Intertek's H1 profit rises, sees no impact from Brexit

Intertek reported a jump in first-half profit as revenue grew strongly and said the UK’s decision to leave the European Union was unlikely to affect the company’s growth opportunities.

Pre-tax profit in the first half rose to £172.5m from £149.8m on revenue of £1.20bn, up from £1.06bn in the same period last year.

The company declared an interim dividend of 19.4p per share, up from 17p in the first half 2015.

Chief executive officer Andre Lacroix said: “The group has delivered double digit revenue and earnings growth leveraging our high margin and strongly cash generative earnings model.

“We are on track to deliver our full year targets. Our Products division delivered an excellent performance with an operating profit growth of 22% benefiting from a robust organic growth performance and from recent acquisitions. Our Trade related businesses delivered a solid performance while trading conditions remain challenging, as expected, in our Resources sector.”

Intertek said the Brexit vote was unlikely to have any impact on its growth opportunities.

“Corporations will continue to carry out assurance, testing, inspection and certification on their products, assets and processes and therefore the fundamental strengths of our business model remain unchanged in a world that demands greater quality assurance.”

The company said it was on track to deliver “robust” full-year revenue growth at constant currency and continue to benefit from it recent acquisitions.