Alumasc Group Regulatory News (ALU)

For release on 21 December 2012

THE ALUMASC GROUP PLC ("Alumasc" or "Group")

TRADING UPDATE

Ahead of its half year end on 31 December 2012, Alumasc (ALU.L), the premium building and engineering products group, provides the following trading update.

Alumasc expects that its interim results, to be announced on 5th February 2013, will reflect a significant improvement over the same period in the prior year.

The Group's Building Products division has had a good first half year overall, buoyed by a combination of strong demand for insulated renders supplied to CESP1 projects, shipments to the previously announced aluminium smelter at Kitimat in Canada, the commencement of work on the large solar shading project at Chiswick Park in London and initial sales of Gatic products to the London Gateway and other projects, announced in November.

The green roof market, however, has continued to be challenging and Blackdown Greenroofs is being restructured accordingly. This should result in a stronger and more competitive business, but is expected to trigger a partial impairment charge against the carrying value of goodwill of approximately £0.5 million to £0.75 million. This will be treated as a non-recurring charge and excluded from underlying profit.

In the Group's Engineering Products division, the business improvement programme at Alumasc Precision Components ("APC") has already delivered break-even results on a run-rate basis, some months ahead of previous expectations. However, in common with many other industrial suppliers, forecasts for customer demand for the remainder of this financial year, particularly to European end user markets, have been reduced by some 20-30 per cent. We believe this reflects a correction to customer over-stocking earlier in the year. APC's cost base is being adjusted accordingly, whilst retaining key skills and flexibility to benefit from an anticipated market recovery later in the 2013 calendar year.

The Group's cash performance has been strong and net debt at 31 December 2012 is expected to be below the £13.2 million reported at 30 June 2012.

The Group's order book remains strong overall at £47 million, with good order intake for building products offsetting the softness at APC.

Despite the short-term fall in customer demand at Alumasc Precision, the Board believes that, in view of the anticipated result for the first half year and strong momentum in the Building Products division, the group remains on track to deliver previous expectations for underlying results for the full financial year.

END

Enquiries:

The Alumasc Group plc:

Paul Hooper (Group Chief Executive) Tel: 01536 383821

Andrew Magson (Group Finance Director) Tel: 01536 383844

Bankside Consultants:

Simon Bloomfield Tel: 0207 367 8861

Note 1: CESP: Community Energy Saving Programme 

This announcement has been drawn up and presented for the purposes of complying with English laws and regulations. Any liability arising out of or in connection with this announcement will also be determined in accordance with English law. This announcement may contain 'forward-looking statements'. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors beyond The Alumasc Group's control or which cannot be estimated precisely, such as future market conditions and the behaviour of the market participants. Actual outcomes and results may therefore differ materially from any outcomes or results expressed or implied by any such forward-looking statements. Nothing in this announcement is intended to be a profit forecast.