LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - British testing firm IntertekGroup posted a fall in profit margin in three of itsfive divisions on Monday after continued weakness in thecommodities market and Europe.
The FTSE 100 group's profit margin fell to 14.6 percent forthe first half of 2013, 80 basis points lower than in the sameperiod last year.
Operating profit in its commodities division, which isaround a quarter of the group by revenue, fell 10.5 percent,with demand for testing in minerals exploration marketsshrinking in every region.
Intertek, which tests products from barrels of oil tochildren's toys to check that they comply with regulations,warned in May that the weak global commodities market would dragon its profit margin in 2013.
The firm said it was continuing to restructure itsbusinesses, exiting those that underperform and cutting costs.
It added that the margin in the second half of 2013 would bein line with the same period last year.
Pretax profit at Intertek rose 3.8 percent in the first sixmonths of 2013 to 145.3 million pounds.
This was slightly short of analyst forecasts of a pretaxprofit of 147 million pounds, according to Thomson ReutersI/B/E/S data.
Revenue rose by 9.5 percent to 1.1 billion pounds, helped inpart by acquisitions.
Intertek Group (ITRK)
