LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Photonic components and systems manufacturer Gooch & Housego said in an update on Wednesday that during the first four months of its financial year, it had seen "strong and improving" levels of overall demand.
The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting, said it now had a record order book across its principal areas of business - industrial lasers, telecoms, A&D and life sciences.

It said high demand for industrial lasers had continued, in particular for those used in semiconductor manufacturing, where a combination of high market growth and its new products winning market share had led to "substantial" growth.

High-reliability fibre coupler demand also remained "robust" for undersea cables, the board said, and increasingly for constellation space satellites.

Medical lasers, meanwhile, were benefitting from the return of elective surgery, and demand for the company's medical diagnostics products remained high.

As at 31 January, its order book stood at a record £110.5m, up from £95m a year earlier.

The board said pandemic-related factors had restrained trade during the period, including recruitment, self isolation and supply chain challenges.

It said mitigating actions were in place, and as a result, it expected trading to have a "slightly higher" second-half weighting than expected, but the full-year outcome to remain unchanged.

Gooch & Housego said it had continued to invest in its "increasingly productive" research and development group during the period.

The firm said it remained in a strong financial position, with a "robust" balance sheet and "low levels" of net debt.

"During the first four months of the financial year we have seen strong and improving levels of overall demand and a record order book across all our principal areas of business," said chief executive officer Mark Webster.

"Trading during this period has been constrained by pandemic related factors in some parts of our business, but our outlook for the full year is unchanged.

"Fundamental demand for our photonic technologies and system capabilities is strong and improving and we remain confident in the short and long term growth potential for G&H in our target sectors."

At 1256 GMT, shares in Gooch & Housego were up 2.45% at 1,045p.

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