Johnson Matthey faces court battle over £325m US deal
Summary
Chemicals giant Johnson Matthey is embroiled in a bitter legal battle against the US buyer of its former health business, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. After taking over Veranova, Altaris was forced three months ago to shut a manufacturing facility in Annan, south-west Scotland – one of the firms three UK plants. Johnson Matthey recently reported a 7 per cent drop in revenue to £14.9 billion while complaining of a challenging macro- economic backdrop. It scrapped almost a decade of research and development on the project, claiming it had fallen too far behind competitors in China and Korea which were already making batteries on a huge scale. The shock decision, which cost the business £314 million, led to a profit warning and the exit of chief executive Robert MacLeod.