Driver Grp Regulatory News (DRV)

DRV

24 February 2010

DRIVER GROUP PLC

("Driver" or "the Group")

AGM STATEMENT

Driver, which provides a broad range of consultancy services to the construction and engineering industries, will be holding its Annual General Meeting later today. At the meeting, Executive Chairman, Steve Driver, will make the following statement,

"At the time of Driver's preliminary results, we stated that we expected the UK market to remain tough in the current financial year and that our efforts would focus on developing the international growth opportunities available to us. In order to support our overseas growth plans this year, we also announced that we were planning to invest an additional c£1m in business development. The benefits of this investment are expected to be felt in the next financial year and beyond. 

"Trading over the first half to date has been in line with our expectations. While the UK has remained challenging, we are pleased with the progress we are making internationally and we are particularly encouraged by the increasing number of tendering opportunities in both Africa and the wider Middle East. In line with our stated overseas strategy we have now opened a fourth office in the Middle East, in Qatar, and have secured a contract on a large scale project in Africa. This contract represents our first major agreement in Africa and we see good growth potential in this region. 

"In line with market expectations, and reflecting the timing of the investment in our overseas expansion strategy, the Group is likely to report a loss at the half-year stage. This position is expected to reverse in the second half of the financial year resulting in a profit for the full year. We look forward to updating shareholders on further progress with the interim results in June."

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