Carclo Regulatory News (CAR)

4 Feb 2009 07:00



For immediate release:  4 February 2009

Carclo plc

("Carclo" or "The Group")

Interim Management Statement

The Board is pleased to report that the group continues to trade in line with our expectations at the time of our Interim Statement in November 2008. The resilience of our specialist medical and optical businesses, together with strong design and development revenues in our specialist lighting business, have helped to offset the impact of weaker demand in the group's more difficult electronics and automotive markets.

In Technical Plastics, the medical businesses continue to trade well and win new contracts and LED optics volumes are growing. We have seen a reduction in volumes in this division's smaller markets, electronics and automotive components which together account for approximately 20% of group turnover. However, we are continuing to manage costs in order to maintain margins. The board has taken the decision to bring forward the planned closure of the Slough manufacturing facility and reduce future costs by redeploying the remaining production capacity to lower cost facilities within the UK. The division will retain a small technical support facility in the Slough area.

The Precision Products division delivered an excellent performance in the first half of the financial year. Our specialist lighting programmes for the supercar market have so far been largely unaffected by the turbulence in the automotive industry and design and development revenues from recent contract wins should help to underpin a very satisfactory performance for the full year. Whilst demand for antennas and cables has decreased, this has been mitigated by a good performance from our aerospace business which benefited from the acquisition of Jacottet Industrie in July 2008.

The group continues to invest in new technologies. Conductive Inkjet Technology ("CIT") is now producing volume samples of Radio-frequency identification ("RFID") components for a number of major companies in the industry and the feedback on both technical performance and achievement of cost targets is excellent. CIT's technology, which enables the design of innovative devices using printed electronics, is now being validated with customers across a range of applications in addition to RFID. These developments are very encouraging and we look forward to a significant step up in the pace of commercialisation at CIT.

Progress has also been good at Platform Diagnostics ("Platform"). This business has developed an innovative blood testing device using its patented Capillary Agglutination Technology alongside unique display and sensor systems developed by CIT. Since the half year, Carclo has increased its investment in Platform from 17.5% to 27.1% alongside our investment partner, BBI Holdings.

Since the interim results were announced, sterling has weakened against all major currencies. As the group generates a significant proportion of its profits in US dollars and Euros this has enhanced earnings. Net debt at the half year was £15.9 million. Translated at today's exchange rates this debt would be £19.5 million. To mitigate against further weakening of sterling we also converted approximately half of our US dollar debt to sterling at the end of November. We are generating cash from operations and debt remains controlled well within our total facilities of £31.9 million.

Overall, the group continues to show resilience in a challenging and volatile environment and remains well positioned in some exciting growth areas such as medical diagnostics and devices, LED optics and lighting, and printed electronics.

- ENDS -

Notes to editors

Carclo plc is a global supplier of technical plastic components. It is a public company whose shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

70% of sales are derived from the supply of fine tolerance, injection moulded plastic components, which are used in medical, optical and electronics products. This business, Carclo Technical Plastics, operates internationally in a fast growing and dynamic market underpinned by rapid technological development.

30% of sales are derived from the supply of specialised precision products to the premium automotive and aerospace industries.

Carclo's strategy is to develop new technologies and products to drive future growth.