “I’d love to say I did it out of my genius but it was actually chance.”

The company doctor had a different plan when, in 1996, he took Continental (Frankfurt: CON.F - news) Foods private in a £27m deal. Despite rescuing the company, he’d been forced to pay a 57pc premium a price that made him think what a “nice wheeze” public-to-private was from the other side of the fence.

For a few years, he hunted down suitable investments, temporarily latching on to Izodia, the software group forever associated with jailed fraudster Gerald Smith. Indeed, via an intermediary, Cicurel unwittingly sold Smith his Izodia shares. “He was very nice, like all the crooks,” says Cicurel, recalling their subsequent meeting. “Urbane, sophisticated, well-spoken. I didn’t have a clue he was dishonest.”

Then, in January 2003, Cicurel teamed up with Judges chairman, Alex Hambro, to float Judges Capital on Aim. The forerunner to today’s group was capitalised at just £2m but worked with co-investors. “We wanted to have five investments in companies and then push them into going private companies that would be better valued by private equity,” he says.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq “killed that business model”, he recalls. The market took off, with the small cap index doubling. Cicurel was forced to “change strategy completely. Instead of public to private, it became private to public.”

He began examining different types of deals and, among the dozens that came his way, he found one particularly “puzzling. It had £3m turnover and £750,000 operating profit, with 19 staff. It looked too good to be true.” It was FTT.

He met the owners, “an engineer and a scientist, who were both looking to retire. They explained they had a dominating position in a tiny world niche and that the drivers of the business were regulation and globalisation.

“I thought that’s a really good business to have if you have little money, you can still be powerful,” he says. “It’s better to be in a little principality and you’re the prince than competing with big empires when you don’t have the wherewithal to do that.”

Cicurel, who owns 15.6pc of Judges, wondered if FTT was a “unique thing”. So he did his “homework and found there are 2,000 companies in that sector, just in the UK”. Not only that. They export almost four-fifths of what they make.

FTT became the first of 10 acquisitions in the sector, together costing just over £30m. They have seen Judges add businesses spanning the testing of fibre optics (PFO) and soil (Global Digital Systems) to one involved in neuroscience Scientifica, the group’s biggest purchase so far, bought this year for up to £13m.

Customers range from universities to test houses and companies. Says Cicurel: “There are two things that drive our market generally. One is education. There has been a colossal increase in university education and you have to equip these universities. The other is the fact that the world is driven by perfection and measurement - optimisation. Everything people do they try to optimise and when you optimise, you want to measure.”

Judges’s soil testing company can help construct anything from office blocks to offshore wind farms. As Cicurel explains: “People built cathedrals that are still there 10 centuries later. But there was a lot of overkill in the foundation and weight of it all. Today you build something that is much lighter and has just the foundations you need. It took more than 100 years to build Notre Dame. Today you build it in a couple of years not that it’s nicer.”

Judges’ strategy, he says simply, is “to find good companies, very nichy, and pay down the debt. We probably see about 50 deals a year and engage seriously with three to five. They are not family businesses. I think people start them at 40 and sell them at 60. We’re normally buying because the people are getting old and want to retire.”

He always looks for certain things: a manufacturer that “owns the intellectual property”, that sells instruments scientists buy and that has good profit margins and strong exports. “If you are not exporting a lot, you are not meaningful in a world niche,” he says.

Judges’ main rivals are far bigger companies - Spectris (Other OTC: SEPJF - news) , valued at £2.7bn, Halma (£2.1bn) and Oxford Instruments (LSE: OXIG.L - news) (£925m). But Cicurel ensures he has enough cash on the balance sheet to move fast on a deal, topping up the funds in October via an £8.1m placing, following the Scientifica deal.

He points out too that his big three rivals have also “done very well. I shouldn’t say this but in our sector it’s not terribly difficult to do well though it is easy to do badly. There’s a lot of rubbish out there, you have to be really selective.”

Smiling he adds: “It’s more like mining diamonds than extracting oil.”

Trading Statement

RNS


RNS Number : 5513M

Judges Scientific PLC

17 July 2014








Judges Scientific plc ('Judges Scientific', the 'Company' or the 'Group')



Trading Update



The Directors of Judges Scientific, the parent company of a group specialising in the design, manufacture and sale of scientific instruments, update shareholders and the market with regard to the Group's trading performance during the first half of the current financial year.



