Johnson Matthey has reported that it had seen the beginnings of recovery in many of its key markets in the last three months of 2009. Sales for the fiscal third quarter excluding precious metals were 9% ahead of a year earlier and underlying pretax profit was up 20% as the company said it continued to benefit from reduced interest costs due to low borrowings and lower interest rates. The company said adjusted pretax profit for the full year is now expected to be slightly ahead of the current market consensus of $391 million.