LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Oxford Instruments said on Tuesday that trading in the first five months of the year has been in line, supported by favourable currency movements.
However, the provider of high technology tools and systems for research said that at constant currency revenue and operating profit are behind last year due to lower optical microscopy sales and an increase in the proportion of customised magnet and cryogenic systems with longer production lead times.

"Looking ahead, we expect the second half of the financial year to benefit from the timing of new product introductions and the normal seasonal bias, as well as from the favourable currency impact. Overall, expectations for the full year remain unchanged."

Jamie Constable at N+1 Singer said: "We are not reassured by this statement with the interims for March 2018 now likely to show a decline year-on-year with a lot to do in H2. Shares have rallied this year and trading on a price-to-earnings of 20.3x March 2018 with 1.2% yield and 18.8x 2019 I would be selling."

At 1455 BST, the shares were down 3% to 1,096p.

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