Intertek Group PLC
28 June 2005
For release at 7am on 28 June 2005
Intertek Group plc ('Intertek') - Pre-close trading statement
The testing and certification of products and commodities continues to be a
strong and growing market and Intertek is performing well. The US dollar has
declined by approximately 4% against sterling, which will reduce the reported
profits due to approximately 80% of the Group's earnings being in US dollar and
US dollar related currencies.
Labtest's turnover in mainland China continues to expand rapidly. Although the
rest of Labtest has seen modest growth, a number of countries have experienced a
contraction in sales due to a relocation of business to China. We continue to
invest in growing the business in China and other developing countries while
reducing costs in the West. The growth in China is beneficial to the overall
trading margin, but cost increases in the first half of 2005 to expand China and
the cost of downsizing in other countries will outweigh this benefit.
Caleb Brett is performing very strongly, particularly in the Americas, which
also benefited from the Kelley Completion Services acquisition in December 2004.
Outsourcing of analytical services is also expanding, assisted by the Avecia and
Rolls Royce contracts, which commenced in May 2004 and January 2005
respectively.
ETL SEMKO has made an excellent start to the year. The growth of business in
mainland China has been substantial, while the Americas have continued to see
good growth in electrical and building products. The acquisition of Entela (May
2004) has been successful in growing automotive components testing, and further
expansion in this area is planned.
The first half of 2005 is expected to show excellent growth in FTS, with all the
major contracts advancing. As announced on 9 June 2005, FTS expects to lose its
pre-shipment inspection contract in Venezuela from 31 August 2005. This contract
accounted for about 2.5% of Intertek Group's revenues in 2004. If the contract
is lost, there will be some restructuring costs to close the local office in
Venezuela, and to reduce the workforce elsewhere related to the contract.
The interim results will be announced on 5 September 2005.
For further information, please contact
Aston Swift, Treasurer and Investor Relations
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7396 3400 aston.swift@intertek.com
Tim Lynch, Tulchan Communications
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7353 4200 tlynch@tulchangroup.com
Corporate website: www.intertek.com
High resolution images of Intertek Group plc businesses are available to
download, free of charge from www.vismedia.co.uk.
ABOUT INTERTEK
Intertek is a leading international testing, inspection and certification
organisation which assesses customers' products and commodities against a wide
range of safety, regulatory, quality and performance standards and certifies the
management systems of customers. Intertek has 294 laboratories and over 13,500
people around the world and is increasingly undertaking outsourced testing work
for its customers.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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