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Intertek reported rise in profit amid a boost from acquisitions, but the quality assurance company also warned that its annual performance would be affected by the temporary disruption to the supply chains in China.
'Intertek is not immune to the impact of the novel Coronavirus and our 2020 performance will be affected by the temporary disruption to the supply chains of our clients in China and any impact it might have on global trade activities,' the company said and added that it was yet too early quantify the impact.
The warning arrived as profit rose in 2019 driven by broad‐based organic growth of 3.3% at constant rates, by the contribution of the acquisitions and by a 180-basis-point benefit due to foreign exchange translation, the company said.
For 2019, pre-tax profit rose 5.9% to £483m and revenue increased 6.6% to £3.0bn.
The company proposed a final dividend of 71.6p per share, up from 67.2p, taking the full-year dividend to 105.8p, an increase of 6.8%.
'Looking further ahead, the global quality assurance market will benefit from attractive growth prospects driven by an increased focus of corporations on risk management, global trade flows, global demand for energy, expanding regulations, more complex sourcing and distribution operations, technological innovations, government investments in large infrastructure projects, and increased consumer demand for higher quality and more sustainable products,' the company said.