Trading Statement

Filtrona plc
15 December 2006


                                 FILTRONA PLC
                       TRADING UPDATE ON PROGRESS IN 2006


Filtrona today issues a pre-close trading statement ahead of its results for the
year ending 31 December 2006, which will be announced on 1 March 2007.

Filtrona has continued to develop satisfactorily during 2006, in line with the
Board's expectations, and underlying organic revenue growth in both Plastic and
Fibre Technologies has continued to exceed historical growth rates. As expected,
the first half benefit from foreign currency exchange movements has reversed in
the second half of the year primarily due to the weaker US dollar.


Plastic Technologies

Plastic Technologies has maintained good revenue and profit growth. Protection
and Finishing Products performed particularly well and has now grown to become
Filtrona's largest profit contributing business, benefiting from the impact of
new product ranges, ongoing expansion in continental Europe and Brazil, and the
strength of the oil and gas sector. In Coated and Security Products,
FractureCode is expanding to support both the first customer roll-out and the
development of other licensees, although the tear tape business has experienced
continuing soft demand for printed promotional tapes. The Plastic Profile and
Sheet business has maintained its strong growth with the point of purchase and
aerospace sectors again showing excellent results. In the second half, the
Globalpack consumer packaging business has also performed consistently ahead of
the comparable period last year due both to improved market conditions and a
focused productivity improvement programme.

Plastic Technologies is expected to maintain its strong growth in 2007 as it
enhances its niche market positions through sustained investments in geographic
and supply chain development, range expansion and new marketing programmes.


Fibre Technologies

Fibre Technologies has continued to deliver good revenue growth with improved
profits following productivity gains in the Mexican Cigarette Filters business.
The Fibertec Bonded Fibre Components business has produced good results with an
encouraging performance in both household products and writing instruments.


Looking forward, as highlighted at the half year, the market conditions for the
Cigarette Filters business in 2007 will remain challenging as customers respond
to mature and declining Western markets with significant capacity
reconfiguration. Recent customer discussions indicate that Filtrona will
experience a reduction in volumes of conventional carbon dual filters next year.
The volume reductions will impact the Company's European facilities and its
facilities in North America where, as previously indicated, a capacity review is
already underway. In anticipation of weaker volumes, management has introduced a
major cost reduction programme, which, together with increased volumes in Asia,
will mitigate the impact from the reduction in activity. The cost reduction
programme will require significant plant restructuring to improve productivity
and, as a result, a restructuring charge of circa £5m is expected in 2007.
Filtrona's strategy is to move the focus of the Cigarette Filters business
towards the research and development of innovative and more complex filter
solutions to enhance value to customers. This underpins the Company's confidence
in the future prospects of the Cigarette Filters business to meet the growing
demand for innovative filters for PREPs (potentially reduced exposure products)
and other differentiated tobacco smoking products, and for research and
development services.


The Board remains confident that Filtrona will continue to make satisfactory
underlying progress in 2007.


Enquiries:

Filtrona plc                              Finsbury
Mark Harper, Chief Executive              James Leviton
Steve Dryden, Finance Director            Gordon Simpson
Tel: [phone]                        Tel: [phone]





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