Ricardo plc, the engineering technology provider, has signed a contract with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), to provide a number of engineering development programmes.

The UK-based company states: “It is expected that the contract will have little impact in this financial year which ends on June 30, but does give the board increased confidence regarding the outturn for the full year. It is too early to predict the anticipated contribution to the new financial year 2005/6.”

Ricardo will provide a financial update in mid July at the time of its pre close statement.

Rodney Westhead, chief executive of Ricardo, says: "We have been exploring opportunities to develop our business in China for a number of years and I am very pleased that as part of this process we have been able to win important engineering development work back home in the UK.”