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TWST: Can we start with a brief historical sketch and overview of Intertek Testing Services PLC (ITRK.L)?

Mr. Nelson: Back in 1996, management led a buyout with a venture capital firm, Charterhouse Development Capital Limited from the former parent, Inchcape plc. Therefore, it used to be named Inchcape Testing Services Limited within Inchcape and then became Intertek Testing Services Limited, operated as a highly leveraged company since 1996 with quite a lot of debt. The objective was clearly to service the debt and continue growing the company, with Charterhouse ultimately exiting. That was achieved in May 2002 when we floated on London Stock Exchange and bar a small hangover of shares, Charterhouse did effectively exit. We raised money for the company and we were able to pay down a lot of our debt so going forward we have a much stronger balance sheet which will help us invest in our business and growth.

TWST: Can you walk us through the twelve months or so since the IPO? What were the core developments and how would you characterize your performance?

Mr. Nelson: The performance for 2002 came out at the top end of expectations. We are not all that much impacted by the war. The oil and chemical side is suffering a little bit, and exports to Saudi Arabia have been down a bit. Obviously, the virus in Hong Kong and China’s a slight concern. But as things stand at the moment, as long as it is contained, which we believe it probably is, it should have a minimal impact on us.

TWST: What are the main objectives on your business agenda for the next couple of years?

Mr. Nelson: I would answer that by looking at the four divisions independently. The objectives in the consumer goods are to continue expanding our presence in China and elsewhere in Asia where textiles, toys and other consumer goods are increasingly being sourced. In the electrical, the same thing applies, expanding our footprints in Asia where a lot of the manufacturing is now being moved to. But, at the same time, we are increasing our penetration of the consumer goods electrical safety market in America. We have a label that is accepted throughout. We compete with Underwriters Laboratories (UL). And while we are both strong in the industrial electrical sector, they’re very much stronger than us in the consumer goods. So the focus for us is to get retailers to accept the ETL label, which is the old Edison Electrical Testing Lab label that we acquired, more on the goods that they sell in their shops. We are working very hard on that. In the case of oil and chemical, the whole story is about outsourcing. This is where oil and chemical companies outsource their normal testing work, which can be anything from crude oil to fuel oil to gasoline to petro-chemicals, and we’ve been increasing the amount of work we do for these companies. We see significant growth in that area. In Foreign Trade Standards, we have a contract in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and we hope to win new contracts. This is where we test and inspect goods in the country of export before they ship to make sure they comply with the importing country’s safety and other standards. So we see plenty of growth opportunities in our business.

TWST: Does any one opportunity stand out for you?

Mr. Nelson: Well, you never know how these things are going to play out. The great thing about this company I think is that we’ve got several growth opportunities and I think they’re all significant. But time will tell which of them turns out to be the most significant. Certainly, if we are successful getting the ETL label accepted by American retailers, where we’ve made a lot of progress lately, that would create a good growth opportunity for us.