Intertek on track to deliver full year targets

In a trading statement for 1 July to date, the testing, inspection and certification services company said revenue rose 1.7% at actual exchange rates to £719m. For the first 10 months of the year, it was up 2.8% to £1.78bn.

Chief executive officer Andre Lacroix said: “The growth momentum of the group has improved in the last four months and we are on track to deliver our full year targets. We benefited from good growth in our products and trade related businesses which represent 90% of the group earnings while as expected the trading conditions remained challenging in our Industry Services businesses.

“The group remains strongly cash generative and we have continued to invest to take advantage of the attractive growth prospects in our markets with capex initiatives and acquisitions.

Intertek said the consumer goods division delivered a good organic growth performance driven by strong growth in Softlines and a solid performance in Hardlines.

The Softlines business benefited from good demand from clients for chemical testing to reduce harmful chemicals and from the expansion of their supply chain in new markets such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Turkey.

Hardlines, meanwhile, continued to take advantage of growth in new sourcing markets and strong global account relationships.