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Interim Management Statement

6th May 2009 12:00

RNS Number : 7654R

Cobham PLC

06 May 2009

6 May 2009

Cobham INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

At the Annual General Meeting of Cobham plc ('Cobham' or 'the Group') at 12.00 noon today the following Interim Management Statement will be delivered:

"Cobham has seen good growth in its military and government businesses overall in the first quarter although, as anticipated, the Mission Equipment business (part of Mission Systems) remains subdued. There has been some modest decline in the Group's non-military businesses. The Group has benefited from the acquisitions completed in 2008 and from favourable translation exchange rates. Group trading in the first quarter has been in line with the Board's expectations.

In the year-to-date, the Group has announced a number of important new business developments:

·; Completion of the sale of the non-core M/A-COM Technology Solutions for up to US$90 million in March;

·; Agreement to acquire Argotek, Inc. for US$36.25 million in April, further strengthening the Group's information assurance capabilities in the growing US intelligence market, where cyber security is of critical national importance;

·; Award of a new Research & Development project to develop the National Cyber Range in January. This is part of a major government-wide effort to increase US defences against cyber attack;

·; A Lot 5 production contract worth US$26.5 million was awarded in January to supply a pneumatic multi store carriage system for the The Boeing Company's precision guided Small Diameter Bomb;

·; Award of two mining contract extensions to Aviation Services in Australia worth a total of AUD$90 million in February;

·; An increase in the contract award of US$35 million to produce Low Band Transmitters for the US Navy in April.

Cobham's net debt decreased to £596 million at the end of the first quarter (31 December 2008: £641 million). This was primarily due to cash generation from operations, a benefit from foreign exchange movements as most of Cobham's debt is dollar denominated and a small net inflow from acquisitions and disposals.

The Group's order book, which was £2.6 billion at the end of the first quarter, was broadly maintained at the December 2008 level at constant translation exchange rates.

Cobham's strong order book and the long term nature of many of its programmes offers good visibility of future revenues. This, together with the Group's continuing investment in advanced technologies, focus on high growth markets, broad programme participation and resilient core customer base gives the Board confidence that the Group will achieve further progress in 2009."

Cobham's interim results for the half year ended 30 June 2009 will be announced on 6 August 2009.

- ends -

ENQUIRIES

Cobham plc +44 (0)1202 857738 (on 6 May)

Allan Cook, Chief Executive +44 (0)1202 882020

Warren Tucker, Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)1202 882020

Julian Wais, Director of Investor Relations +44 (0)1202 857998

Susan Ellis, Senior Communications Advisor +44 (0)7836 522722

NOTES

1. Cobham's products and services have been at the heart of sophisticated military and civil systems for more than 70 years, keeping people safe, improving communications and enhancing the capability of land, sea, air and space platforms. The Company has four divisions employing more than 12,000 people on five continents, with customers and partners in over 100 countries and annual revenue of more than £1.4bn.

2. This document contains 'forward-looking statements' with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Cobham and to certain of Cobham's plans and objectives with respect to these items.

Forward-looking statements are sometimes but not always identified by their use of a date in

the future or such words as 'anticipates', 'aims', 'due', 'could', 'may', 'should', 'expects',

'believes', 'intends', 'plans', 'targets', 'goal', or 'estimates'. By their very nature, forward-

looking statements are inherently unpredictable, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty

because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or will occur in the

future.

There are various factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ

materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the economies, political situations and

markets in which the Group operates; changes in government priorities due to programme

reviews or revisions to strategic objectives; changes in the regulatory or competition

frameworks in which the Group operates; the impact of legal or other proceedings against

or which affect the Group; changes to or delays in programmes in which the Group is

involved; the completion of acquisitions and divestitures and changes in exchange rates.

All written or verbal forward-looking statements, made in this document or made

subsequently, which are attributable to Cobham or any other member of the Group or

persons acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referred

to above. Cobham does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

IMSUUUWCAUPBGUQ

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