Rotork says year begins in line

23rd Apr 2010 12:58

Engineer Rotork said the year has begun well and in line with expectations."The current trading levels support our confidence that the company will make progress again this year as we continue to see increased activity in many of our end user markets and geographies," it added.The group said order intake has picked up in the first quarter, though slighty down on the record order intake achieved in the first quarter of 2009.Shipments in the quarter are, as expected, down 8%. The order book at the end of March stood at £130m, which was slightly higher than the year-end position, but 10% down on the same period last year. "The competitive environment remains challenging and we are experiencing increased pricing pressure however we anticipate that this will soften as activity levels continue to increase," added the group.