Bureau Veritas says a “buoyant” metals and minerals business was a strong contributor to its 11.7% year-on-year increase in first-quarter revenue to €1290.1 million.
Metals and minerals makes up about one-third of divisional sales in the French testing, inspection and certification group’s Agri-Food & Commodities business, which saw FY22 Q1 revenues jump 12.6% yoy to €280.7m in the first three months of this year.
Bureau Veritas said the metals and minerals segment recorded double-digit organic growth overall, “across the entire value chain”.
“The upstream business [two-thirds of M&M] continued to record strong growth – up 16.2% organically – led by most geographies, and particularly the Americas [Canada, the US, Chile and Peru] and Asia Pacific regions … fuelled by Australia,” the company reported.
“The business was supported by a strong backlog and sustained high level of exploration drilling activity in a context of buoyant metals and minerals prices.
“Trade activities recorded double-digit organic revenue [up 12.4%], fuelled by all the main metals … with strong trade volumes in Asia, notably China, Latin America and Southern Africa. The demand continues to be driven by the mega-trends of urbanisation [and the] electrification/energy transition, which outweigh the disruptions with the Russia/Ukraine conflict and supply chain issues impacting the major industrial economies.”
Bureau Veritas said the group generated circa-1% of FY21 revenue from Russia and Ukraine, mainly related to commodities markets.
“As of this date, the group has downsized its business in Russia in the sectors where the company was previously operating – that is, marine, aeronautics and commodities. The group will keep downsizing its operations and presence as the situation evolves,” it said.
“Based on a healthy sales pipeline and the significant growth opportunities related to sustainability, and assuming there are no severe lockdowns in its main countries of operation due to COVID-19, for the full year 2022, Bureau Veritas still expects to achieve mid-single-digit organic revenue growth, improve the adjusted operating margin [and] generate sustained strong cash flow, with a cash conversion above 90%.”
