Avon Protection Regulatory News (AVON)

Strictly embargoed until 07:00 31 March 2010

Avon Rubber p.l.c. ("Avon" or the "Group")

Trading update and AEF disposal

Group trading

Since our Interim Management Statement in January, trading in the first half of FY 2010 has made further improvement in line with our expectations.

The Protection & Defence business has continued to deliver against the US Department of Defence (DoD) and UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) contracts and the level of enquiry from non DoD / MoD sources remains encouraging. Plans for increased filter capacity and new product introductions are on target for launch later in the year.

Demand for our Dairy products has been significantly higher than last year and we will see further benefits in the second half year following the successful completion of the outsourcing of European production.

Avon Engineered Fabrications (AEF)

In the previous financial year, AEF returned to profitability and a divestment process was initiated with the business disclosed as held for sale and its results shown as discontinued operations in the 2009 financial statements. As a result of uncertainty created by a contractual dispute with one of its major customers, we have not been able to conclude a transaction on satisfactory terms.

The Board has therefore withdrawn AEF from the sale process and its results will be shown within continuing operations for the half year to 31 March 2010. The dispute has had no impact on current trading, which shows an improvement over 2009, and we expect a favourable resolution in due course.

Half Year results

Avon will announce its half year results on Tuesday 11 May 2010.

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