ZTX Zetex

RNS Number:3812J
Zetex Plc
07 December 2007

                                   Zetex plc

                                 Trading Update

Liz Airey, Chairman of Zetex plc, issues the following update on trading:

Pre-Close Update

"I am pleased to announce that second half revenues are expected to be similar
to those delivered in the first half and also similar to the second half of
2006. Further, fourth quarter revenues are expected to be around 10% higher
sequentially, outperforming the market, which is expected to be flat for the
quarter.

The ongoing weakness of the US dollar adversely affects the sterling value of
the Group's unhedged cash flows. However, our effective hedging policy has
limited the impact on the 2007 Operating Profit to less than #0.5 million over
and above our assessment of approximately #1.0 million at the time of the
announcement of Interim Results on 1 August 2007. Subject to this currency
factor and any Income Statement impacts derived from the recent volatility of
equities on the value of pension fund assets, we expect the Group's Adjusted
Operating Profit for the year to remain broadly in line with current market
expectations.

The Group's strategy remains focused on growth in the Asia Pacific region,
further strengthening of distribution channels and development of our higher
margin, differentiated Smart Application Specific Products (SASP).

In Asia Pacific, we opened this year a new sales office in Taipei and added a
significant number of additional people in sales, marketing and application
engineering.  This additional resource is expected to contribute to revenue
generation early in 2008.

The Group has added net five new distributors in the year and, again these are
expected to generate revenue next year.

We remain focused on the development of our SASP product ranges, in particular
in the High Brightness LED and digital Audio (DDFA) application areas.  We
continue to gain traction and have a number of design wins with high volume
potential that should yield strong growth towards the end of 2008 and into 2009.

The Group made a special cash contribution of #1 million to the Zetex defined
benefit Pension Scheme in September but we still anticipate that closing cash at
the year end will be similar to the balance at 30 June 2007.

Looking forward to 2008, the continuing weakness of the US dollar will affect
our gross profit, although over 50% hedging will mitigate the impact. We
anticipate overall that revenue growth will continue at above market levels and
that this will offset the adverse impact on operating profit of currency
influences and the effect of investment into growth.

The revenue growth in 2008 is anticipated to be weighted to the second half, in
line with overall market projections, and as SASP revenues start to ramp.

Board Change

Zetex is commencing the search for a new CFO as the current CFO, Nick Hawkins,
has stated his intention to resign in order to take up an opportunity to become
CFO of a larger company on a pre-IPO basis. Zetex intends to appoint a successor
as soon as possible, but in the event that this cannot be achieved prior to its
year end results in February, Nick Hawkins will continue through to the
completion of the 2007 accounts.

Nick has been with Zetex since April 2006 and has made a significant
contribution to the furthering of Zetex's strategy in this period. The Board is
appreciative of his contribution and wishes him well in his new role.

Zetex expects to announce its results for the year ended 31 December 2007 on
Thursday 21 February 2008."

Enquiries:

Zetex plc - Tel: 0161 622 4700
Hans Rohrer, Chief Executive Officer
Nick Hawkins, Chief Financial Officer

Citigate Dewe Rogerson - Tel: 020 7638 9571
Toby Mountford, Justin Griffiths




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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