In this note we study the spectral properties of a multiplication oper
ator in the space L(p)(X)(m) which is given by an m by m matrix of mea
surable functions. Our particular interest is directed to the eigenval
ues and the isolated spectral points which turn out to be eigenvalues.
We apply these results in order to investigate the spectrum of an ord
inary differential operator with so called ''floating singularities''.