Chief Executive’s Statement

Atkins has delivered good results and we are well positioned for growth.
>

Business position
We are pleased to report that Atkins has delivered good results again in a challenging economic environment. This was a transformational year for the Group, in which we proved our strategy is working. We balanced our geographic footprint with a North American acquisition and continued to maintain our focus on quality and agility.

These results demonstrate that we are capable of navigating difficult economic conditions in many parts of the world in which we operate and that our business model is robust. Our acquisition in North America has rebalanced our geographic footprint and progressed our multi-skill, multi-local strategy. It is the most significant strategic development within the Group over the past year and provides an excellent platform for growth in the largest economy in the world. The integration has progressed well and we are focusing on margin improvement across all our regional businesses.

The acquisition precipitated a structural change to focus the business management and strategy on a regional model, which this report reflects.

Tighter UK Government spending affected opportunities available in the UK market, although the diversified nature of our business provides some resilience to market fluctuations and a number of our businesses benefit from technical barriers to entry. There remain good opportunities for Atkins where we can add real value to solve clients’ problems through technical innovation.

The establishment of a partnership in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia added to our long standing presence in the Middle East, progressing our strategic objective of diversification into larger infrastructure projects and continued organic expansion in different geographies and market sectors in the region. This diversification provides further opportunities as we see increasing workload and growth returning to the region.

Asia Pacific has been very busy with a strong economy in China driving expansion and diversification as we improve our service offering for the longer term. In Europe the differing stages of economic recovery have driven mixed performance, with Scandinavia faring better, helped by a bolt-on acquisition broadening our market offering.

We announced in February the creation of a strategic alliance (n.triple.a) with French engineering consultancy Assystem to target nuclear new build opportunities, as well as services for the entire nuclear fuel cycle. The agreement marks a significant step forward in achieving our aspiration to be the leading worldwide nuclear infrastructure consultancy and a number of active international opportunities are being pursued. We have continued to invest in niche acquisitions and strategic senior recruitment in the energy sector as we see potential for growth.

We see a continued demand for services where quality is a major determinant. At the same time, the drive towards a low carbon economy, allied to the need for greater capacity, reliability and predictability from existing assets, will play to the Group’s strengths.

I announced recently that I will retire as chief executive at the end of July after almost eight enjoyable years and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues for their support over this period that has seen us transform the business. I would also like to welcome Dr Uwe Krueger as my successor, who joined the Board on 14 June 2011.

Priorities
As a people based business, our staff are key to everything we do and, as such, we continue to invest in and to develop their strengths.

Our focus for 2011/12 revolves around actions to deliver our three strategic priorities:

• developing our high-performing businesses
• addressing attractive sectors
• taking advantage of market opportunities.

We are confident of our business model and strategy and, with the culture and skills within the Group, we are well placed to continue to progress in the years ahead. We have delivered good results again and are now well positioned for growth.

Keith Clarke CBE

Chief Executive

15 June 2011