ATK.L Regulatory News (ATK)

Atkins to sell UK Highways Services business to Skanska

WS Atkins plc ("Atkins" or "the Group") announces it has signed an agreement to sell its UK Highways Services business to Skanska UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Skanska AB.

Atkins will receive net cash consideration of up to £18m, of which £16m is due on completion and a further £2m is to be deferred and paid subject to the future performance of the business. The UK Highways Services business, which employs some 1,200 people, reported revenue of £80m in the six months to 30 September 2012.

Prof Dr Uwe Krueger, chief executive officer, commented: "The sale of UK Highways Services, which forms part of our UK Highways and Transportation business, is a step forward in the implementation of our strategy which includes work to optimise our portfolio of businesses. We wish to focus on growth sectors in engineering, design services and project management. We believe Skanska is a more appropriate owner for this business and will enable it to continue to flourish and grow."

The transaction is due to complete by 31 May 2013 and accordingly the business will be reported as an asset held for sale at 31 March 2013.

Ends

Atkins will host a conference call for analysts and investors at 0745 today. Dial-in details are available from Smithfield on +44 (0) 207 360 4900.

Enquiries

Notes to editors

1. Atkins

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects.

*14th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2012), the largest global architecture firm (BD World Architecture 100 2012) and the largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2011).