Trading Statement

Ricardo PLC
04 January 2006


                                                                  4 January 2006

                                  Ricardo plc
                               Trading Statement


Ricardo plc is a leading UK independent automotive consultancy, employing 1800
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 in respect of the
half-year ended 31 December 2005. Ricardo will announce its Interim Results on
Monday 27 February 2006.

Since the announcement of our preliminary results in September, overall trading
for the new financial year has been in line with our expectations, with
continuing weakness in Europe being offset by good performances in North America
and from our Strategic Consulting business. At the end of November, the order
book was up 9% year on year and the pipeline of opportunities continues to
improve. This improvement reflects a better mix of contracts from a broadening
customer and geographic base.

The UK business is performing well and our operations at Leamington are seeing
the benefits of the SAIC Motor Company Ltd ('SAIC') contract announced in May.
In Germany the market remains weak for all companies servicing the car
manufacturers and our subsidiary there is suffering as anticipated. However, we
are still confident that our long term plans to develop a high added value
engineering consultancy at the heart of Europe's automotive industry will
produce satisfactory results in the future.

In North America the performance has also been good, with work for military and
commercial vehicle orders in particular strengthening the order book. This is
providing Ricardo with a broader, more balanced business, which is not as
reliant on the major US vehicle manufacturers.

Order intake from the Asian markets of China and Japan has grown, benefiting
from our new offices in Shanghai and Tokyo, and we are seeing growth from other
markets in the region including India and Korea.

Our Strategic Consulting business continues to grow and to demonstrate its
competitiveness in the global consulting market.

Overall, 2006 has begun well. We anticipate the Group will show a solid
performance for the year and will continue to make further progress in
recovering profitability levels.

Enquiries:

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

Gavin Anderson & Company                     Tel: [phone]
Fergus Wylie/Charlotte Stone

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 9.00am UK Time. To
dial into the call, please call Tel: [phone], pin number C785593.



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