Gooch & Housego Regulatory News (GHH)

Gooch & Housego PLC

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

Trading Update

"Trading in line with expectations"

Gooch & Housego PLC, the specialist manufacturer of optical components & systems, is pleased to provide an update on trading performance since 30 September 2012, which has been in line with management expectations.

Following a strong second half performance in the last financial year, demand during the first quarter of this year was more subdued, although substantially better than the same period last year. Despite uncertainty in world markets causing increased caution and delayed decision making, most notably in the US Aerospace & Defence sector, orders picked up strongly in December and January. This was mostly as a result of solid groundwork done over the preceding months, and in some cases years, in establishing Gooch & Housego as a preferred supplier. An example of this work is the recent accreditation of the Ilminster, UK, site to the demanding BS EN9100 aerospace industry quality standard. Approximately 50% of the orders received during these two months were for Aerospace & Defence applications. Overall, the order book at the end of January stood at £29.8 million, which is 20% higher than at the start of the financial year. The strong balance sheet reported at the end of the last financial year has been maintained.

With modules and sub-systems accounting for a growing proportion of orders, Gooch & Housego is progressively making the transition from components supplier to solutions provider. In the past few weeks a new initiative to accelerate this process organically has been undertaken with the formation of the Systems Technology Group (STG), which will function as a discrete business unit separate from existing manufacturing operations. The STG will provide design and engineering services and will lead Gooch & Housego's participation in a number of funded research programmes. It will focus initially on opportunities to take Gooch & Housego up the value-chain in the fields of space photonics and optical coherence tomography for biomedical imaging applications.

Gareth Jones, Chief Executive of Gooch & Housego commented: -

"While the trading environment continues to be challenging, we are increasingly able to see the benefits of our concerted efforts in recent years to diversify and develop the business. We remain confident that this strategy constitutes a firm foundation for continued growth."