Business
Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results
Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results.
About this update from Judges Scientific Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n RNS Number : 5460T\n Judges Scientific PLC\n 21 July 2020\n \n \n \n \n Judges Scientific Plc\n \n \n (\"Judges Scientific\" or \"the Group\")\n \n \n Half Year Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results\n \n \n The Directors of Judges Scientific (AIM: JDG), \n the group focused on acquiring and developing companies in the scientific instrument sector\n ,\n provide the following update regarding the Group's trading performance for the six-month period ended 30 June 2020. \n \n \n Heath Scientific was acquired on 29 May 2020 and references to \"Organic\" information in this update exclude any contribution from Heath Scientific and from Moorfield Nanotechnology, which was acquired in December 2019.\n \n \n Order intake \n \n \n The main adverse impact of COVID-19 has been, and continues to be, on order intake. Across the Group, Organic order intake for the 6 months to 30 June was down 17.3% compared to the same period in 2019, caused by the closure of universities, the cancellation of scientific conferences and our inability to travel. This reduction in order intake has not been evenly spread across our key geographies with the UK decreasing 5%, China/Hong Kong and the Rest of Europe each down 7%; North America down 32% and the Rest of the World down 24%. Order intake also varied considerably from business to business. In May, Organic order intake recovered, to an extent, from the trough of April and then progressed slowly in June. \n \n \n Order book\n \n \n The Organic order book, as at 30 June 2020, was still satisfactory and represented 10.8 weeks of budgeted revenue against 13.2 weeks at 30 June 2019 and 31 December 2019. The total order book, including Heath Scientific and Moorfield Nanotechnology, stood at 12.4 weeks.\n \n \n Sales \n \n \n Organic sales in the first half were down by 12% compared to H1 2019. This was largely due to the decline in order intake but also due to some customers delaying deliveries and to the impact of the travelling ban on installations. The decline in sales was mitigated by the solid order book available at the beginning of 2020 and the compression of that order book during the first half. \n \n \n First Half Performance\n \n \n The Group has operated profitably in each of the first six months of this year and generated positive operating cash-flow for the period. As a re...