Intertek

British multinational assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company

Not to be confused with Intertec.

Intertek Group plc

Company type| Public limited company

Traded as

| LSE: ITRK
FTSE 100 Index Component
Industry| Testing
Founded| 1888; 137 years ago (1888)
Headquarters| London, England, UK

Key people

* David Reid (chair­person)
* André Lacroix (CEO)
* Ross McCluskey (CFO)[1]
* Diane Bitzel, PhD (CIO)[1]

Revenue|  £3,393.2 million (2024)[2]

Operating income

|  £590.1 million (2024)[2]

Net income

|  £367.2 million (2024)[2]

Number of employees

| 40,000 (2025)[3]
Website| www.intertek.com

Intertek Group plc is a British multinational assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

## History

[edit]

The origins of Intertek can be traced back to three businesses: a marine surveying business formed by Caleb Brett in the 1890s, a testing laboratory formed by Milton Hersey in Montreal in 1888, and a lamp testing centre established by Thomas Edison in 1896.[4] These businesses were all acquired by the multidisciplinary services firm Inchcape plc during the 1980s and early 1990s.[4]

During November 1996, Inchcape Testing Services was acquired by the private equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners in exchange for £380 million; it was promptly renamed Intertek.[4][5] By this point, the company was heavily involved with numerous governments and other authorities around this world, in America alone, agencies of the US government collectively paid Intertek $35.7 million in exchange for roughly 250,000 tests that were performed between 1994 and 1997.[6][7] During the late 1990s, Intertek was the only American-based registrar for BS 7750.[8]

During September 2000, Intertek's American subsidiary was reported to have allegedly been involved in the falsification of test data that had impacted multiple US government agencies; U.S. Department of Justice brought criminal charges against 13 former employees of the firm for their role in the scandal.[6] The news led to a planned floatation of the company being postponed. Richard Nelson, Intertek's chairman and chief executive, announced that the labs that carried out the work had been closed down and that the firm had reprocessed the relevant data.[6][9] Almost two year later, new plans were announced for the company to be floated on the London Stock Exchange; at the time of the announcement, the company had 10,300 employees and operated in 99 countries through 149.[5][7]

In June 2004, Intertek's ETL SEMKO division acquired the automotive part tester Entela Inc.[10] On 19 September 2007, the firm announced its acquisition of National Software Testing Laboratories;[11] that same year, it also acquired the analytical R&D lab Quantitative Technologies Inc.[12]

In 2010, Intertek acquired Ciba Expert Services’ Environmental, Safety, & Testing and Regulatory businesses, which included Cantox Health Sciences (Cantox) and Ashuren Health Sciences (Ashuren);[13] separately, it also bought Pacifica Marine.[14] One year later, the firm purchased Labs & Testing S.A. (L&T).[15]

During April 2011, the company acquired the technical services specialist Moody International in exchange for £450 million.[16][17][18] In the early 2010s, both the energy and agriculture sectors were major sources of growth for the firm; in particular, Intertek benefitted from the enactment of more stringent regulations in the wake of the 2013 horse meat scandal through its involvement in food testing, although this sector only reportedly accounted for 2.5 percent of its total revenue at the time.[19][20] Accordingly, during early 2013, Intertek recorded record profits accompanied by a 22 per cent dividend hike.[21]

During 2015, in the aftermath of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, the firm experienced an increase in testing work within the automotive sector.[22][23] Other beneficial trends for Intertek in the mid 2010s included greater public interest in sustainability,[24] and the weakening value of the pound sterling.[25] During the late 2010s, the firm focused upon increasing its operating margins and organic growth.[26]

In May 2021, Intertek acquired SAI Global's Assurance and Standards Business units.[27] Two years later, the firm allegedly dismissed a whole team of ex-SAI Global executives over auditing failures.[28]

## Operations

[edit]

Intertek Consumer Goods and Retail is the largest tester of consumer goods in the world and has a network of more than 1,000 laboratories across around 100 countries.[29]

