AGM Statement

EMBARGOED UNTIL 1505 HRS: 23 May 2006                     

                 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING STATEMENT - 23 MAY 2006                 

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting today, James Wallace, Chairman reviewed
the Group's performance during 2005 and made the following comments concerning
trading during the current year:

At the time of the preliminary results announcement on 28 February 2006 we were
pleased to report a continuing uplift in the performance of the Group in 2005.
This included a major improvement in sales, operating profit and free cash flow
generation. We noted that we expected the improvement to continue into 2006.

I am pleased to report that the current year continues to develop in line with
our expectations both in terms of sales growth and margin improvement. After
four months trading, sales for the Group (in constant currencies and excluding
the discontinued electroplating business) are ahead of last year by 16.3% of
which 6.4% is organic and 9.9% from the previously announced acquisitions. The
Group's key market sectors including aerospace, heavy truck and bus, power
generation, oil & gas and health sciences have continued the positive trends
seen in 2005. The car and light truck sector has shown some softness in France,
Italy and Sweden. However, the Group's outsourcing wins in automotive as a
whole have offset these areas of weakness.

Sales (in constant currencies) in Heat Treatment are ahead by 7.4 %, compared
with the first four months of last year, with improvements in all regions. Of
this increase, 5.1% is organic and 2.3% from acquisitions completed in 2005 in
Poland, France and the UK. Margins continue their gradual improvement with the
UK, USA and France to the fore. Energy costs have been well recovered in the UK
and North America but, as expected, increases in Central Europe, as long term
contracts expire, have retarded margin improvement there. We remain confident
of cost recovery during the remainder of the year. HIP performance remains
strong with sales in constant currencies ahead 10.3% (all organic) as
aerospace, power generation and Densal® demand continues to increase.

Testing has accelerated its strong record of sales growth with turnover (at
constant exchange rates) up 64.8% year on year, of which 10.9% comes from
existing laboratories and 53.9% from acquired laboratories. The rapid growth of
our Testing business has, as expected, temporarily affected margins in the
existing business due to increased overhead as the infrastructure to support
the larger business is created. The existing Testing Group comprises businesses
that typically have a range of margins from the low teens to in excess of 20%
but with a narrow range of ROCE performance at or above the Group's target. All
of the 2006 acquisitions meet our ROCE targets although several are currently
at the lower end of the margin range. Although we expect Testing ROCE to be
maintained, margins overall will be slightly below the performance in recent
years. We expect to continue the development of Testing via organic growth,
continued outsourcing gains and by completing further value enhancing bolt-on
acquisitions. During the remainder of this year we anticipate a slower rate of
acquisitions as we focus on integration, although the pipeline of opportunities
remains strong.

Our plan remains to invest around £90m this year on bolt-on acquisitions of
which about 70% is expected to be in Testing. To date we have invested c. £48m
of which 95% has been in Testing. Control over costs and capital remains a key
focus and annual wage settlements of around 2% on average are in the process of
being mitigated through price increases and productivity improvements.

With the Group's key markets performing well we remain confident of meeting our
expectations for the full year, however, we are well placed to respond to any
change in market conditions.

In line with previous years, the Interim Results will be announced on Tuesday
22 August 2006.

For further information, please contact:

Bodycote International PLC              Tel [phone]                
                                                                               
John D. Hubbard, Chief Executive                                               
                                                                               
David Landless, Finance Director                                               
                                                                               
Financial Dynamics                      Tel: [phone]              
                                                                               
Jon Simmons                                                                    
                                                                               
Sally Lewis