Gooch & Housego PLC AGM Trading Update (4001D)
February 19 2020 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMGHH
RNS Number : 4001D
Gooch & Housego PLC
19 February 2020
For immediate release 19 February 2020
Gooch & Housego PLC
("G&H" or the "Company")
AGM Trading Update
"Continued progress despite challenging industrial sector
environment"
Gooch & Housego PLC (AIM: GHH), the specialist manufacturer
of photonic components & systems, will hold its Annual General
Meeting at 11.00am today at the Company's headquarters in
Ilminster, Somerset.
Current trading and outlook
During the first four months of the financial year trading
reflected previously reported trends. A challenging macro-economic
environment for our industrial laser sector contrasts with high
levels of demand for fibre optics, hi-reliability fibre couplers
used in undersea cables and our A&D and life science
capabilities.
Technical innovation in industrial laser end markets and new
laser-based manufacturing techniques are expected to ultimately
drive improved demand. Some industrial laser sub-sectors, such as
semiconductors have started to show signs of improvement. The
impact of the coronavirus is difficult to quantify at this stage,
given factories in China are only just reopening after an extended
New Year holiday, but it may act as a 'drag' on this sector's short
term performance.
The Company's hi-reliability fibre coupler business has a full
order book for the current financial year and we are looking at
ways of increasing capacity still further for FY 2021. Our A&D
business is reaping the benefits of the investment made last year
to accommodate new US A&D contracts. Life sciences continues to
perform strongly, in particular our ITL business, acquired in
August 2018.
Overall we expect to show progress on last year's result and we
will continue to monitor the potential impact of the coronavirus on
our industrial laser products. We will provide further updates
throughout the year.
As at 31 January 2020 our order book was at GBP94.1 million (31
January 2019: GBP91.4 million), an increase of 3.0% over the same
period last year.
Continued execution of our strategy
Our longstanding strategy is to diversify our business and move
up the value chain. We continue to make considerable progress on
both these counts. A&D represents around a third of our revenue
and life sciences continues to grow strongly, now representing over
20%. Systems or sub system products now represent over a third of
our revenue, boosted by the systems engineering capability acquired
with ITL.
G&H remains committed to investing in manufacturing cost
reduction programmes, increasing hi-reliability fibre coupler
capacity, A&D, life science and systems capability and high
return R&D projects.
Financial strength
The Company remains in a strong financial position, which will
allow us to continue to make further organic and acquisitive
investment in line with our strategic objectives.
Mark Webster, Chief Executive Officer of Gooch & Housego,
commented:
"Trading in the first four months reflects a challenging
macro-economic environment for industrial lasers, contrasting with
high levels of demand for fibre optics, hi-reliability fibre
couplers for undersea cables and our A&D and life science
capabilities.
"Technical innovation, such as 5G and new laser-based industrial
manufacturing techniques will ultimately drive improved demand in
the industrial laser sector. We remain confident in the long term
growth potential for our chosen photonic technologies in all of our
target sectors.
"G&H will continue to pursue further progress on our long
term goals of greater diversification and moving up the value
chain".
For further information
contact: -
Gooch & Housego
Mark Webster/Chris Jewell PLC 01460 256440
Mark Court /Charlotte Slater Buchanan 020 7466 5000
Chris Baird/ Patrick Robb/
David Anderson Investec Bank plc 020 7597 5970
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.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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