Pre-close Trading Update

Ricardo PLC
19 July 2005

                                                                    19 July 2005

                                  Ricardo plc
                          Pre-close trading statement

Ricardo plc is a leading UK independent automotive consultancy, employing 1,700
people with technical centres in the UK, USA, Germany and the Czech Republic.
The company's client list includes the world's major OEMs. Ricardo is a
constituent of the FTSE techMark 100.

Today the Board of Ricardo plc is providing a trading update before the Company
enters the close period in respect of the year ended 30 June 2005. Ricardo will
announce its Preliminary Results on Monday 19 September 2005.

Since the announcement of our interim results in February overall trading for
the second half has been in line with our expectations, with some weakness in
Germany being offset by good performances in the UK, US and Strategic
Consulting.

The automotive market continues to be challenging, however the improving trends
we saw in the first half have continued and we are seeing a slightly more
encouraging outlook for the business. Our order book has continued to
strengthen, and has increased from £58m at the half year to £70m. The order book
reflects a better mix of contracts with an improved and broader customer base.

In line with the general market decline in bond yields, our pensions deficit
under FRS17 is likely to increase significantly and we will provide more details
on the likely impact at our Preliminary results on 19 September 2005.

Our UK business has continued to perform well and our operations at Leamington
are beginning to see the benefits of the SAIC Motor Company Ltd ('SAIC')
contract announced in May. After a slow start to the year, the USA performed
well in the second half, and our order book there is now at its strongest level
for more than two years. In Germany all companies servicing the OEMs there,
including Ricardo, have experienced weakening trading as the German automotive
companies continue to struggle in the global market. We do not anticipate a
marked improvement in this market during the first half of the new year. Our
strategic consulting business continues to perform strongly.

We continue to make good progress in the Far East. Our office in Shanghai opened
on 12 July and business in Japan continues to grow.

As previously reported the contract with SAIC will help SAIC establish their own
brand product range and internal engineering capability in the UK. As their
strategic partner for vehicle and powertrain development (engine and
transmission), Ricardo will lead the development of a range of vehicles (new and
facelift) with both gasoline and diesel engines targeted initially for the
Chinese market.

In addition Ricardo will assist with the development of SAIC's in-house team and
their understanding and experience of the automotive product engineering
process, as well as providing advice in related topics. We have now established
and recently launched an office of 100 professional engineers in Leamington to
service this contract, with additional satellite teams operational on the ground
in Shanghai. It still remains too early to predict the financial benefit of this
contract in the new financial year.

Overall, 2005 has been a year of solid performance, and a year of further
progress in recovering profitability levels.

Enquiries:

Ricardo plc                         Tel: [phone]
Rodney Westhead, Chief Executive
Andrew Goodburn, Finance Director
www.ricardo.com

Gavin Anderson & Company            Tel: [phone]
Laura Hickman/Charlotte Stone

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 9am UK Time. To
dial into the call, please call [phone].



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