Intertek makes 'good start' to the year, Q1 revenues grow YOY

Quality assurance provider Intertek said on Wednesday that it had made a "good start to the year", with both like-for-like and acquisition-aided revenue growth.

Intertek stated revenues had grown 9.1% in the four months ended 30 April to £951.3m, with broad-based like-for-like revenue growth of 4.8% and 4.3% growth from acquisitions. Intertek also highlighted "robust" 6.8% like-for-like revenue growth outside of China, which accounts for 20% of group revenues.

The FTSE 100-listed group noted that the recently acquired SAI Global and JLA Brazil businesses were both "performing well" and had delivered £39.4m of additional revenue at constant rates.

Intertek added that it was "well-positioned" to deliver on its full-year guidance, with "robust" like-for-like constant currency revenue growth for both the group as a whole and for each of its divisions, further margin progression at constant currency and strong free cash flow.

"This reflects the increase in demand we are seeing for our industry-leading Total Quality Assurance solutions, the strengths of our earnings model and our performance management discipline, as well as the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in China," said chief executive André Lacroix.

"The supply chain disruption being experienced by corporations across multiple industries in the last two years has made the need for comprehensive risk-based quality, safety, and sustainability assurance more critical than ever. Companies are investing in Quality Assurance to build greater resilience and safety, whilst innovating to deliver new high-quality products and services as consumer expectations rapidly evolve."

As of 1045 BST, Intertek shares were up 0.33% at 4,627.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com