Interim Management Statement

Atkins continues to perform well in tough market conditions

WS Atkins plc ("Atkins" or "the Group"), the design and engineering consultancy group, today provides its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April 2010 to date.

Performance

The Group has begun the year with trading in the first quarter in line with our expectations.

In Design and Engineering Solutions our water business has, as anticipated, seen an improvement in workload following the conclusion of the regulatory Asset Management Programme (AMP) cycle, with UK water companies starting to commit to their new programmes of work. Our energy business is performing well and is currently resourcing its recent contract win on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), announced previously. Our UK building design business, which is a small part of this segment, has been impacted by the cancellation of some projects under the Building Schools for the Future programme.

The Rail segment has had a challenging first quarter, operating in an increasingly competitive market. Work is progressing on major projects as planned and our signalling business remains busy.

Our Highways and Transportation business has performed in line with our expectations and our highway services' business has a good forward workload. In the period we commenced work on our ten year highway services' contract for Oxfordshire County Council and continued to make progress on the M25 widening DBFO design and associated 30-year operation and maintenance joint venture contract.

Our Middle East business is making steady progress with opportunities increasing, albeit with some uncertainty around commencement dates. In addition, there are encouraging signs of improving liquidity in the region.

The Group's Europe and China operations are making progress in line with our expectations.

The Management and Project Services segment is trading in line with our expectations with our management consultancy business performing well.

Financial position

The Group has agreed a new four year financing facility of £150m and, with net funds of around £300m at the end of June, the Group's financial position remains strong.

Acquisition

The Group has today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire The PBSJ Corporation in the United States for a cash consideration of US$280m. Details of the acquisition are included in a separate announcement made by the Group and are available on the Group's website, www.atkinsglobal.com.

Outlook

Our diversified exposure to end markets continues to give us added resilience to market fluctuations and we remain well prepared for a period of tighter UK Government spending. We continue to monitor closely the expected demand for our services and adjust our resources accordingly.

The Group continues to have good levels of work in hand and a strong balance sheet and the outlook for the Group remains unchanged since our preliminary results.

Ends

Enquiries:

Notes to editors:

1. Atkins

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) plans, designs and enables the delivery of complex infrastructure and buildings for clients in the public and private sectors across the world. Atkins is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK and the world's eleventh largest international design firm (sources: New Civil Engineer Consultants File, 2010; Engineering News-Record, 2010).

Atkins is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

2. Analyst Presentation

A presentation for analysts will be held at 10.00 am today at the offices of J.P. Morgan Cazenove, 10 Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7RF.

Those unable to attend in person can listen to the presentation via conference call or live webcast. Access to the webcast is via www.atkinsglobal.com/investors. Conference call details are available from Smithfield on +44 (0)20 7360 4900.

3. Cautionary Statement

This announcement contains (or may contain) certain forward-looking statements with respect to Atkins' current expectations and projections about future events. These statements, which sometimes use, but are not limited to, words such as "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect the directors' beliefs and expectations and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially from any expected future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking statement. Statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The information contained in this announcement is subject to change without notice and, except as required by applicable law, Atkins does not assume any responsibility or obligation to update publicly or review any of the forward-looking statements contained herein. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement.