Gooch & Housego's trading in line amid strong fibre optics demand

Gooch & Housego on Monday said trading for the year ended 30 September was in line with expectations, as demand for its fibre optic products and fibre couplers reached record levels.

The AIM traded company said it had invested accordingly in its fibre optics business after its strong performance, while its life sciences business has seen ITL perform ahead of expectations since its acquisition in August 2018.

However, the optical components and systems manufacturer said it had seen a downturn in demand for components used in industrial lasers for microelectronic and semiconductor manufacturing, particularly from China.

Even so, G&H said it remained confident that demand will improve due to its market leading position and technological innovation in end market applications, such as 5G and the introduction of new manufacturing techniques.

The company began the new financial year with an order book of £94.4m, down 2% compared to the year before, and attributed the drop to the fact that industrial laser demand has yet to recover to more normalised levels.

Mark Webster, chief executive of G&H, said: "G&H is committed to its twin strategic pillars of further diversification and moving up the value chain. We will continue to invest in R&D, leverage the benefits of ITL's system based capabilities across the group and where appropriate make acquisitions in order to support these strategic objectives."

Gooch & Housego shares were unchanged at 1,175.00p at 1600 BST.