Intertek Group plc (ITRK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Intertek May 2021 Trading update. My name is Rosie, and I'll be your coordinator for today's event. Please note, this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I'll hand you over to Andre Lacroix to begin today's conference. Thank you.

Good morning to you all, and thanks for joining us on the call following the release of our trading statements an hour ago. I have with me Jonathan Timmis, our CFO; and Denis Moreau, our VP of Investor Relations on the call, and today, I'd like to give you an update on the group trading performance in the first 4 months of the year and importantly, discuss the outlook for the rest of 2021. Today, there are essentially 5 key takeaways in our call. We are really pleased with the start of the year. We had a good start to the year, and we are on track to deliver our full year targets. Importantly, we have seen a broad-based trading momentum acceleration in the March-April period, which I'm sure you've noticed on the statement this morning. Our control on pricing, cost and cash remains firmly in place. On May 13, we've announced our intention to acquire SAI Global Assurance to scale up our global assurance business, a very exciting strategic move for Intertek. And importantly, we are really well positioned to benefit from exciting quality assurance growth opportunities moving forward, where we expect our industry growth to accelerate, given what the companies have learned in 2020 with the COVID-19 crisis. So let me start with the trading highlights in the first 4 months of the year. Group revenue in the first 4 months of 2021 was GBP 855 million, an increase of 1.7% at constant currency and a decrease of 3% at actual rates, given the strengthening of the pound. Our group like-for-like revenue was up 2.7% at constant currency, a further improvement of our trading momentum compared to November-December 2020 period. Our prime business delivered a robust revenue growth of 7.4%, with all business lines delivering double-digit revenue growth with the exception of Transportation Technology, and Building & Construction. Our like-for-like revenue in our trade business was down 2.2%, a mid- single-digit decline for Caleb Brett was partially offset by good growth for DTS and robust growth for AgriWorld. Our [indiscernible] division reported decline in like-for-like revenue of 6.6%. Minerals delivered a solid revenue performance, which was more than offset by a mid- single-digit decline in CapEx inspection and a high single-digit decline in OpEx inspection. In March-April, we saw indeed an acceleration of our trading momentum, and our group like-for-like revenue was up 9.3%, driven by growth of 13.8% in our product business, 5.3% in trade, while resources was broadly stable. Our disciplined approach to cost and margin management remains firmly in place, capitalizing on our comprehensive performance management processes, as you know, based on financial and nonfinancial metrics. We continue, of course, to be very focused on cash conversion and disciplined capital allocation. Now let's talk about the outlook for 2021. We are confident that the group will deliver good like-for-like revenue growth at constant currency, with margin progression year-on-year and a strong free cash flow performance. We expect our Products division to deliver robust like-for-like revenue growth, our Trade division delivered solid like-for-like revenue growth; while like-for-like revenue in our Resources business will be broadly stable. We'll continue to invest in growth and expect our full year CapEx investment to be circa GBP 110 million to GBP 120 million. A quick update on currencies for your models based on a year-to-date performance and the average Forex rate in the last month. The average sterling rate applied to the full year result would reduce our revenue and earnings by circa 500 bps. Assuming the DSI transaction will be completed by September 1, we expect our financial net debt at the end of 2021 to be in the range of EUR 835 million and GBP 885 million, of course, before any additional M&A activities and based on no further material movement in Forex. I'd like now to give you an update on the performance of each division in the first 4 months of the year, starting with Products. All the comments that we make will be at constant currency and on like-for-like basis. We are really pleased with the performance of our Products business. We benefited from a strong increase in demand for all of IoT solutions compared to the November-December period in 2020 and we delivered robust growth of 7.4%. As I said earlier, all business lines delivered double-digit revenue growth with the exception of Transportation Technology and Building & Construction, which I will, of course, explain. Our Softlines business delivered double-digit revenue growth, benefiting from the improved trading conditions for retailers in North America and Europe, as well as from the continuous growth we are seeing in e-commerce, increased demand for testing, protecting equipment, of course, and the greater focus of our clients on their sustainability agenda. Our Hardlines business reported double-digit revenue growth, reflecting better trading conditions for retailers in North America and Europe, in addition to the growth in e-commerce and higher demand from consumers for home furniture and toys. Electrical & Connected World delivered double-digit revenue growth, benefiting from increased demand for higher regulatory standards in energy efficiency, the strong growth in testing and certification for medical devices, the increased testing requirements for 5G and a greater corporate focus on cybersecurity. Our Business Assurance division reported double-digit revenue growth. Our [Audio Gap] caught up indeed on IoT in the first 4 months of the year and we saw an increased investment in supply chain resilience, and we benefited from continuing strong demand for operational and corporate sustainable solutions. Our Building & Construction business declined mid-single digits, while we continue to benefit from the growing demand for more environmental-friendly and higher quality buildings in North America as well as with strong investment in infrastructure. Our performance was impacted by the lockdown restriction in certain regions in North America and by the weather event in Texas in February. We are very big in Texas with B&C. Revenue in our Transportation Technology business was down double digit. As expected, we saw a low level of testing activities from OEMs and our business in North America was also impacted by the weather event in February. We have a big operation in Texas and San Antonio. Our double-digit revenue growth improve was driven by the strong growth in the global food industry, a high level of food safety testing activities as well as an increased demand for hygiene and safety audits in factories, hospitalities and retail locations, which we are delivering with our unique Protek end-to-end solution. Our Chemicals & Pharma business delivered double-digit revenue growth, benefiting from a greater focus on regulatory assurance and increased chemical testing, as well as an increase of R&D investment in the pharma industry, as we all know. In 2021, we expect our Products division, which represent 82% of our earnings to deliver robust revenue growth. Let's now move to Trade. Our trade business saw an