Ricardo Plc - Trading Update

RNS Number : 6091K

Ricardo PLC

19 July 2011

 



Ricardo plc

19 July 2011

Trading Update

Ricardo plc ('Ricardo' or 'the Company') - a market leading engineering and automotive consultancy, is today providing a trading update for the period to the end of June 2011.  Ricardo will announce its full year results for the twelve month period ending 30 June 2011 on 26 September 2011.

The market place remains positive and the pipeline of opportunities continues to be strong as  global markets continue to recover and a return to product development is evident.  Orders continue to flow from a wide range of countries and across a broad sector base, driven by emissions legislation, CO₂ reduction and new product requirements. In particular, we are seeing orders returning in the automotive sector with a good range of traditional clients from across the globe. The orderbook remains at over £100m.

Operations have continued to be busy with revenue growth continuing through the final quarter of the financial year which, together with recent contract conclusions, have led to a profit performance well ahead of market expectations for the financial year ending 30 June 2011.

Within Technical Consulting, the UK and German businesses remain at high levels of utilisation and are recruiting. Relationships with key clients in the UK, mainland Europe and Asia continue to develop and are delivering multi-year programmes.  We are seeing the size of many of these orders returning to pre-recessionary levels. The US division has found the market environment slower to recover this year and as a result, clients in this region are tending to place smaller sized orders.  Despite this, the US business continues to deliver growth.

Following a lull in the order intake in the third quarter, the Strategic Consulting business has returned to high levels of activity with a good range of order wins and a solid pipeline.

Performance Products has continued to be busy with the production launch and ramp up of the supercar engine, support to motorsport programmes and the impending delivery of the Foxhound vehicles.

Dave Shemmans CEO commented:

"We are very pleased that the orderbook and pipeline strength reported at the half year has delivered an expected profit performance well ahead of market expectations for the financial year ending 30^th June 2011. The order book is solid, the pipeline strong and improved cash terms on order wins, together with tight management of the business, has delivered a positive cash balance and thus a continued strong balance sheet. We remain confident of further progress in the coming year."

Further enquiries: Ricardo plc
Dave Shemmans, Chief Executive	Tel:	01273 455611
Paula Bell, Group Finance Director
Website: www.ricardo.com
Kreab Gavin Anderson	Tel:	0207 074 1800
Fergus Wylie
Michael Turner
Madeleine Palmstierna

 

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