AGM Statement

Ricardo PLC
05 November 2004

5 November 2004

                                  Ricardo plc
                                 AGM Statement

Ricardo plc is a leading UK independent automotive consultancy, employing over
1,580 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.

Ricardo plc is holding its Annual General Meeting today at which the Chairman,
Marcus Beresford, will make the following comments:

'Overall, trading in the first 18 weeks of the new financial year has been in
line with our expectations and our view on the outlook remains in line with that
expressed at the time of our preliminary results in September, when we expected
to see a progressively improving performance for the current financial year, in
the absence of any unexpected cancellations.

Our research and development work is continuing to produce practical solutions
to today's challenges - reductions in exhaust emissions, cost effective fuel
economy and the ability of the automobile manufacturers to get new products
quicker to market and at less cost - all continue to provide opportunities.
Ricardo's technical expertise is respected throughout the world and I am
confident that this will remain so.

There is continuing uncertainty in the automotive market. However we are less
reliant on the major US automobile companies than we were. We are continuing to
see a number of business opportunities coming out of the Far East and have
recently secured an order to provide controls & electronics technical consulting
to a domestic Chinese automotive company. This is an important step in the
development of our business in this growing market.

Overall our order prospects are significantly improved compared to this time
last year and at the end of September our order book was up year on year. In
line with previous years, we expect to give a clearer update on order visibility
at the time of our interims in February 2005, as the OEMs traditionally release
their new budgets in the first quarter of the calendar year.

In conclusion, I remain cautiously optimistic that the improving performance we
have been experiencing since the second half of last year will continue in this
new financial year.'

Enquiries:

Ricardo plc                         Today: 020 7554 1400
Rodney Westhead, Chief Executive    Thereafter: 01273 455611
Andrew Goodburn, Finance Director
www.ricardo.com

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



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange