Trading Statement

Cookson Group PLC
5 July 2002


                                                                     5 July 2002

TRADING UPDATE

Cookson Group plc, the international materials technology company, today issued
the following trading update ahead of the announcement of its interim results
for the first half ended 30 June 2002.

As anticipated in the trading update given on 25 April, market conditions and
Group sales for the second quarter ended 30 June 2002 were in line with those of
the latter part of the first quarter. The benefits of the extensive cost cutting
programmes initiated last year continued to accrue, resulting in an improvement
in the Group's profitability in the second quarter.


Based on preliminary information, Group sales for the second quarter were some
7% higher than the first quarter of 2002: sales in the Electronics division were
up approximately 7% as the severe global downturn which has affected the
electronics industry since the beginning of 2001 continued to abate; the
Ceramics division's sales were 9% higher in line with stronger US and European
steel production volumes; and improving trading conditions in the Precious
Metals division resulted in a 4% increase in sales. As a consequence, Group
sales for the first half of 2002 were approximately £900 million.


The higher sales in the second quarter are expected to result in an improvement
in operating profits compared with the first quarter of 2002. In addition,
operating profits in the first half of 2002 are expected to be higher than in
the second half of 2001 primarily due to the incremental benefits of the cost
cutting programmes.


The Group-wide focus on generating cash from operations continued during the
second quarter. Net debt at the end of June 2002 is expected to be broadly in
line with the £750 million at the end of 2001 and as such would be considerably
lower than originally budgeted at the time the Group's medium term bank
facilities were refinanced in December 2001.


The Group has £450 million of long dated loan notes and convertible bonds with
maturities ranging from 2004 to 2012. It also has committed medium term bank
facilities of £450 million which have a final maturity date of September 2004
with staged reductions during 2003. At the end of June 2002 over £150 million of
the medium term bank facilities available to the Group were undrawn.


The Group's interim results are expected to be released during the week
commencing 29 July 2002.




Note: All financial information is preliminary and unaudited. This announcement
contains forward-looking statements about Cookson. Although Cookson believes its
expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any such statements may be
influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to be
materially different from those predicted. These forward-looking statements are
subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in such statements, certain of which are beyond the
control of Cookson.



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