The origins of Intertek can be traced back to three businesses: a marine surveying business formed by Caleb Brett in the 1890s, a testing laboratory formed by Milton Hersey in
Montreal in 1888, and a lamp testing centre established by the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies in 1896. These businesses were all acquired by the multidisciplinary services firm
Inchcape plc during the 1980s and early 1990s. By this point, the company was heavily involved with numerous governments and other authorities around this world, in America alone, agencies of the US government collectively paid Intertek $35.7 million in exchange for roughly 250,000 tests that were performed between 1994 and 1997. During September 2000, Intertek's American subsidiary was reported to have allegedly been involved in the falsification of test data that had impacted multiple US government agencies;
U.S. Department of Justice brought criminal charges against 13 former employees of the firm for their role in the scandal. Almost two year later, new plans were announced for the company to be floated on the
London Stock Exchange; at the time of the announcement, the company had 10,300 employees and operated in 99 countries through 149. In June 2004, Intertek's ETL SEMKO division acquired the automotive part tester Entela Inc. On 19 September 2007, the firm announced its acquisition of
National Software Testing Laboratories; that same year, it also acquired the analytical R&D lab Quantitative Technologies Inc. In 2010, Intertek acquired Ciba Expert Services’ Environmental, Safety, & Testing and Regulatory businesses, which included Cantox Health Sciences (Cantox) and Ashuren Health Sciences (Ashuren); separately, it also bought Pacifica Marine. One year later, the firm purchased Labs & Testing S.A. (L&T). During April 2011, the company acquired the technical services specialist
Moody International in exchange for £450 million. In the early 2010s, both the energy and agriculture sectors were major sources of growth for the firm; in particular, Intertek benefitted from the enactment of more stringent regulations in the wake of the
2013 horse meat scandal through its involvement in food testing, although this sector only reportedly accounted for 2.5 percent of its total revenue at the time. Accordingly, during early 2013, Intertek recorded record profits accompanied by a 22 per cent dividend hike. During 2015, in the aftermath of the
Volkswagen emissions scandal, the firm experienced an increase in testing work within the automotive sector. Other beneficial trends for Intertek in the mid 2010s included greater public interest in
sustainability, and the weakening value of the
pound sterling. During the late 2010s, the firm focused upon increasing its operating margins and organic growth. In May 2021, Intertek acquired
SAI Global's Assurance and Standards Business units. Two years later, the firm allegedly dismissed a whole team of ex-SAI Global executives over auditing failures. The company rejected a bid worth $11 billion from
EQT AB in April 2026. ==Operations==