ISG.L Regulatory News (ISG)

ISG plc

AGM Statement and Trading Update

ISG plc ("ISG" or the "Group"), the international construction services group, today issues this trading statement covering the period 1 July to 5 December 2013, ahead of its AGM which will be held later today.

The Board is pleased to announce that trading since the start of the financial year has been in line with expectations as we see signs of growing confidence in certain of our core markets. Revenues and margins have risen modestly in the period.

At the end of October our total order book had increased by 20% to £915m (October 2012: £761m), of which £686m (October 2012: £587m) is for delivery in the current financial year. Our balance sheet remains robust and we anticipate a net cash position in excess of £30m at 31 December 2013 (2012: £25.3m).

Our UK Fit Out and Engineering Services business continues to deliver a strong performance. We are currently working on five major (>£20m) London office fit out schemes with a combined value of over £170m, and have been awarded additional data center contracts in the Nordic region following the successful conclusion of phase one of our first project.

In our UK Retail business we are delivering new store, extension and refurbishment projects under our existing frameworks for major UK food retailers and High Street banks, as well as for major High Street retailers including John Lewis, Primark, Pret a Manger and Hackett.

The UK Construction business is seeing signs of a general improvement in the pipeline of opportunities. We continue to focus on securing repeat orders and higher market share from key customers and frameworks. Major schemes have been secured since the start of the year from Diageo, Blackstone and Amazon Property, and we have recently been reappointed to the influential South West Construction Hub framework.

Our overseas businesses are making a key contribution to the Group's performance with our recent acquisitions in Brazil and Germany further strengthening our network. Continental Europe continues to experience subdued market conditions albeit in line with prior year. However, conditions in the Middle East and Asia are improving.

As the UK and world economies emerge from the downturn and confidence returns, our strategy of greater sector focus and targeting of key large and emerging cities means that we are well placed to capitalise on the growing number of high quality opportunities coming to market. We remain confident of meeting the Board's expectations for the full year.

Shareholders will next be updated on the Group interim results for the six months to 31 December 2013 on 4 March 2014.

6 December 2013