Q3 2010/11 Interim Management Statement - 16 February 2011

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Atkins on target for the full year

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

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Performance

The Group is performing well and trading remains in line with our expectations, despite challenging market conditions.

The acquisition of The PBSJ Corporation (“PBSJ”) in North America was completed on 1 October 2010. The results for the first four months of ownership are in line with our expectations and integration is progressing well.

We continue to adjust our resources to reflect anticipated market demand and we expect to end the year with a Group headcount of around 17,700.

United Kingdom

The multidisciplinary nature of our UK business provides some resilience in a market that remains challenging.  Reductions in Government spending have had the greatest effect in our highways business, where we continue to decrease staff numbers despite a strong forward workload of long term contracts in highway services.  Our water business, which has undergone significant restructuring over the last year, is seeing improving workload from the water companies as their AMP5 investment programmes begin, and our aerospace business is performing well and continues to grow.  Our rail business is operating in a well-funded market and while there are high barriers to entry in signalling operations, elsewhere the market is becoming increasingly competitive.

We have successfully redeployed a number of staff around our UK operations and, excluding our energy business, we currently have about half of the Group’s resources employed in the UK.

North America

The recent acquisition of PBSJ increases our presence in North America to around 3,500 staff.  Trading in the first four months of ownership has been in line with expectations and the acquisition provides the Group with an excellent platform for growth in the largest economy in the world. The integration is progressing well and we are confident of our ability to leverage our enhanced capabilities.

Middle East

This segment has continued to improve with recent successes on Jeddah Airport (Saudi Arabia), where we have been appointed lead designer for the expansion of King Abdulaziz International Airport and Union Rail (UAE), where we are preliminary engineering consultant for the first three stages of this 1,200km railway project. Transport infrastructure projects such as these are part of our ongoing diversification in the region where we have been adding skills outside of the building sector.

Confidence is returning in the region and we have been successfully expanding our multi-disciplinary offering, predominantly outside Dubai, an example of which is our recently announced strategic partnership in Saudi Arabia.

Asia Pacific and Europe

Our business in Asia Pacific is ahead of our expectations, with good results from our transportation infrastructure work in Hong Kong for the MTRC and an improving mainland China business. Our European portfolio of businesses is performing in line with expectations, with good opportunities for our Scandinavian businesses in contrast to difficult trading conditions in Ireland and Portugal.

Energy

Our energy business is performing in line with expectations with significant opportunities for growth.  We have recently announced a strategic joint venture with Assystem in France, which provides a strong platform from which to export our nuclear capability.  We are also investing in resources in both our oil and gas and renewables businesses for anticipated growth in these markets.

Financial Position

The Group's financial position remains strong, with net funds of around £90m at the end of December.  We remain focused on efficient cash management, although our significant investment in growth areas and generally tighter working capital terms are impacting our cash generation.

Outlook

We remain confident for the full year despite challenging trading conditions in a number of our markets where we have taken timely action to adjust resource levels in line with prospective demand.  We are investing in growth markets and continue to benefit from our geographic and sector diversification.

Ends

Notes to editors

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.

News Source : Q3 2010/11 Interim Management Statement - 16 February 2011