Johnson Matthey shares fall on first quarter profit dip

Shares in Chemicals firm Johnson Matthey fell after it reported a 1% dip in pre-tax profit for the first quarter of this year.

At 0825 BST shares in the company were down 1.26% to 2974p.

Underlying profit before tax was £94m, down from the £95m it posted the year before.

The FTSE 100 firm posted group sales for the first quarter up 6% from the same period last year, from £749m to £797m.

However the company noted it sold its gold and silver refining business last year, and if you adjusted for this, group sales were up 8% and pre-tax profit up 1%.

Johnson Matthey said it expected profit to for the 2015/16 to be slightly ahead of 2014/15, but warned exchange rates could drag down reported results.