4th Jan 2006 07:00
Ricardo PLC04 January 2006 4 January 2006 Ricardo plc Trading Statement Ricardo plc is a leading UK independent automotive consultancy, employing 1800people with technical centres in the UK, USA, Germany and the Czech Republic.The company's client list includes the world's major OEMs. Ricardo is aconstituent of the FTSE techMark 100. Today the Board of Ricardo plc is providing a trading update in respect of thehalf-year ended 31 December 2005. Ricardo will announce its Interim Results onMonday 27 February 2006. Since the announcement of our preliminary results in September, overall tradingfor the new financial year has been in line with our expectations, withcontinuing weakness in Europe being offset by good performances in North Americaand from our Strategic Consulting business. At the end of November, the orderbook was up 9% year on year and the pipeline of opportunities continues toimprove. This improvement reflects a better mix of contracts from a broadeningcustomer and geographic base. The UK business is performing well and our operations at Leamington are seeingthe benefits of the SAIC Motor Company Ltd ("SAIC") contract announced in May.In Germany the market remains weak for all companies servicing the carmanufacturers and our subsidiary there is suffering as anticipated. However, weare still confident that our long term plans to develop a high added valueengineering consultancy at the heart of Europe's automotive industry willproduce satisfactory results in the future. In North America the performance has also been good, with work for military andcommercial vehicle orders in particular strengthening the order book. This isproviding Ricardo with a broader, more balanced business, which is not asreliant on the major US vehicle manufacturers. Order intake from the Asian markets of China and Japan has grown, benefitingfrom our new offices in Shanghai and Tokyo, and we are seeing growth from othermarkets in the region including India and Korea. Our Strategic Consulting business continues to grow and to demonstrate itscompetitiveness in the global consulting market. Overall, 2006 has begun well. We anticipate the Group will show a solidperformance for the year and will continue to make further progress inrecovering profitability levels. Enquiries: Ricardo plc Tel: 01273 455611Dave Shemmans, Chief ExecutiveAndrew Goodburn, Finance Directorwww.ricardo.com Gavin Anderson & Company Tel: 020 7554 1400Fergus Wylie/Charlotte Stone A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 9.00am UK Time. Todial into the call, please call Tel: 01296 480 100, pin number C785593. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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