Over the last 11 years Spectris has transformed itself from a mechanical engineering business to a group of 13 niche market leading precision instrumentation, electronic controls and process technology companies. All but one of the companies currently owned by Spectris have been purchased during that period.
Business and operational characteristics
Spectris products add value for customers by improving production efficiency, reducing down-time, eliminating wastage, improving quality and performance, reducing costs and helping customers to bring new products to market faster.
The operating companies of Spectris share the same strategic business characteristics:
- focus on niche applications with direct impact on process performance for end use customers
- small, high value added, process critical equipment
- standard products built on technology platforms which are customised through high added value applications engineering
- ability to grow the market and capitalise on growth markets
- operating culture based on autonomous business units with performance-focused management and high calibre employees
The way Spectris operates creates value for the businesses and for shareholders. A decentralised structure means the management teams in the businesses have real ownership and responsibility and can focus on the priorities. The operational characteristics of the businesses include:
- leading positions in niche markets globally
- strong, well managed brands
- multinational blue chip customer base
- proprietary technology with large patent portfolio
- low capital intensity, high gross margins and highly cash generative
Acquisition objectives
Spectris is constantly searching for opportunities to add to its portfolio of businesses. Two types of opportunity are given equal priority in this programme;
- Stand-alone businesses which share the characteristics listed above, and which would operate as autonomous operations within the Spectris group.
- Opportunities often referred to as bolt-ons, which would be merged with one of our existing businesses to create a stronger and more broadly based growth platform. Such opportunities could be the acquisition of a company, or alternatively a line of business or simply a product line. We are potentially interested in opportunities that range from early stage businesses which have developed proprietary technology but lack production capabilities and sales and support infrastructure around the world, to divisions of businesses or product groupings which are no longer core to corporate owners and could be merged with one of our existing businesses.
Another area of focus is in licensing proprietary technology which may have been developed for different applications, but could be used in the markets focused on by our operating companies. In this case we either purchase or license intellectual property for use by one of our companies.
Contact us
Owners or representatives of any companies, business units or technology opportunities that fit the above criteria are encouraged to contact Spectris for a completely confidential and exploratory initial discussion on what co-operation or acquisition opportunities may be available that would fit the business objectives of both sides.
In the first instance please contact Jeremy Morcom, Head of Corporate Development, by e-mail at jeremy.morcom@spectris.com or by phone on
+44 (0)1784 470470.