Now it has parted company with non-core businesses such as chemicals and gold and silver refining, the driver for Johnson Matthey is its emission control technologies division — more than half the business — which provides catalytic converters to the automotive industry.
This is because the other bits of the business, supplying oil and gas, chemicals and other industrial applications, are by their nature reliant on global GDP and investment. Market conditions remain challenging for its process technologies side, which is particularly reliant on the oil industry. Precious metals were hit by low prices of platinum and palladium.
Its emission controls division gained from the Volkswagen scandal and a drive towards tighter emission standards. The number of diesel cars has not declined as fast as