The trading performance of the Group's businesses during the period proved challenging. The interim results, scheduled to be announced in September 2014, are expected to show revenue growth of 43% compared with the corresponding figures for the six months to 30 June 2013; this includes for the first time the results from Scientifica Ltd ("Scientifica"), which was acquired on 26 June 2013; without Scientifica, the Group would have produced organic growth of 3.2%. The Board anticipates that interim profits before exceptional items will also progress but only to the extent that could have been expected as a result of the inclusion of Scientifica. This also applies to adjusted basic earnings per share, which are expected to increase despite the 9% dilution resulting from the October 2013 share placing.



Order intake during the six-month period (excluding Scientifica) was 4.8% below that recorded during the first half of 2013; total intake (including Scientifica) was 11% below the level required to meet our sales budget for the year without consuming our order book. The second quarter showed a moderate but insufficient improvement compared to the first. The order book at 30 June 2014 represented 7.8 weeks of sales, compared to 10.6 weeks at 30 June 2013.



After displaying a resilient performance during the extremes of the global financial crisis, our sector suffered in 2013, with exports from the UK down 3.5%. Against this background, Judges still managed to achieve 4.5% organic growth in that year. We appear to be experiencing this slowdown, albeit with some delay. The efforts to contain public sector spending have been compounded by the 10% appreciation of Sterling against the US$ during the last twelve months. The US$ remains the benchmark of value outside Europe, where we export half of our turnover.



Operating cash flow was healthy throughout the period. The Company's balance sheet remains robust and net debt rests at a modest multiple of operating profit. Consequently, the disappointing performance in the first half and prevailing trading headwinds do not inhibit the two factors which have primarily delivered shareholder value: selective acquisitions and our progressive dividend policy.

Judges Scientific: WH Ireland reduces target price from 2370p to 1550p and stays with its neutral rating.

Trading Statement
RNS
RNS Number : 5707C
Judges Scientific PLC
20 January 2015



Judges Scientific plc

20 January 2015



Judges Scientific plc (the "Group" or "Judges")



Trading statement



The Board of Judges is updating shareholders on the Group's trading performance for the financial year ended 31 December 2014.



Judges had a challenging year in 2014. Worldwide demand for the Group's products was subdued and this affected order intake, sales and margins. The Board had identified for several years the potential impact on its business from public spending restrictions in mature economies, to slower growth in China and to the strength of Sterling. Most of the Group's businesses were affected to some degree in 2014 by these factors.



In the first half, Judges produced a reasonable financial performance in spite of the weak orders but at the expense of the order book which contracted from 10.6 weeks to 7.8 weeks. Order intake remained depressed in the third quarter, as noted at the time of publication of the interim accounts, but recovered in the fourth quarter to a weekly level in line with the Group's original target. The outcome is a second-half intake which is much improved from the first half but still below the second half of 2013 and an order book of 9.7 week, substantially repaired from the June trough.



The Board anticipates the final results for 2014, due to be published in the last week of March, to show sales, profits and earnings per share in line with market expectations. Cash generation has been strong and the Group, after a difficult year, remains in a strong financial position.



The order recovery recorded in the fourth quarter is a positive but fragile encouragement for 2015; the readjustment of Sterling against the US Dollar is also helpful albeit mitigated by a weakening Euro. Despite the disappointments of 2014, the Group is in a healthy condition, fully able to pursue its acquisition strategy and to continue dividend growth.



Ends.

Acquisition
RNS
RNS Number : 8414C
Judges Scientific PLC
22 January 2015

Judges Scientific plc



ACQUISITION OF ARMFIELD LIMITED



22 January 2015







JUDGES SCIENTIFIC plc

("Judges Scientific", "Judges" or the "Group")



ACQUISITION OF ARMFIELD LIMITED





Judges Scientific, the parent company of a group engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of scientific instruments, announces that it has today acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Armfield Limited ("Armfield"), a Hampshire-based instrument maker. Armfield designs and markets engineering equipment and research instruments for educational applications, together with research and development systems focused on the food, beverage, dairy, vegetable oils and pharmaceutical industries.



