Bureau Veritas 2021 Q1 results

IIOA member Bureau Veritas posts its 2021 Q1 results, with the headline revenue of 1.155 billion EUR, up 6.6% organically (+ 6.2% at constant currency).

Within this, Certification’s growth at +21.6% organic growth (+24.3% constant currency) to 91.9m EUR showed the highest growth alongside Consumer Products at 18.7% and Buildings & Infrastructure at 13.3%.

Bureau Veritas note that, ‘The Certification business recorded a strong organic growth of 21.6% in the first quarter of 2021, in the continuity of the second half of 2020. The level of activity strongly recovered as it continued to benefit from a catch-up of 2020 postponed audits (notably for QHSE, Food and Transportation schemes) as well as from the success of new services developed including “Restart Your Business with BV”.

All geographic areas experienced double-digit organic growth with the exception of a few countries (United Arab Emirates, Thailand and the United States). China recovered strongly as it was the most impacted in the prior year due to extreme restrictions on mobility.

Within the Group’s portfolio, high double-digit growth was achieved in QHSE (all schemes but ISO 9001, which grew high single-digit), Sustainable development and CSR, Transportation and Customized audits.

During Q1, Bureau Veritas Sustainability & CSR services grew by more than 20%, driven by a strong demand for Greenhouse gas emission verification solutions and Wood Management Systems certification, following the stellar recovery experienced in Q4 2020. Transportation benefited from the restart of the 3-year cycle (implying the delivery of the main audits) following the revision of standards (IATF) which occurred in 2018. Customized audits, which were the most hit by cancellation or postponements in Q1 2020 benefited a strong rebound in the activity.

The Group’s portfolio diversification continued to be a key contributor to the growth, with new products development being up more than 15% during the first quarter, despite tough comparables (it was up by more than 10% in Q1 2020). This pattern of growth was particularly supported by Enterprise Risk, Business Continuity, Cybersecurity and IT management systems solutions.

In the meantime, Food continued to perform strongly with double-digit growth (for the reminder, it benefited from positive growth in Q1 2020), supported notably by Food Management Systems certification.’

Regarding the outlook for the remainder of 2021, Bureau Veritas comments that, ‘Based on the current uncertainties around the Covid-19 pandemic and assuming no severe lockdowns in its main countries of operation, Bureau Veritas expects for the full year 2021 to achieve solid organic revenue growth’.

Full details can be obtained from Bureau Veritas here

• Bureau Veritas