Testing acquisitions in North America

Bodycote International plc                           

                      North American Testing Acquisitions                      

Bodycote International plc is pleased to announce that its Testing Group has
completed two bolt-on acquisitions.

Bodycote has acquired the entire issued share capital of Norwest Soil Research
Limited. Based in Edmonton, Norwest operates from nine laboratories in Western
and Central Canada and has joint venture operations in Italy and Turkey.

The acquired business will operate as parts of Bodycote Testing's Environmental
and Health Science Divisions. Norwest offers testing services primarily in
three categories; Environmental, specialising in wide variety of environmental
analytical services such as soil reclamation analysis for the mining and
petroleum industries; Agriculture & Food, providing producers, distributors,
retailers and the catering industry with analytical testing programmes to
ensure the safety, quality and nutritional value of food, agricultural seed and
feed products; and Energy Resources, providing a complete range of analytical
testing services to the oil and gas industry, including the huge developments
in the Canadian tar sands sector.

Norwest Soil Research Ltd is accredited by Standards Council of Canada (SCC) in
accordance to international standard ISO 17025. In addition they are also
accredited by the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical
Laboratories (CAEAL), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and by the
United States National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Bodycote has also acquired the entire issued share capital of West Coast
Analytical Services Inc. The acquired business, located in Santa Fe
Springs, California, will operate as part of Bodycote Testing Group's Health
Science Division.

The company is primarily focused on providing analytical services to the
pharmaceutical, environmental, food and nutraceutical industries, specialising
in method development, validation and product testing. The laboratory operates
under Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and is approved by the US Food & Drugs
Administration.   

The business provides a strong fit with our existing pharmaceutical operations,
expertise and capabilities offered by our Mississauga, Canada facility. The
acquisition will allow Bodycote to offer an expanded list of capabilities to
existing pharmaceutical clients in both Canada and in North America.

Norwest Soil Research and West Coast Analytical Services senior management
teams will join Bodycote to play a major role in the future growth of these
businesses.