The acquisition, which is expected to be earnings enhancing with immediate effect, was completed for a cash consideration of £8.28 million and an earn-out capped at £1.51 million (the "Acquisition"). An additional payment will be made to reflect any excess working capital over and above the ongoing requirements of the business; Judges expects such payment to be covered by the cash inherited at the completion date. A further payment capped at £360,000 may become due if the triennial actuarial valuation of Armfield's defined benefit pension fund as at 31 March 2017 shows a reduction in the yearly contribution required to eliminate its funding deficit. The defined benefit scheme closed to new members with effect from 2001 and closed to new accrual in 2006.



Information on Armfield



Armfield specialises in the design, production and sale of engineering equipment and teaching instruments used by universities and technical colleges for educational and research projects. Products encompass an extensive range of disciplines including food technology, chemical, mechanical, environmental and civil engineering. Armfield also designs and manufactures R&D systems used in various industries including the food and drink and pharmaceutical sectors. The educational segment of the business accounts for approximately three quarters of total sales.



All products are designed by Armfield, manufactured in the UK and sold worldwide directly, through agents or through Armfield's US subsidiary, Armfield Inc., based in Clarksburg, New Jersey.



Armfield was established in Ringwood, Hampshire, in 1875 and started making educational instruments in 1963. The company has been the subject of two management buy-outs, initially in 1981 and subsequently in 1994 when it was purchased by Chris Addis, currently Managing Director, and Simon Farrow, currently Finance Director. Both Mr Addis and Mr Farrow have agreed to continue in their respective roles following completion.



Armfield's audited accounts for the financial year to 31 December 2013 show revenues of £12.2 million and pre-tax profits of £1.3 million. Operating profit for the same period, adjusted to eliminate non-recurring items and to reflect Armfield's ongoing cost base within the Judges group, would have totalled £1.66 million. The accounts show net tangible assets of £3 million, including cash of £2.56 million. The earn-out will amount to £1.51 million if Armfield has generated adjusted operating profits of £1.96 million or more in respect of the twelve month period to 31 December 2014, reducing by five times any shortfall below £1.96 million. Half of the earn-out will be paid in cash and half through the issue of new Ordinary shares ("Ordinary Shares") in Judges at a price of 2055p per Ordinary Share, based on the prevailing price of Judges' Ordinary Shares on the day the headline terms of the Acquisition were agreed. For accounting purposes, fluctuations in the share price will have a commensurate impact on the book value of the earn-out cap.



Financing of the Acquisition



The Acquisition and associated transaction costs are being financed from existing cash resources and an additional £4 million drawn down from the £10 million acquisition facility recently agreed with Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets. As explained in the announcement of 23 December 2014 in respect of that facility, the new debt structure avoids the need to maintain large unproductive cash balances and this transaction will result in a reduction of cash in hand.



The Board believes that Armfield is an excellent business with a strong global brand, a powerful international distribution network and an excellent reputation for quality and service.



Alex Hambro, Chairman of Judges, commented:



"Armfield is a world class company, with an acknowledged reputation for excellence in the educational sector, and its impact on the Group's financial performance should be significant. We are delighted to welcome Chris Addis and Simon Farrow to Judges' expanding management team."

Final results



Highlights:


· Record revenues of £40.6 million (2013: £36.0 million) but a 3.0% decrease on a like-for-like basis

· Pre-tax profit before exceptional items and non-controlling interests down 11.8% to £6.5 million (2013: £7.3 million)

· Basic earnings per share, excluding exceptional items, down 17.7% to 82.7p (2013: 100.5p); corresponding figures including exceptional items: 35.7p (2013: 23.4p)

· Fully diluted earnings per share, excluding exceptional items, down 16.5% to 80.5p (2013: 96.4p)

· Proposed final dividend of 14.7p (2013: 13.4p), making a total distribution for the year of 22.0p (2013: 20.0p), a 10.0% increase

· Cash generated from operations of £7.5 million (2013: £5.0 million)

· Cash in hand of £11.1 million as at 31 December 2014; adjusted net debt of £1.3 million (2013: £5.2 million)

· New £10 million acquisition facility arranged in December

· Acquisition of Armfield Limited post year end

Ex-Dividend
11 Jun 15 Judges Scientific PLC [JDG] (14.7 p)

Judges in £1.4m earn-out payment for Armfield
StockMarketWire.com
Judges Scientific has issued 36,738 new ordinary shares as part of a £1.4m earn-out payment for Armfield which was acquired in January.