improved trading momentum compared to November, December 2020 period. Revenue was down 2.2% as the mid single-digit decline in Caleb Brett was offset by good growth in GTS and a robust growth in AgriWorld. Trading continues to improve within our Caleb Brett operations compared to the second half of 2020 as we reported negative mid single-digit revenue performance. We are seeing a gradual recovery of global mobility, although it's still below pre COVID-19. And North American business in Caleb Brett was also affected by the Texas weather event, where we have a big presence, as you would imagine, in Texas with Caleb Brett. Our Government & Trade Services business delivered a good revenue performance, benefiting from the growth in trade growth in both Africa and the Middle East. Our AgriWorld business is going from strength to strength and delivered a robust revenue growth, benefiting from increased demand for agri product inspection activities. In 2021, we expect our Trade division, which represents 11% of our earnings, to deliver solid revenue growth. Let's now discuss Resources. Our Resources division benefited also for an improved trading momentum in the period compared to the November-December 2020 period. Our revenue was lower than last year by 6.6% as the solid growth with Minerals was more than offset by declines in CapEx inspections and OpEx inspection. Our CapEx inspection business reported negative mid single-digit revenue performance. We saw an improved momentum in January [indiscernible] period compared to the second half of 2020 when our clients start reducing their investment in exploration and production. OpEx inspection delivered a high single-digit negative revenue performance, driven by lockdown restrictions in some of our markets and the cost-saving initiatives of our clients. We delivered a solid revenue growth in Minerals business as we continue to benefit from increased demand for our testing and inspection services. In 2021, we expect our Resources division, which represent less than 7% of earnings, to deliver broadly stable revenues. Let's now talk about what's happening with our clients and our industry. Our customer relationships are going from strength to strength as evidenced by the continuous progress we are making on a high NPS score. Our clients were highly appreciative of the 24/7 customer service that we provide during the pandemic. Importantly, there, we are pleased that we continue to invest in innovation to reduce the quality, safety and sustainability risk. We will leverage this outstanding customer relationship to see the exciting growth opportunities ahead as we expect a growth acceleration in the quality assurance industry. Pre COVID-19, the quality assurance industry was benefiting from structural attractive growth drivers in the 3 sectors we operate in product, trading resources as well as corporate assurance. The COVID-19 has demonstrated that there were major risks in the operations of our clients that were not properly identified, nor mitigated. And moving forward, all stakeholders expect corporations and governments to sharpen their focus on risk-based quality assurance in 3 areas that the supply chain, better personnel safety and lower carbon economy. Said differently, COVID-19 has made the case for total quality assurance clearer and stronger, and this is evidenced by government's recent survey. 87% of companies interviewed said they will invest within 2 years to make their supply chain more resilient, great news for Intertek E-Fit solutions. That's why we expect our clients to increase their quality assurance investment moving forward, and that will accelerate the growth of our quality assurance industry. And we are tremendously well positioned to benefit from this growth acceleration. As you know, we have a very strong portfolio of high-quality scale businesses with the #1 and #2 position on a global or local basis. I've just talked about it, we have excellent customer relationship-based on a superior TQA customer service, and we provide our clients with a unique risk-based quality assurance offering, giving them access to the depth and breadth of our industry-leading E-Fit solutions. What's really interesting is the untapped opportunity in our industry. And this is a very exciting growth opportunity because this is all about the quality assurance activities that our clients do not do today and will start focusing on moving forward. Health and safety, sustainability, cybersecurity are great examples I've just explained. And this is where our innovation focus is addressing the pain points of our clients to provide them with the peace of mind they need in their operations, so they can focus on their growth agenda. For example, the launch of Protek; the world's first industry-agnostic end-to-end health, safety and wellbeing assurance program; the launch of CarbonClear, the world's first assurance program that certifies the upstream carbon intensity per barrel of oil; and recently, the launch of Intertek CarbonZero certification, enabling companies worldwide to confidently market carbon-neutral product and services. We just saw the news, I'm sure a few weeks ago, the number of inquiries is just mind-boggling. We will capitalize on our high-quality earnings models to seize an exciting growth opportunity, and continue to deliver sustainable value creation for all. Our high-quality component earnings models has multiple strengths, as you know, we've got a strong pricing power, we've got a high margin. We are highly cash generative, we are capitalized and we have [indiscernible]. And our approach to value creation is based on the compounding effect year after year of margin equity volume growth, strong cash generation, disciplined investment in capital allocation in terms of growth and, of course, returns to our shareholders. Let's talk about M&A. On May 13, we announced our intention to acquire SAI Global Assurance to scale up our great global assurance business and seize the high-growth opportunities in a high-margin capital light assurance market. SAI Global Assurance is a high quality business, run by a highly respected management team. The acquisition will strengthen our presence in attractive geographies and bring new service capabilities in very attractive end markets. We will, of course, continue to look at M&A opportunities in attractive, high-margin and high growth segments. With our strong balance sheet, we are well positioned to see the attractive external growth opportunities in what is a very fragmented industry, as you all know. So let's conclude our call today, and to do that, I just want to reiterate the 5 key messages. We had a good start to the year, and we are on track to deliver our full year targets and revenue margin and cash, we have benefited from a broad-based trading momentum acceleration in the March, April period. Our tight controls and pricing margin and cash remain firmly in place. We are delighted to scale up our global assurance business with the acquisition of SAI Global and importantly, we are extremely well positioned to benefit from the attractive growth opportunities in the industry that I've just described, capitalizing on our excellent customer relationship and our unique ethical offering. So thank you very much for your time today, and we'll be happy to take any questions you might have.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Edward Stanley from Morgan Stanley.

