UK based Intertek Group plc reported a 5.6% fall in second quarter 2014 revenues which dipped to £1,024.3 million from £1,084.7 million in second quarter 2013 at actual rates, mainly from headwinds in its minerals and energy-related businesses.
Operating profit also was down to £152.3 million from £158.3 million in the corresponding quarter of 2013, a fall of 3.8%.
However, due to strong focus on profitability and cash flow enabled Intertek to post a 30 bps rise in operating margin in second quarter of 2014 versus same quarter of 2013.
Profit before tax too slipped by 6.7% to £140.9 million from £145.3 million in the corresponding second quarter of last year.
Consequently, diluted earnings per share dropped 1.1% to 61.2 pence from 61.9 pence at actual rates, but reported a constant currency EPS progression of 8.6%.
Cash flow from operations was up 20% year-on-year, while interim dividend was hiked by 6.7% in the second quarter of 2014.
"Organic revenue growth for the Group will strengthen in the second half as one-off effects annualise and as we continue to see good growth in other areas of our portfolio", Wolfhart Hauser, CEO at Intertek said.
Looking further ahead, our strategic choice of portfolio positions Intertek to benefit from attractive long term structural growth drivers. Our product divisions are strongly leveraged to increasing middle class demand for quality in emerging markets, expanding regulation and product variety”, he added.
