Intertek confident after strong 2009

Last year was a good one for product quality and safety tester Intertek, considering the challenging economic conditions, as both profit and revenue increased by more than a fifth.Profit before tax was up 22% to £169.2m and rose 23% to £191.5m after adjusting for one-off items. Revenue improved by 23% to £1.24bn and was up 19% excluding acquisitions and 7% at constant currency.The consumer goods sector provided the biggest increase in income, up 32% to £321m, or 12% at constant currency, followed by commercial & electrical up 20% (2%) to £245m and oil, chemical & agriculture up 17% (2%) to £407m. Industrial services soared 77% (53%) to £81m, helped by acquisitions."Intertek has produced strong results in a year of challenging economic conditions," said chief executive Wolfhart Hauser. "As expected, organic growth rates moved to low single digits. We expect to continue growing organically in 2010 at similar levels, with the second half improving on the first.""With good market positions, geographic and industry diversification, and many acquisition opportunities the board is confident that Intertek will grow well in the future, despite the economic environment."As announced in January, Bill Spencer will step down as finance chief on 22 March to make way for Lloyd Pitchford who joins towards the end of April.Pitchford, has worked at oil and gas giant BG for ten years and been group financial controller for half that time.A final dividend of 17.3p per share makes a full year payout of 25.5p, up 23% on 2008.