I've got 3, please. I couldn't type quickly enough when you were talking about the exit rates in April, so apologies, but if you could repeat for the group and the divisions, what happened in March and April would be helpful. And secondly, this is the first time that rebates have crept into the footnotes of your organic growth disclosure. Can you give us some extra detail on what's going on with those rebates and quantify to what extent they helped or hindered the organic growth rate to the group or any particular division? And then finally, ALS noted last night that they were finding it increasingly difficult to hire, particularly in Australian mining, which might not be as relevant for you. But are you seeing any kind of labor shortage issues across any segments for the group, please?

Thanks, Ed. And for everyone on the call, this is Ed's last call on Intertek because he's moving on, making great progress. So congratulations on your next move, Ed, and thanks for your support over the years. So look, taking these questions one by one, the March-April results were on the statement. So let me just repeat them. We were at 9.3% like-for-like revenue growth for the group, 13.8% for Products, 5.3% for Trade and Resource was minus 4.8%, okay? As far as ALS is concerned, the comment on shortage of staff, look, I imagine that there have been some restrictions in terms of people moving from 1 region to the other in Australia, impacting their labor scheduling. In our operations, we have a very, very, very well-organized operations. We have a really professional labor scheduling and I can tell you that we're not missing any opportunity because of staff issues. So I'm not sure what they are talking about. And as far as the little footnote, which obviously has not escaped you, of course, look, it's a very simple reclassification of customer rebates that has to be taking the revenue line. It's not impacting the like-for-like because that's why we basically have mentioned that in the definition. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

The next question comes from the line of David Roux from Bank of America.

