Johnson Matthey Business Report FY2007
Business Highlights
Business Overview | (in million pounds) |
FY2007 | FY2006 | Rate of change(%) | Factors | |
Overall | ||||
Net sales | 7,499 | 6,152 | 21.9 | - |
Operating profit | 316.5 | 272.4 | 16.2 | - |
Environmental Technologies | ||||
Net sales | 2,290 | 1,864 | 22.9 | See Factor |
Operating profit | 147.3 | 122.9 | 19.9 |
Factors
-Emission Control Technologies' sales excluding precious metals grew by 32% to 903 million pound. Sales of heavy duty diesel (HDD) catalysts to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) accounted for 105 million pounds of the increase rising from 54 million pounds in 2006/07 to 159 million pounds in 2007/08. Sales of light duty products were also well ahead with good growth in Asia and increasing fitment of particulate filters on new diesel cars in Europe.
-The acquisition of Argillon added 11.4 million pounds to sales and 2.9 million pounds to operating profit before amortization of acquired intangibles in the last two months of the year. Profit growth was stronger in the second half of the year than the first with the division benefiting from improved efficiencies.
-The Company continues to see increasing demand from many of the leading car companies in Europe for diesel particulate filters (DPFs) to remove particulates from diesel exhaust emissions.
Acquisition
-In December 2007, the Company announced that it has signed an agreement to buy Argillon Group for 214 million euros from Ceramics Luxembourg 2(f) S.a r.l., a company owned by KKR funds. Argillon Group is an international group specializing in catalysts and advanced ceramic materials. Argillon has leading catalyst technology which is used to control the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx). Its products include catalysts for mobile and stationary applications including heavy and medium duty diesel vehicles; stationary diesel engines; marine applications; and coal, oil and gas fired turbines in power stations. In the year to 30th September 2007 Argillon reported sales of 竄ャ160 million, and employs around 1,500 people and has manufacturing sites in Germany, Poland and Romania. (From a press release on Dec. 10, 2007)
R&D
R&D Expenditure | (in million pounds) |
Mar. 2008 | Mar. 2007 | Mar. 2006 | |
Total | 73.0 | 66.5 | 62.7 |
R&D Structure
Johnson Matthey Technology Centre (JMTC) | Sonning Common, UK | -Novel materials preparation |
European Technology Center | Royston, UK | -Catalyst development and testing |
Diesel Centre | Gothenburg, Sweden | -Diesel center |
Johnson Matthey Testing | Detroit, USA | -Contract Testing -Steady State Engine Cells (Gasoline) -Transient Engine Cells (Heavy Duty Diesel) -SCAT rigs |
North American Technology Center | Wayne, USA | -Catalyst development and testing |
Asian Technology Centre | Kitsuregawa, Japan | -Catalyst development and testing |
-The Johnson Matthey Technology Centre (JMTC) is the group窶冱 central resource for longer term research and employs over 180 world class scientists. It supports the research and
development of new products and technology across all of Johnson Matthey窶冱 businesses and has expertise in catalysis, precious metals, materials science and many other fields in
which Johnson Matthey operates.
JMTC has facilities and resources for the development and testing of catalysts, and is equipped with the latest tools for materials characterization.
Investment Activities
Capital expenditure by segment | (in million pounds) |
(in millions of Pound) |
FY2007 |
Environmental Technologies | 82.4 |
Precious Metal Products | 11.2 |
Fine Chemicals & Catalysts | 19.8 |
Eliminations | - |
Capital expenditure on discontinued operations | 4.5 |
Corporate capital expenditure | 1.9 |
Total | 119.8 |
Overseas Investment
-During the year the Company also completed construction of a new autocatalyst manufacturing facility in the Russian Federation. This plant will produce catalysts to meet demand from both local and global car manufacturers following the introduction of emissions legislation requiring autocatalyst fitment in Russia in the spring of 2006.
-The Company's new plant in South Korea (its fifth in the Asian region) was opened in February 2008. This new plant will manufacture catalysts for both diesel and petrol powered vehicles and will carry out research and development activities to support the rapidly growing Korean motor industry. Further capacity expansions are planned for each of its factories in China, India and Japan.