Atkins issues sober, but reassuring pre-close update

Engineering and design consultancy Atkins issued a sober yet reassuring pre-close trading update on 15 April prior to publication of full accounts, planned for 17 June. The update acknowledges that the consultancy has been affected by the severe downturn in the UK building sector and by worsening economic conditions in the Middle East. Its pension deficit has risen, primarily due to a fall in the value of assets, and cash collection is proving more difficult, particularly in the Middle East.

However, its cash position is strong and trading for the year to 31 March 2009 was in line with information provided by Atkins in a February interim statement, when it confirmed 1,200 staff redundancies (Environment Analyst, 12-Feb-09).

• Atkins pre-close statement