I've just got 3 from my side. The first question, are you able to provide us with the like-for-like growth rate for March-April last year for the group and segments? Secondly, can you just remind us which months last year was actually the trough in terms of like-for-like revenue growth for the group? And then just lastly on Resources, in particular, there was a sequential recovery in both CapEx and OpEx inspection. I was just hoping to get a bit more color on the activity rebound here, whether this is a catch-up of previously postponed work? Or is there some new work trickling through there?

Sorry, can you repeat the last one? I'm not sure I quite understand. Sorry, David.

Sure, so just on Resources, in particular, CapEx and OpEx inspection, can you provide a bit of color on the activity rebound there? I'm just wondering whether this is a pure catch-up of previously postponed work or if there's some new work coming through there as well.

Okay. Look, I think on -- look, I've tried to disclose the March-April numbers to be helpful to everyone. Look, to give you a sense, our March-April like-for-like was plus 9.3% this year and last year was around minus 9%. So it's broadly in line with the -- what we -- broadly in line with 2019, if I could say it exactly, yes, okay? As far as the trough -- look, the trough in terms of performance was really Q2 last year. As you know, it started in China, which impacted our Q1 performance. But then it became global in Q2. So in terms of revenue, this is really where the trough was. And as far as the OpEx and CapEx situation in the oil and gas, look, there is no question that what happened to the oil price last year was very, very meaningful for the profit margin and cash of our oil and gas clients. And that's why they have reduced their investment in exploration and production in the second half of last year. Now typically, these are investments that will be delayed because when they have started the project, it's very difficult to basically stop investing. So we are being considerate in terms of the expectations for CapEx in activities moving forward. The first quarter is still down in terms of investment from our clients, but things should improve over time. But we are not calling the bottom yet, but there will be, of course, some catch up, as you would expect. And as you know, what's really exciting, which we talked about I think previously, is what's happening in the world of energy where the net 0 commitment for all oil and gas companies or energy companies is on the agenda and to do that, they will need to do 2 things which obviously, continued supplies of crude, of course, because we need crude to function as a global society, but start investing in renewable and alternative source of energy to reduce their CO2 footprint. So we are very excited about the prospects of our Resource division moving forward. And we just talked about Minerals in the previous questions, given the infrastructure investments that the world is making, you can imagine that the minerals industry outlook is also very positive. So watch this space.

The next question comes from the line of Oscar Val Mas from JPMorgan.

I have 3 questions. The first 1 on the guidance that you've provided. You've improved the outlook for Trade and Resources. I was wondering if the outlook has changed for Products as well since the full year results a few months ago. That's the first question. The second question is really on Q1. It seems like you've closed some businesses down. You have about 1% impact from scope. I was wondering if you could just explain where those closures are and if we should expect anything more in terms of business closures. And then the final question is on the outlook for Business & Construction within Products. How should we think of that business having grown, excluding the impacts from kind of the U.S. weather? Or if that's not something that -- if that's not the right way to think about it, how should we think about Building & Construction growing in full year '21?

Yes, thanks, Oscar. Look, as you would have noted today, we provided some precise guidance for each of our divisions, and we are obviously guiding for a robust like-for-like growth in Products. And you remember, when we announced our full year results and we guide for 2021, we're talking about year-on-year growth. So I think the guidance is more precise, and you know how I use objectives in terms of calibration. There is always a range. But have put numbers next to robust. So you get a sense of the type of growth that you could put in your model. Staying with Products, when we announced the full year results and talked about 2021, I said we expect all business lines to grow in 2021 with the exception of Transportation Technology. This is including, obviously, B&C event when obviously, the Texas weather event was significant in 3 possible of our business. In February, as I said, it was Caleb Brett, which is very strong, as you know, in Texas, which is the center of gravity of the oil and gas industry. It was obviously our Transportation Technology business in San Antonio, Texas and of course, B&C where we have significant operations in all big capital markets and infrastructure projects in Texas. We expect B&C to grow. And it's a good assumption that Texas, the weather event, B&C is in growth territory. And you would have seen recently the announcement that Joe Biden has made in terms of large infrastructure projects, which is exactly why we invest in PSI back in 2015. So we are really excited about the prospects because if you combine that with what I just talked about, in the energy sector, you can see a lot of opportunities for our B&C business and also our CapEx inspection business. I think that's basically what I want to say on your first and third question. Look, as far as the portfolio activities, I just want to remind everyone because obviously, we have had a lot of change within our sell-side colleagues in London. When we announced our [indiscernible] strategy back in '16, we did a forensic portfolio review, which was all explained in this presentation that is still available on the website. And basically, the conclusion of that review was, look, I've done the forensic analysis. There is nothing wrong with our portfolio. We are #1, #2 on global, regional or local basis. But there were a few numbers of business units where we had question marks. And we look to the time in over the last 5 years, and we finished this review in 2020 to basically address some of these weak spots, if you want. But these are really, really huge operations that we talked about. And we either changed management, we put a new strategy in place and the last result has always been, if we believe, we've exhausted our options, we've closed this. And there were a few closures in 2020, as reported in our SDI disclosures when we announced our results, and that's it. But there is nothing more than that. I mean, our portfolio review is very, very, very, very selective, right? And I mean you can look at our SDI over the past 5 years, and you will see they are not very significant.

