Gooch & Housego Regulatory News (GHH)

Gooch & Housego PLC

("G&H" or the "Company")

Half Year Trading Update

"Full year trading remains in line with management's expectations"

Gooch & Housego PLC (AIM: GHH), the specialist manufacturer of photonic components & systems, announces that trading in the six months to 31 March 2018 was in line with management's expectations.

Management expects full year trading to be in line with its expectations, with a typical higher second half weighting.

In our 21 February 2018 AGM trading update we reported that the Company has benefited from positive overall market conditions. This remains the case and there continue to be exceptional levels of demand for critical components used in microelectronic manufacturing. As previously reported, the demand for high reliability fibre couplers has been at a lower level since the start of the year, but we continue to expect demand to come back in the second half of the year.

Our order book is at a record level for the half year. As at 31 March 2018, it stood at £84.7million, an increase of 27.1% compared with the same time last year. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange this represents an increase of 36.4%.

As previously reported, G&H's manufacturing sites have been reorganised into three technical groups, namely Acousto Optic/ Electro Optic, Precision Optic and Fibre Optic. This is part of becoming a more scalable organisation able to accommodate the anticipated growth rates. There have already been benefits, as we upgrade capacity and performance at those sites manufacturing critical parts for the microelectronic sector.

The Company's Interim Results, for the six months ended 31 March 2018, are expected to be announced on Tuesday 5 June 2018.

Mark Webster, Chief Executive Officer of Gooch & Housego, commented:

"Overall market conditions remain good. We have a record half year order book and full year trading is expected to be in line with management's expectations.

"The introduction of a new manufacturing organisation has enabled us to more readily upgrade capacity and performance, in particular at our Ilminster and Fremont, CA sites, in order to meet the unprecedented levels of demand in the microelectronic sector.

"G&H remains committed to our strategy of diversification and moving up the value chain. We have an active policy of building a diverse and balanced business by establishing a 'critical mass' in A&D and life sciences, through investing in a mix of R&D and acquisitions. A&D now represents about a third of our business."

Notes to editors

1. Gooch & Housego is a photonics technology business headquartered in Ilminster, Somerset, UK with operations in the USA and Europe. A world leader in its field, the company researches, designs, engineers and manufactures advanced photonic systems, components and instrumentation for applications in the Aerospace & Defence, Industrial, Life Sciences and Scientific Research sectors. World leading design, development and manufacturing expertise is offered across a broad range of complementary technologies.

2. All financial information included in this announcement is sourced from unaudited management accounts and excludes any specific items. This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on management's current expectations or beliefs as well as assumptions about future events. These are subject to risk factors associated with, amongst other things, the economic and business circumstances occurring from time to time in the countries and sectors in which G&H operates. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables which could cause actual results, and G&H's plans and objectives, to differ materially from those currently anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on any such statements. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast.