5th Sep 2007 16:30
Atkins (WS) PLC05 September 2007 WS Atkins plc AGM Trading Statement At the Annual General Meeting held today, the Chairman Ed Wallis made thefollowing statement to shareholders in relation to current trading: "I am pleased to report to shareholders that the business has commenced the yearwell and this confirms our confidence for the full year. In detail: Our Design and Engineering Solutions segment continues to perform well withfurther contract wins. Our markets remain robust and the integration ofAdvantage, which was purchased in March, has been successful. The workload of our Rail segment remains strong and performance in the secondhalf and for the full year is anticipated to be ahead of expectations. TheMetronet supply chain work continued under the old contractual structure untilrecently but contractual changes have now been made and we are now workingdirectly for Metronet to deliver station and civil designs and civil inspectionsand assessments. The Highways and Transportation segment has started the year well and theoutlook for the year remains good. As we have stated before, there are a numberof important bids this year, including the Northamptonshire County Councilre-bid. Today we completed the purchase of Intelligent Space PartnershipLimited, a small "Pedestrian Movement" consultancy with 18 staff. To reflect the increased focus on our European businesses, we have created a newsegment, Middle East, China and Europe. In this segment, our Middle Eastbusiness continues to grow strongly with further contract wins across the regionand we continue to invest in our China business. The Management and Project Services segment has started the year broadly in linewith expectations with a solid performance from our cost consultancy business inthe UK and growth in the USA. The Management Consultants business has had aslow start to the year but we are optimistic that progress will be made in thesecond half. The performance of the Asset Management segment is in line with expectations. In Equity Investments, Metronet entered PPP Administration on 18 July 2007 andon 30 August 2007 Trans4m's contract with Metronet for the delivery of stationimprovements was terminated. In the first quarter of the year, our staff numbers grew by 500 to 16,400, asanticipated. The consultation period on the closure of the principal sectionsof the Atkins Pension Plan has ended and following minor amendments thesechanges will come into effect on 1 October 2007. As stated in our Annual Report, the demand for our services in our key marketsis strong and we are confident that the Group will continue to achieve furtherprogress in the year ahead." Other Developments We are also pleased to announce that Ed Wallis has today agreed to continue asChairman of the Group for a further three year term. 5 September 2007 ENQUIRIES: Atkins +44 (0)1372 726140 Robert MacLeod, Group Finance DirectorSara Lipscombe, Group Communications Director Smithfield +44 (0)20 7360 4900John Antcliffe Note: Conference Call Robert MacLeod will be hosting a conference call for investors and analysts at8:30am tomorrow (6 September 2007) to review this trading statement. Fordial-in details, please contact Tom Hardman at Smithfield on +44 (0)20 79030680. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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