The next question comes from the line of Paul Sullivan from Barclays.

Just a few from me. And just -- I mean, it feels so obvious. I mean, why -- why not robust for the full year when you've raised the divisional guidance, sort of what's holding you back a little bit there? Secondly, we're seeing inflation increasing talking point across the entire market. Are you seeing scope to raise prices and benefit from the inflation that some of your customers will be enjoying? And then just sort of slightly bigger picture, stepping back a little bit. I mean, we've got good GDP growth compared to 2019 in real terms. So why isn't growth even better than what we're reporting?

Look, I think the first and the third question are linked, Paul, right? If you look at what's happening around the world, the global economic recovery is uneven. We still have a huge number of additional COVID-19 cases every single day. We are seeing some very quick reactions of countries that have managed COVID-19 very well. But as soon as there is [indiscernible], that puts some restrictions in how the economy of society functions. So I would advocate for all of us to stay relatively careful when it comes to the outlook for 2021. I mean, you've seen what is happening in India recently, and no country is immune to a variant, offsetting the recovery in that country. And today, we still have countries in operations that are impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. Obviously, we have reported the January-April numbers. We all know that the situation is improving in May. And as you know, we are always very considerate in terms of guidance. The year has just started, we are tremendously pleased about momentum we are seeing in each of the divisions, and you've seen the March-April numbers, which are very, very, very comforting. But the year is still young, and we need to take it a [indiscernible] time. Personally, I believe that the world has learned how to live and deal with COVID-19. And I believe that the year will be a very, very good year for the world. I know there are a lot of GDP forecasts out there. I don't know how they do these forecasts because they don't share their model with me. But I can see is my own business, we are making progress. And the guidance that I'm giving today is the guidance I believe in, equally we'll report in a few weeks from now, and then we'll update accordingly. So I think that's what I would say on your first and third question. And as far as inflation is concerned, look, again, this is an uneven global economic recovery. And we have to be careful with general statements about inflations impacting all parts of the value chains and P&Ls of corporations. We have a very clear approach when it comes to inflation, we've dealt with inflation over the years in multiple markets. And we tend to pass positive inflation to our customers, and we tend to obviously offset the rest with productivity and innovation. So look, let's watch this space, right, before we make some big, bold conclusion that the world is going to be a high inflation environment.

The next question comes from the line of Neil Tyler from Redburn.

My question circles back to the outlook, really. And I wonder, Andre, you helpfully gave some context of the impact of weather in Texas on the B&C division. I wonder if you could sort of expand that more broadly to give us a sense of what you think the broader impact on the organic growth was? And the second part to the question is, you mentioned in Business Assurance, the working offset -- the audit backlog there, whether you have a sense of how large that backlog remains and how long it might take you to continue to work that often and until the backlog reaches at a more normal level.