The consideration payable on completion amounted to £8.28m in cash. In addition, there was provision for the payment of an earn-out capped at £1.51m, based upon achievement of a profit threshold of £1.96m in respect of the year to 31 December 2014.

Half of the earn-out was payable in cash and half through the issue of new ordinary shares in Judges at a price of £20.55 per ordinary share, based on the prevailing price of Judges' ordinary shares on the day the headline terms of the acquisition were agreed.

Accounts for the earn-out period have now been agreed and the directors of Judges are pleased to announce that the profit threshold was attained.

Accordingly, the additional cash consideration relating to the deferred consideration has been paid and the company has today issued 36,738 new Ordinary Shares to the vendors of Armfield.

Application has been made for these new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to AIM and dealings are expected to commence on 29 May 2015. The closing mid-market price of £16.825 per ordinary share on 21 May values the earn-out shares at £618,117.

This gives a total earn-out value of £1,373,117 and takes the total consideration paid for Armfield to £9,653,117.

Preliminary Results
RNS
RNS Number : 2060I
Judges Scientific PLC
20 March 2018

20 March 2018
Judges Scientific plc
("Judges Scientific", "Judges", the "Company" or the "Group")
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF RESULTS

Judges Scientific, a group involved in the buy and build of scientific instrument businesses, is pleased to announce its Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2017.

Financial Highlights:

· Revenues up 24.6% to a record £71.4 million (2016: £57.3 million), including 17.7% Organic* growth;
· Adjusted** operating profit up 52% to £10.9 million (2016: £7.1 million);
o Statutory operating profit of £5.7 million (2016: £1.0 million);
· Adjusted** basic earnings per share up 56% to 131.9p (2016: 84.8p);
o Statutory basic earnings per share of 65.6p (2016: 1.0p);
· Final dividend of 22p, totalling 32p for the year, an increase of 16%; covered 4 times by adjusted earnings;
· Organic* order intake up 16% compared with 2016;
· Organic* order book at 16.6 weeks (1 January 2017: 14.8 weeks);
· Cash generated from operations of £10.9 million (2016: £6.2 million);
· Adjusted** net debt of £8.0 million as at 31 December 2017 (31 December 2016: £9.9 million);
o Statutory net debt of £7.6 million at 31 December 2017 (31 December 2016: £8.6 million);
· Cash balances of £10.7 million as at 31 December 2017 (31 December 2016: £7.9 million).

Strategic Highlights
· Acquisition of Oxford Cryosystems by Bordeaux on 18 July 2017 for £5.1m cash (including earn-out);
· Increase in Judges' shareholding in Bordeaux to 75.5%.

* Organic describes the performance of the Group including businesses acquired prior to 1 January 2016.
** Adjusted earnings figures exclude adjusting items relating to amortisation of intangible assets, acquisition-related costs, share based payments and hedging of risks materialising after the end of the year. Adjusted net debt includes acquisition-related liabilities and excludes subordinated debt owed by subsidiaries to minority shareholders.

Alex Hambro, Chairman of Judges Scientific, commented:

"2017 was a record year for order intake, sales, adjusted profits and earnings per share; this was driven by good demand for our products and very favourable foreign exchange rates."

Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 9628H
Judges Scientific PLC
21 November 2018


21 November 2018

Judges Scientific plc (the "Group" or "Judges")
Trading Update
EPS expected to be ahead of current market expectations
The Board of Judges Scientific, a group involved in the buy and build of scientific instrument businesses, updates shareholders and the market on the Group's trading performance in the financial year ending 31 December 2018.
Trading has remained strong since the publication of the interim results and the healthy order intake communicated at the time of the results has continued since the beginning of the second half. As a result, the Board expects Earnings per Share for the full year ending 31 December 2018 to exceed current market expectations as increased in September.