Hunting Regulatory News (HTG)

Hunting PLC

("Hunting" or "the Company" or "the Group")

Pre-close Trading Statement and Resolution of Tax Dispute

Hunting PLC (LSE: HTG), the international energy services group today provides a pre-close year-end trading statement and news of resolution of a tax dispute, ahead of the announcement of its 2012 Full Year Results on Thursday 7 March 2013.

Dennis Proctor, Hunting's Chief Executive said:

"Hunting continues to trade in line with its expectations for the full year and with its strategy to globalise its broad portfolio of products and investment in the manufacturing and distribution footprint of the Group. Global offshore drilling continues to improve with Hunting supplying products to a number of major exploration and development projects which is offsetting some of the US land-based rig reduction. The positive resolution of a tax dispute in Canada which provides £25m of cash inflow and the release of provisions further strengthens our balance sheet.

"The Board of Hunting is pleased with progress during 2012 however; the short term outlook is increasingly cautious due to the economic climate seen in a number of our operating regions."

Trading Statement

Well Construction

Demand for Premium Connections remains high, as global offshore drilling accelerates, supported by oil focussed shale drilling onshore.

Hunting's Drilling Tools unit continues to see a switch from natural gas to liquids drilling, with operators focusing on the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales in the USA.

Within the Advanced Manufacturing Group, Hunting Innova is ending the year strongly with Hunting Dearborn continuing to perform well with a good order book. The single-source product offering of the Advanced Manufacturing Group is also seeing increasing levels of interest.

Well Completion

Within Hunting Titan, trading has seen some improvement over the past month despite the reduced rig count. Initiatives to address the competitive pressures within the short perforating gun market segment have been implemented including the introduction of production efficiencies at a number of the unit's manufacturing facilities. Manufacturing of Titan products at Wuxi, China remains on schedule to commence in Q1 2013. Titan is also scheduled to open a further four distribution centres in North America over the coming months, with two additional centres planned for the UK and the Asia Pacific region to open during 2013.

The Group's US Manufacturing business remains busy due to additional Gulf of Mexico drilling programmes with the new deepwater facility in Houma, Louisiana now fully operational.

Facilities in Scotland serving the North Sea remain active with improving opportunities driven by the increasing rig count.

Well Intervention

Hunting Stafford has reported an improvement in trading during the final quarter of the year. Demand for its product offering has increased the order book over recent weeks, as new projects in the global subsea arena are planned and sanctioned. Hunting Stafford is also exploring new initiatives to increase its presence in the North Sea, as activity in that region recovers from historic lows.

Resolution of Tax Dispute

The Company is pleased to announce the positive resolution of a tax dispute with the Canadian Tax Authorities.

Following the sale of Gibson Energy in 2008, Hunting established provisions for tax indemnities given in respect of two tax disputes with the Canadian Tax Authorities ("CTA"). The CTA have now ended their enquiry into the larger of the two tax disputes and have dropped their challenge resulting in the release of provisions held in respect of the dispute which at 30 June 2012 amounted to approximately £31m. In addition, Hunting is being refunded approximately £25m in cash, for payments which were made in response to corporation tax reassessments issued by the CTA in respect of this tax dispute.

The total credit of approximately £56m will be recognised as an exceptional item from discontinued operations within the Group Income statement.

The refund of cash involves the Federal and Provincial tax authorities in Canada. The Federal portion, amounting to approximately £17m, has been received and receipt of the Provincial portion, amounting to approximately £8m is expected in the first half of 2013.

Provisions of approximately £7m continue to be retained in respect of the smaller tax dispute.

Financial Position

The Group Balance Sheet remains strong with net debt at the end of November 2012 of approximately £205m - this figure does not take account of the cash inflow from resolution of the aforementioned tax dispute.

For further information please visit www.huntingplc.com or contact:

Notes to Editors:

About Hunting PLC

Hunting PLC is an international energy services provider to the world's leading upstream oil and gas companies. Established in 1874, it is a fully listed public company traded on the London Stock Exchange. The Company maintains a corporate office in Houston and is headquartered in London. As well as the United Kingdom, the Company has principal operations in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.