Look, I wouldn't mention the weather event in 3 spaces of our disclosures today, if it was not an important point to mention. I'm going to stay away from giving the numbers because it will be unprofessional from my side; just to pick an event and try to quantify, of course, I've done it, but I'm not going to disclose it. What I can say to you is that on January, February, organic growth would have been better if we had not had the event which has impacted Caleb Brett North America, Transportation Technology and B&C. And obviously, that is not obviously in our March-April numbers because there was no weather event in March-April, okay? As far as the backlog for Assurance, which is your question, right? Look, we evidently, as you know, there was a bit of ISO catch up. Now I don't know if you know that, but when we talk about our ATC strategy many, many years ago, we basically explained that the expertise of Intertek was ISO and non-ISO. And our portfolio is obviously quite well balanced between the revenue we derive from ISO activities and non-ISO. And our unique position is the fact that we are market leader globally in the non-ISO assurance activity. So evidently, our Business Assurance business did very well in the first quarter because, as you might have heard, companies that have postponed their ISO audit or canceled their ISO audit in 2020 had the opportunity to catch up in the first quarter, which obviously we benefited from. The backlog in terms of Business Assurance is very, very positive. Not only, obviously, companies will do their ISO activities this year because there is no reason of not doing so, but as you know, we have developed over the years a huge expertise in non-ISO assurance solutions, starting from working condition assessments. Obviously, I talked a lot about sustainability, health and safety. No, I mean we are very, very optimistic and the survey that Gartner did, right, a few weeks ago is really, really telling. I mean, companies have realized that there were cracks in their supply chain. And the move towards risk-based quality assurance is not clearer for everyone, which is something that, as you know, we've preached for many, many years and continue to believe that assurance will be the fastest-growing solution for Intertek, which is great with margin capital light, as you know. So no, we are really, really pleased about where we are of course. The ISO catch up was good, but maybe leaning much more toward it than ISO.

The next question comes from the line of George Gregory from Exane.

Andre, 2 from me, please. Unless I misunderstood an earlier question, I think you said that March-April last year was down about 9%. Could you give those numbers for the 3 divisions, please? So the declines in March-April for Products, Trade and Resources last March-April. Secondly, Electrical & Connected World saw double-digit growth against a stable comparative, which would suggest some reasonable acceleration. Just wondered if you could elaborate on the factors that have driven that improvement, please.

Yes, look, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I don't want to give numbers if they're not RNS. We're trying to be helpful, but as you know, we operate in the competitive market. The more numbers I give the more it lands on the desk of my competitors. So I'm giving you a sense and when we do our H1 results, we will be able to compare H1 to H1, and to that, if it's okay, right? And your second question, what was this?

The acceleration in Electrical & Connected World just what's driving that.

Yes, basically, several things in Electrical, as you know, is benefiting from all the investments that we're all making in home office environment towards more energy efficiency, which is very, very high in everybody's agenda. The 5G development is also very, very positive. We also have our cyber audit in this business. So no, it's a business doing very, very well around the world because if we want to go to net 0 as well, we're going to need to have more efficient electricity consumption, right? And that requires new products that are more efficient from an energy consumption standpoint, right? And as I said on the call earlier today, the medical devices business is also growing because governments and hospitals have to improve their capacity, fortunately.

The next question comes from the line of Rajesh Kumar from HSBC. .

Appreciate you don't want to give the division-by-division numbers for March-April. You have reported in the RNS the like-for-like change year-on-year for the divisions. So how do we -- can you give us some color versus 2019, if we are running ahead on Products, we were running ahead of in March and April for the Product division? That could help us work out the run rate versus '19. The second question is on the business closures. You hopefully gave us some color on what the thinking behind it was just in terms of the scope, are we talking about 5% of revenues, 10% of revenues, which would come under the purview of such a portfolio [indiscernible]? And the type of margin tailwind you could get out from such an activity? Not the precise number obviously, it is still a work in progress. But if you can tell us their current margins, that would help. And the third one is on margins. I know this trading update is not necessarily about margins, but just in terms of margins compared to last year, are you comfortable with the way consensus is factoring in a recovery this year? Or do you think we are missing the fact that Product has accelerated a bit more?

Sorry, I couldn't hear the first part of your last question, Rajesh.

Sorry, what I was trying to say is that, because you've given like-for-like on monthly basis for the 3 divisions, but we don't...

The last question on margins. Your question on...

So if you're comfortable with what consensus is modeling. And if the Product acceleration means that we might be off the mark in terms of margin improvement you could deliver this year?

