Ricardo Plc Regulatory News (RCDO)

8 November 2017

Ricardo plc

Trading Update

Ricardo plc ("Ricardo") is a global engineering and strategic, technical and environmental consultancy business with a value chain that includes the niche manufacture and assembly of high-performance products. We employ over 2,900 professional engineers, consultants, scientists and support staff to deliver class-leading and innovative products and services for the benefit of our customers, which include the world's major transportation original equipment manufacturers and operators, supply chain organisations, energy companies, financial institutions and government agencies.

Ricardo is today providing an update on order intake in the first quarter of the new financial year. In the period 1 July 2017 to 30 September 2017 order intake was strong at £106m which is £33m higher than the same period last year. The order intake includes £6m in respect of the Control Point acquisition, which was completed on 8 September 2017.

Significant orders in the period include two large multi-year Chinese customer programs in respect of the engineering of an electric vehicle and the transmission for a hybrid vehicle. In addition, EMEA Automotive has secured an order for road trials for a commercial vehicle platooning project in the UK. Overall, 25% of the total order intake in the quarter ended 30 September 2017 was in respect of electric or hybrid vehicles which compares to 17% for the year to 30 June 2017.

The order book was £269m at the end of September, including £9m in respect of the Control Point acquisition, which compares to an order book of £231m at the same time last year. The order book contains an increased number of longer term projects compared to the prior year which provides increased visibility over the medium term.

Dave Shemmans, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are very pleased with the start to the new financial year with the strong order intake reflecting both organic growth and a good contribution from our recent acquisition of Control Point. We have seen a good spread of orders across our Technical Consulting business and our Performance Products business and the proportion of orders in respect of electric and hybrid vehicles continues to increase. We look forward to continued progress in the rest of the year."

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