The company has more than 44,000 employees across 100 countries in over 1,000 locations including large-scaled offices and testing facilities in New York City, London and Hong Kong.[3] Centered around its laboratory testing services, the company provides quality and safety assurance to industries such as construction, healthcare, food and transport. Products tested include batteries, accessories, apparel and chemicals.[30]

## Leadership

[edit]

On 16 May 2015, André Lacroix succeeded Wolfhart Hauser as CEO of the company.[31]

## See also

[edit]

* Companies portal

* ETL SEMKO

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Intertek Group PLC Profile". MarketWatch.com. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
2. ^ a b c "Annual Results 2024" (PDF). Intertek. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
3. ^ a b "About Us". Intertek. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
4. ^ a b c "History". Intertek. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
5. ^ a b "Charterhouse to float Intertek". privateequityinternational.com. 30 May 2002.
6. ^ a b c Shah, Saeed (22 September 2000). "False data charges threaten Intertek flotation". The Independent. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
7. ^ a b "Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 17 April 2002.
8. ^ Hemenway, Caroline G. (October 2000). "10 Things You Should Know About ISO 14000". qualitydigest.com.
9. ^ Booth, Tamzin (1 November 2000). "Intertek Again Finds Itself The Center of Controversy". The Wall Street Journal.
10. ^ "Intertek Acquires Entela Inc". Quality Digest. 16 June 2004.
11. ^ "Intertek Acquires National Software Testing Labs". prweb.com. 19 September 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
12. ^ "Intertek acquires US-based QTI". manufacturingchemist.com. 15 June 2007.
13. ^ "Intertek Buys Ciba Expert Services Division". Presswire. 7 April 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
14. ^ "Intertek Acquires Pacifica Marine in Papua New Guinea". offshore-energy.biz. 19 November 2010.
15. ^ "Intertek acquires environmental services firm for £1.3m". moneyweek.com. 8 December 2011.
16. ^ "Intertek acquires Moody International for a consideration of £450 million". Invest in UK. 7 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
17. ^ Turner, Lorraine (7 March 2011). "Intertek makes $730 million strategic buy in energy". Reuters. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
18. ^ Ruddick, Graham (8 March 2011). "Intertek buys Moody International for £450m". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
19. ^ "Product-testing firm Intertek eyes a boost from horse meat scandal". London Evening Standard. 4 March 2013.
20. ^ Moody, Oliver (5 March 2013). "In an uncertain world, it pays not just to pass a test but to run it". The Times.
21. ^ Ficenec, John (4 March 2013). "Intertek at the races". investorschronicle.co.uk.
22. ^ Fildes, Nic (25 November 2015). "Intertek set to pick up the pieces". The Times.
23. ^ Curry, Rhiannon (26 May 2017). "Intertek cashes in as companies look for help testing their products". The Telegraph.
24. ^ Curry, Rhiannon (24 May 2018). "Intertek boosted by consumer push for sustainability". The Telegraph.
25. ^ Curry, Rhiannon (11 July 2016). "Questor share tip: Intertek sees gains from weaker pound". The Telegraph.
26. ^ Dines, Tom (5 March 2019). "Intertek's revenue constrained by translation effects". investorschronicle.co.uk.
27. ^ Carcano, Sonia (19 May 2021). "Intertek Group's A$855 Million Acquisition of Assurance and Standards Arms from SAI Global". globallegalchronicle.com. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
28. ^ "Intertek Appears to Have Fired Prior SAI Execs as Oxebridge Files Formal Complaint". oxebridge.com. 8 May 2023.
29. ^ Armitstead, Louise (23 April 2009). "Intertek shares soar on speculation of bid from Swiss rival SGS". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
30. ^ "Industries". Intertek. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
31. ^ Treanor, Jill (15 May 2015). "Incoming Intertek chief forgoes bonus after shareholder backlash". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2020.

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[edit]

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