Okay, thanks, and several points. Look, one thing you can do because you do have the numbers, you can look at our year-to-date April, January-April, like-for-like revenue growth of 2.7% and compare that to the like-for-like revenue growth that we had in 2020 in the first 4 months of the year, and you can do that by division. And you will see that Products is ahead of '19 and that Trade and Resources are below. And I think that's the answer to your first question, which obviously is great news because Product is our high-margin business, as you said. As far as the portfolio work we did, look, as -- I mean, it's been a 5-year program. When we announced it back in March 16, I said exactly, this is the number of businesses we have reviewed, and these are the few businesses that we're going to consider and you will see, it's really, really really, not really material at the group level. So it has been very selective, very punctual, and we've tried to exhaust all options before closing, because closing is the easiest thing to do. It cost money to shareholders, we appreciate that, and I don't want to raise my shareholders. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. And as far as guidance, as you know, we have a very clear policy. We give only qualitative guidance and that's what we're doing. So I'm not making any comments on quantitative guidance today if it's okay. And when we report H1 numbers, you would be able to validate your model, H1 and H2 in terms of margin. As I said on the call, we continue to do a really good job on margin. So we are in a good place from a margin standpoint.

[Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from the line of Andy Grobler from Crédit Suisse.

Just 1 from me, a slightly broader one. You talked during your prepared remarks about kind of energy transition and the opportunities that, that was presenting. And there is a debate out there about whether there's some headwinds in oil offset some of the benefits from alternative energy and the kind of broader change. Can you talk through what you're actually seeing? And I guess, the quantum of some of those changes through the relatively near-term and what you expect on a kind of 2-, 3-year view?

Thanks, Andy. And you said a couple of questions. This is the only one. Any other question?

No, that was just the 1 for me.

Okay, good. Look, this is a very important question. We are, as you know, very close to all the oil and gas companies in the world of energy because we play a major role for them in the -- in a global trade with Caleb Brett and in the CapEx inspection with Moody. Lots of research and lots of prognosis have been made by many, many, many institutions, as we all know, and it continues every single day. I'll just say a few important points: the race to net 0 has started, and it's just the beginning of a journey, which means that companies have got a lot of work to do in terms of understanding, first and foremost, their carbon intensity, which is not trivial when you operate global, very decentralized production intensive operations like exploration production. And they need to understand how they're going to basically reduce their carbon intensity to go to net 0. So there is a lot of work that we are seeing through our own sustainability activities, helping our clients to figure that out because it's not trivial. And we've done it at Intertek for many years. And I know there is a lot of complaints from institutions that a lot of disclosures in annual reports are basically not independently verified, and they're right because there is a lot of work to do on disclosure. So that's first of all, where am I starting from? And what is my plan to go to net 0? The second question is, you're right, to get to net 0 and invest in alternative source of energy is not going to be cheap. And our clients have got to develop their plans to invest in these alternative source of energies and understand the returns that they will get from this. And as you know, there is a lot of things to be proven here because wind farms are big successes in the Northeast, solar energy is working very well, but it's complex. The third point I would make is that the investments in traditional oil and gas activities have to continue to secure the global demand for energy. It's just a math point, and that's obviously good news because that's where we can help with both our Moody activities and Caleb Brett. Equally, we are very well positioned in terms of helping our clients diversify their source of energy, both in terms of biofuels and hydrogen tomorrow and clear products in terms of global trading, but also all these alternative investments. Because what we do with Moody is essentially, right, an engineering based inspections of very, very complex, very expensive equipment to secure the exploration production for energy globally. The final point I will make is that -- and this is an area where I'm doing a lot of work. And as you know, I've been talking to a few conferences recently. The move from the [indiscernible] today to what I call total energy is going to increase the complexity of the energy operations of every country tremendously. I mean, you've seen the issues with the grid in Los Angeles in the summer -- I mean, the weather event in Texas, if anything, it's not an evidence that the more complexity, the more risk. And what we see our clients talk to us about is that how do we help them with the end-to-end risk base [indiscernible] because the more diversified source of energy means higher risk and therefore, a higher need for quality based assurance. So look, virtually, I think the journey has started -- just started, a lot of work to do. And lots of opportunities. So we are, at Intertek, super excited because we are right at the heart of what's happening within our clients. And we have great discussion. I mean, you've seen a few example with CarbonClear and CarbonZero. I mean, the number of requests we have because [indiscernible] was one of the first companies to have an independently certified trade of being carbon neutral. You see where it's going, right?

We have no further questions coming through. So Andre, I will now hand back to you for any closing remarks.

Well, many thanks to all of you for being on the call today. We appreciate your time. It's a busy schedule. If you have any questions, feel free to reach to Denis who is available for you. Have a good rest of the week. Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye.

Thank you for joining today's conference. You may now disconnect your lines.