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LONDON (Reuters) - British product-testing company Intertek said it expected full-year organic revenue growth and operating margins to be in line with the previous year.
The firm, which checks standards on everything from oil services to children's toys, reported an 0.7 percent drop in organic revenue growth for the first 10 months of the year after it shed a number of low-value industry contracts.
Intertek, which surprised markets in September with the appointment of a new chief executive from May next year, also said its commodities division and oil-related services continued to be impacted by worsening market conditions.
Outgoing Chief Executive Wolfhart Hauser maintained his positive outlook for revenue growth next year, driven by product-related businesses.
"While good growth continues in most of our product-related businesses, the underlying weak market conditions for our commodities and oil and gas capex-related businesses have not improved in the second half," he said in a statement.
The firm, which operates in more than 100 countries, was adversely affected by the strong pound, with group revenue at actual exchange rates down 5.1 percent on the 2013 ten-month period.
(Reporting by Karolin Schaps, Editing by Paul Sandle)