14th Nov 2013 12:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Environmental and engineering consultancy Ricardo PLC Thursday said order intake was up 17% in the first four months of its financial year, buoyed by the Ricardo-AEA acquisition it completed last year as well as strong organic growth.
The company, which provides services to transportation manufacturers, energy companies and governments, said it had an order book of GBP128 million at the end of October excluding Ricardo-AEA, a 6% increase from the end of June, as it won new automotive, monorail and defence contracts.
In a trading update, the company said it was performing well in the UK, although its German and US business are trading in line with last year as challenging market conditions continue.
It said its order pipeline includes a European motorcycle programme; further power generation activity in Europe and Asia; two multi-year assembly projects for supercar manufacturers; passenger car, defence and commercial vehicle opportunities in the US, and a "good number" of passenger car programmes in China and Japan.
Ricardo bought AEA out of administration for GBP18 million last year. The environmental consultancy provides services to the UK public sector, the European Commission, international agencies and private sector organisations
"The strong order intake of the summer months has continued and we have a good number of large multi-year projects being bid. Performance Products is performing well and Technical Consulting is continuing to win new business, particularly in Asia, although the US and continental Europe order intake remains subdued by our historic standards," Chief Executive Dave Shemmans said in a statement that comes on the day the company held its annual general meeting.
"With the good order book and pipeline within both Technical Consulting and Performance Products, we remain confident of continued progress in the half year," he added.
Separately, Ricardo said non-executive Chairman Michael Harper will retire after the AGM in November 2014, to be replaced by Terry Morgan whol will join the board at the start of the year. Morgan is a director of Crossrail, the huge engineering project currently underway to create a new east-west rail link across London, and a director of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Ricardo shares were up 0.8% at 590 pence midday Thursday.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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