Engage Xr Regulatory News (EXR)

22 Mar 2005 07:01

Expro International Group PLC22 March 2005 Embargoed until 07.00 on Tuesday 22 March 2005 EXPRO INTERNATIONAL GROUP PLC Pre-Close Trading Update for the Year Ended 31 March 2005 Expro International Group PLC ("Expro") announces today that trading during thesecond half of the year ended 31 March 2005 has continued to strengthen. As aresult, the Board now anticipates that the outturn for the full year is expectedto be at the upper end of the current range of analysts' expectations (EPSrange, pre amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items, is 15.4p - 17.2p).This performance is primarily a result of stronger trading from Tronic andbetter activity levels in the UK North Sea. This will be partially offset byadditional, one-off, tax charges relating to the crystalisation of certainhistorical issues which have previously been highlighted. Our efforts during the past eighteen months have been aimed at restructuring ouroperations, to ensure they mirror the requirements of the strengthening globalmarkets for late cycle, upstream products and services. We are now benefitingfrom these actions, across all areas of our business. In addition, the rapid and sustained growth of capital spend in the deep watermarkets has enabled Tronic, our deep water, hostile environment power andinstrumentation connector business, to deliver the most improved year on yearperformance of all our businesses and its strongest performance to date. Therecently announced acquisition of Read Matre Instruments AS will provide furtheropportunities in this area through both synergies and market growth. Whilst we continue to observe negative sentiment regarding the UK North Sea,Expro continues to deliver an excellent performance in this market from our hubin Aberdeen. By combining the best available technology to the needs of a matureand historically high-cost oil province, our products and services are in strongdemand. The recently announced £53 million five year contract with ShellExploration and Production Europe provides a strong platform to maintain ourleading market position. We have been successful in securing significant contracts, as announced on 9 and18 February 2005, which both underpin our current strong market positions and,through their phased delivery over a number of years, provide a platform for ourcontinued growth. After a year of aggressive strategy implementation andinvestment, at this stage, the Board is comfortable with the current analysts'expectations for the Financial Year 2005/6. Graeme Coutts, Group CEO commented: "After a number of difficult years, I amgreatly encouraged by our progress, particularly given the aggressive financialtargets set by the business in our published 2003 strategy. Strong clientrelationships and technical competence are at the forefront of Expro's strategy,and I am pleased to say that we have clear evidence of its success in thesignificant improvement in the company's financial performance. There is noquestion that market conditions have also improved and that Expro is positioningto take advantage of this recovery in the future. Many of the recent marketsuccesses we have enjoyed will deliver earnings in a phased manner over severalyears and, despite the continued weakness of the US dollar, we believe we remainwell placed to deliver our financial goals." The preliminary announcement of the results for the year will be made onThursday 2nd June 2005. - Ends - Note to Editors: Expro International Group PLC is a leading upstream oil and gas technology andservice provider, specialising in well performance and production optimisation.Its products and services are packaged into three distinct business segments:Cased Hole Services, Subsurface Systems, and Surface and Environmental Systems.The Expro Group employs over 2,000 people worldwide and is an innovative leaderin oilfield technology which enables clients to maximise recovery of theirreserves. For more information, please refer to the Group's website atwww.exprogroup.com For further information please contact: Expro International Group PLC Until 23 March 2005: 01224 225 963Graeme Coutts, Chief Executive Thereafter on 0118 9591 341Michael Speakman, Finance Director Weber Shandwick Square Mile 020 7067 0700Mike Kirk / Rachel Taylor / Stephanie Badjonat This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange