Intertek Group Regulatory News (ITRK)

28 Jun 2005 07:01

Intertek Group PLC28 June 2005 For release at 7am on 28 June 2005 Intertek Group plc ("Intertek") - Pre-close trading statement The testing and certification of products and commodities continues to be astrong and growing market and Intertek is performing well. The US dollar hasdeclined by approximately 4% against sterling, which will reduce the reportedprofits due to approximately 80% of the Group's earnings being in US dollar andUS dollar related currencies. Labtest's turnover in mainland China continues to expand rapidly. Although therest of Labtest has seen modest growth, a number of countries have experienced acontraction in sales due to a relocation of business to China. We continue toinvest in growing the business in China and other developing countries whilereducing costs in the West. The growth in China is beneficial to the overalltrading margin, but cost increases in the first half of 2005 to expand China andthe cost of downsizing in other countries will outweigh this benefit. Caleb Brett is performing very strongly, particularly in the Americas, whichalso benefited from the Kelley Completion Services acquisition in December 2004.Outsourcing of analytical services is also expanding, assisted by the Avecia andRolls Royce contracts, which commenced in May 2004 and January 2005respectively. ETL SEMKO has made an excellent start to the year. The growth of business inmainland China has been substantial, while the Americas have continued to seegood growth in electrical and building products. The acquisition of Entela (May2004) has been successful in growing automotive components testing, and furtherexpansion in this area is planned. The first half of 2005 is expected to show excellent growth in FTS, with all themajor contracts advancing. As announced on 9 June 2005, FTS expects to lose itspre-shipment inspection contract in Venezuela from 31 August 2005. This contractaccounted for about 2.5% of Intertek Group's revenues in 2004. If the contractis lost, there will be some restructuring costs to close the local office inVenezuela, and to reduce the workforce elsewhere related to the contract. The interim results will be announced on 5 September 2005. For further information, please contactAston Swift, Treasurer and Investor RelationsTelephone: +44 (0) 20 7396 3400 aston.swift@intertek.comTim Lynch, Tulchan CommunicationsTelephone: +44 (0) 20 7353 4200 tlynch@tulchangroup.comCorporate website: www.intertek.comHigh resolution images of Intertek Group plc businesses are available todownload, free of charge from www.vismedia.co.uk. ABOUT INTERTEKIntertek is a leading international testing, inspection and certificationorganisation which assesses customers' products and commodities against a widerange of safety, regulatory, quality and performance standards and certifies themanagement systems of customers. Intertek has 294 laboratories and over 13,500people around the world and is increasingly undertaking outsourced testing workfor its customers. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange