Narrow-Moat Intertek Slowly Emerges From the Quagmire

As we lap the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 company reporting gets more and more difficult to interpret, and narrow-moat Intertek Group is no exception. Life-for-like revenue increased by 2.7% year to date in 2021, but within this figure was a 4.1% year-over-year decline from January and February, combined with a 9.3% increase for March and April, as we begin to lap easier comparatives. Ultimately though, our take from this is that the picture is improving, with 2021 set to show like-for-like revenue growth and margin improvement on the prior year. We do not expect to make any material changes to our forecasts on the back of this update, and reiterate our GBX 4,100 fair value estimate. Despite the shares' recent dip, we believe they still remain in overvalued territory.