Trading Statement

Bodycote International PLC
20 December 2006



                           BODYCOTE INTERNATIONAL PLC


                            PRE-CLOSE TRADING UPDATE

                                20 December 2006


Bodycote International plc, the specialist thermal processing and testing
services company, is issuing this regular trading update prior to entering the
close period ahead of its full year results for the year ending 31 December
2006.


HIGHLIGHTS

Sales growth for the year to date (at constant exchange rates) has been 19%, of
which 13% is from acquisitions and 6% is organic.  Acquisitions completed during
the year are expected to contribute approximately £60m in sales in 2006 and £90m
in a full year.

Energy costs have stabilised in most of our markets at record high rates.  We
have been successful in passing these non negotiable costs on to customers,
although the recovery lag is typically several months.

The execution of the Group's strategy of expanding the Testing business and
widening the geographic coverage of Thermal Processing remains firmly on track.
Testing accounts for 28% of Group sales in the second half.

The performance of the Group's 20% associate IonBond, has been worse than
previously reported to the Group and, as it is highly leveraged, the Board
believes it is prudent to write down its equity investment by c. £8m.  There is
no cash impact.

Cash generation remains strong as a result of continued tight control of capital
expenditure, and the ongoing focus on working capital management.

The Board expects to announce full-year sales and headline operating profit1
within the range of market forecasts for the Group, although it should be noted
that the second half has been impacted by exchange rates, softness in the US and
French automotive markets and weak performance at IonBond.

Although the Board expects the softness in US and French automotive markets to
continue all other markets remain buoyant and so it remains confident that the
Group will make further progress in sales growth and margin improvement in 2007.

1   excluding impairment of goodwill and equity investments, amortisation of
acquired intangibles, closure costs and interest and tax on associates


GROUP

At the time of the interim results announcement we reported that first half
sales, for the continuing business at constant exchange rates, were 22% higher
than in the same period last year at £279.3m and headline operating profit1 was
£40.6m compared to £33.1m in the first half of 2005, an increase of 23%. Organic
growth in the second half has been 5% compared to approximately 7% in the first 
half, with the reduction primarily due to softer demand from automotive 
customers.  Demand from the power generation, oil & gas, health science and 
aerospace sectors remain buoyant.

We continue to execute the geographic expansion of the Group's network of
facilities.  Seven bolt-on acquisitions have been completed since the interim
results announcement at a total cost of £31.6m.  Five are Testing laboratories,
namely; Consult-us in County Cork, Eire, an analytical chemistry and
microbiology lab; Prova in Camberley, a pharmaceutical testing lab; Foodscan in
Glasgow, a food analysis and microbiological testing company; Norpath a County
Durham, food and consumer products testing lab; and, joining the Group on 12
December, Staveley Services, providing metallurgical testing to the steel and
aerospace industries from four US locations.

The Group has also recently acquired two heat treatment operations.  ISTAS (60%
equity stake) in six locations in Turkey and Brasimet in six locations in
Brazil.

A number of other potential acquisitions are at various stages of evaluation and
negotiation, but we expect the pace of additions to the Group to be at a slower
rate in 2007.

The impact of exchange rates on currency translation in the first half, compared
to the prior year, was to increase sales by £6.9m and operating profit by £0.8m.
In the second half the impact is likely to be negative by a similar amount.


STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT (SBU) OVERVIEW

Heat Treatment sales in local currency are cumulatively running more than 8%
ahead of last year, of which 6% is organic, and operating profit is up 13%.
Turnover has increased in all geographies although slower automotive demand has
restricted growth in both North America and France.  Margins and ROCE continue
to improve in all markets.  To improve profitability further, the Group will
have closed four facilities by the end of January 2007.  Two are in the US Great
Lakes region and two in the UK Midlands.  In the US some equipment and sales
will be transferred to other locations but in the UK we are able to transfer the
majority of sales along with a significant amount of equipment to other
facilities.  There will be a charge to profit in the year of c. £5m to execute
these closures.  However, asset realisations are expected to exceed cash closure
costs. Margins for the UK and North America will improve by more than 1% as a
result of these actions.

Hot Isostatic Pressing is maintaining its excellent performance, with organic
sales growth of 12% (in local currency) compared to 2005, as a result of
continued strong demand for aerospace, industrial gas turbine and oil & gas
components.

The Testing SBU maintained its strong ROCE performance, in line with its target,
whilst rapidly expanding the business.  Sales cumulatively are 66% ahead of
2005.  This accelerated growth has temporarily impacted margins and organic
profit growth as additional infrastructure is necessary to support a business
three times larger than it was in 2004, hence the overall margin in Testing is
currently 15%.  Organic sales growth remains solid at 6%.  Businesses acquired
in 2006 are performing in line with expectations and have been fully integrated
into our network.  We enter 2007 with a sales run rate of circa £170m with
margins expected to be slightly ahead of 2006.


The Preliminary Results for 2006 will be announced on 27 February 2007.



Commenting on trading, John D Hubbard, Chief Executive, said


'Our strategy remains firmly on track, with the expansion of our Testing
business and the widening geographic coverage of Thermal Processing.  There has
been some softness in the automotive market in the second half but other markets
remain buoyant.  We remain well placed for another year of progress in sales
growth and margin improvement'.

An investor and analyst conference call is taking place today, 20 December, at
10:00 hours (GMT).

The dial-in number is [phone]       Call reference if any problems
                                                 4500938


For further information, please contact:


Bodycote International plc                       Tel No: [phone]
John D. Hubbard, Chief Executive
David Landless, Group Finance Director


Financial Dynamics                               Tel No:  [phone]
Jon Simmons
James Ottignon




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