Whenever there is a discussion about ?quality? UK industrial stocks, the name Spectris (SXS) is often thrown into the ring although we suspect many investors, while being familiar with the company in a general sense, have little idea what it actually does.Looking on Stockopedia, the company has a 99th percentile quality ranking, which backs up its reputation, but it is classified as a large-cap te

There is no question the dominant theme in stock markets last year was AI (artificial intelligence), in particular generative AI.In an interview with Time magazine last June, Sam Altman ? the former chief executive of OpenAI, whose ChatGPT product has been at the forefront of the AI trend ? said he believes the technology will ?transform the way people work and the way people learn. It?s going to

Stock prices were up in London at midday on Tuesday, as investors showed confidence despite interest decisions from the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European Central Bank coming up this week.Heading into the afternoon, investors also had their eye on a US inflation reading on Tuesday.The FTSE 100 index was up 39.53 points, 0.5%, at 7,584.42. The FTSE 250 was down 4.61 points at 18,745.7

Over the last 15 years the electronics and electronic equipment space, home to some of the UK market's highest-quality engineering and capital goods firms, is the best performing sector in the FTSE 350 with an 11.7% compound annual return.The industrial engineering sector is not too far behind with its own annualised return of 9.7%. For comparison, the FTSE All-Share's annualised return over the s

Firmly out of favour with investors since the Brexit vote seven years ago, the FTSE 250 index rallied strongly on the release of the latest UK inflation data (19 July). This showed UK CPI rising by 7.9% year-on-year in June, lower than forecasts of an 8.2% rise, theoretically reducing expectations for the scale of future interest rate hikes from the Bank of England.Yet even after a big one-day jum

Targeting largely defensive and highly regulated niches, Smiths Group (SMIN) has created a virtuous circle of high barriers to entry and increasing market share. Better still, it is in the middle of a transformation capable of adding millions in value for shareholders.Smiths' calls itself a 'pioneer of progress' with a diverse portfolio of engineering operations with safety at their heart. These a

Spectris (SXS) £28.48Gain to date: 5.1%Original entry point: Buy at £27.09, 28 April 2022We're pleased to say it has been 'full speed ahead' for precision measurement firm Spectris (SXS) since our initial recommendation in April.Despite growing evidence of a global slowdown, organic sales have continued to grow at an impressive rate and the firm has continued to return capital from the sale of i

Spectris (SXS) £29.34Gain to date: 8.3%We tipped specialist engineering group Spectris (SXS) at £27.09 at the end of April after the firm announced it was disposing of its low-margin Omega unit and handing some of the proceeds back to investors.Not only did we applaud the firm's attitude to capital allocation - selling a business which was sub-scale rather than pouring money into it to make it p

Sensor and testing equipment specialist Spectris (SXS) announced its first acquisition since announcing the £403 million sale of its Omega Engineering business in April.The company has signed a purchase agreement to acquire California-based Dytran Instruments for £66 million.While the size of the deal is modest, that shouldn't detract from what it can bring to the business and investors have giv

Specialist sensor and testing equipment maker Spectris (SXS) surprised the market with the recent announcement (19 Apr) it was selling its Omega Engineering division and returning most of the proceeds to investors via a share buyback.The shares, which had been languishing close to 12-month lows, jumped 5% to top the FTSE 250 on the day but we believe there is much more to come from this high-quali

Electronics firm Spectris (SXS) has agreed a deal to sell its Omega Engineering business to Arcline Investment Management for £403 million and announced plans to buy back £300 million worth of shares.Investors have given the news a warm welcome as the shares are marked 5.5% higher to £26.53.Omega is a specialist sensor business and while it is expected to return to pre-Covid levels of revenue t

Potential bidders could soon emerge again for Oxford Instruments (OXIG) as confidence builds around the scientific equipment maker's financial performance.The company was recently the subject of a takeover bid by fellow FTSE 250 constituent Spectris (SXS), but the deal fell through, with Spectris backing off due to 'significant uncertainty in global economic conditions.' Oxford Instruments saw its

The economic instability in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine continued to spread after electronics giant Spectris (SXS) pulled the plug on its $2.4 billion acquisition of science equipment designer Oxford Instruments (OXIG).'Oxford Instruments is a quality company and the strategic and financial rationale for a combination of our businesses is highly compelling,' said Spectris chief executive A

The UK equity markets ended Thursday's trading session in negative territory despite a series of positive trading updates from Barclays (BARC), Unilever (ULVR), and Relx (RELX). American equity markets provided little encouragement despite initial jobless claims dipping to a new pandemic low.According to official data just 290,000 individuals filed claims for unemployment insurance. This marks the

A rising list of economic worries kept investor sentiment firmly negative at Thursday lunchtime, while weakness in industrial commodities dragged down UK mining shares.At 12pm the benchmark FTSE 100 index, was 0.5% lower at 7,185 despite positive trading updates from Unilever (ULVR), and Relx (RELX).COMPANY NEWSAnglo American (AAL) lost 4.6% at £27.07 despite reporting a 2% rise in third-quarter

Leading UK stocks were pulled down by mining and bank stocks in early trade on Thursday, while Unilever (ULVR), which supplies all sorts of everyday goods we all use, like butter and tea, warned that inflation pressure could last far longer than many anticipate.The consumer brands firm saw its share price rise nearly 2% to £38.905 early on as its third quarter numbers proved to be resilient, with

The FTSE 100 is poised for some significant changes in the coming 12 months such as the removal of BHP (BHP) from the index and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) splitting into two businesses.The importance of sectors like resources, pharmaceuticals and insurance is likely to be reduced with consumer goods and banks potentially enjoying an increased weighting.Over time structural changes in the economy and di

London's FTSE 100 finished Friday's trading session just 0.07% higher at 7,029.2 points after US markets turned lower on a PPI inflation reading of 8.3%, which highlighted the risk of inflation-driven monetary tightening.Worries over the spread of the delta variant and weaker than expected UK GDP growth also weighed on sentiment, with the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 ended 0.28% lower at 23,

London's FTSE 100 was up 0.4% to 7,051.64 by midday on Friday with sterling also higher despite weaker than expected UK GDP growth.Growth of 0.1% in July compared to a consensus estimate of 0.6%, inhibited by the proliferation of the Delta variant that prevented many workers from being able to participate in the labour market.Significantly the largest sector of the British economy, the services se

The FTSE 100 index was 0.35% higher at 7,048.96 in early trading despite the release of official statistics indicating that Britain's economic growth in July was significant below expectations.Growth of 0.1% in July compared to a consensus estimate of 0.6%. Growth was inhibited by the proliferation of the Delta variant that prevented many workers for being able to participate in the labour market.