Shares in Smiths Group were down on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading ahead of the technology company's full year results, expected tomorrow.

In May the group issued a trading statement in which trading performance was described as being in line.

In addition, while Smiths said it was experiencing lower sales to militaries these were being offset by a stabilisation of sales to the wireless telecommunications industry and by progress in sales for its IT network optimisation and medical products.

Keith Bowman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said, "Ahead of the results, current full year pre-tax profit estimates provide a median figure of £385.6 million, up 4 per cent from last year, whilst consensus analyst opinion denotes a strong hold".

By 15:35 shares in Smiths Group were down 0.50 per cent to 1,201.00 pence per share.

FTSE