Johnson Matthey Q3 sales dip, sees limited growth opportunities

(Adds more results details, finance director comments)

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT.L - news) , the world's biggest auto catalyst maker, reported a slight drop in third-quarter sales on Wednesday and said tough market conditions will limit its short-term growth opportunities.

Johnson Matthey, which also refines and recycles platinum group metals, said group sales for the quarter to end December totalled 736 million pounds ($1 billion), down from 745 million a year earlier.

Excluding contributions from its Gold (Other OTC: GDCWF - news) and Silver Refining and Research Chemicals businesses, which have been sold, sales for the quarter were up 3 percent.

"Looking ahead, the challenging macroeconomic conditions, which have worsened slightly since our half-year results in November, are expected to limit the group's short-term growth opportunities," the company said in a statement.

Johnson Matthey, which makes most of its profits from the sale of platinum-rich catalysts for car emission-control devices, has benefited in recent years from tighter European regulation on emissions, boosting demand for more value-added catalysts.

But due to challenging conditions in several key markets, Johnson Matthey started a restructuring review last year, particularly in its Process Technology division, which sells catalysts and technologies to the oil and petrochemical sector.

The restructuring, which involved job cuts, was expected to cut costs by around 30 million pounds annually.

"We should see a quarter of the annual savings come through in our fourth quarter, the current quarter we are in," Finance Director Den Jones told Reuters.

Investor (LSE: 0NC5.L - news) attitudes towards platinum, which is particularly used in diesel autocatalysts, were hit heavily this year by the Volkswagen (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) emissions scandal.

($1 = 0.6927 pounds) (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by Jason Neely and Susan Thomas)