Final Results

Volex Group PLC
06 June 2005


Embargoed until 07.00, 6 June 2005



                                VOLEX GROUP plc

            Preliminary Announcement of the Unaudited Group Results
                   for the Financial Year Ended 3 April 2005

Volex Group plc, the international electrical and electronic cable assemblies
group, today announces its preliminary results for the financial year ended 3
April 2005.

Financial Highlights:

    •    Sales increased by 2.6% (8% excluding foreign currency impact) to 
         £244.6m
    •    Operating profit of £1.5m (before goodwill amortisation and exceptional
         operating items) (1)
    •    Cash generation from operating activities:
            -    Pre exceptional cashflows £2.0m
            -    Post exceptional cashflows £1.6m
    •    Basic loss per ordinary share (47.2)p (2004 - (39.1)p)

    (1) The operating loss after charging goodwill amortisation (£0.3m) and
        exceptional operating items (£8.5m) was £7.3m (2004 - loss of £4.5m).

The Chairman of Volex, Dom Molloy, commented:

'The Group has benefited from the general improvement in the demand across most
of the markets that we service but has also made significant strides in
developing new business opportunities in targeted markets such as the medical
sector. However, while the market demand profile supported the revenue ambitions
of the Group the translation of those revenues to operating profit was
disappointing and was impacted by unanticipated events, some of which were
one-off in nature.

The Group is well positioned in the marketplace to continue to drive for
improvements in market share and revenues above market growth but it is clear
that further equity investment is required to accelerate the cost reduction
activity, to invest for growth, to re-structure the finances of the Group and to
normalise the servicing of the debt.'

Ends

Volex will host an analysts meeting today at 12 noon at the offices of: Allen &
Overy, One New Change, London, EC4M 9QQ

For further information, please contact:

Volex Group plc                    Today: 020 7067 0700 Thereafter: 01925 830101
Dom Molloy, Chairman
John Corcoran, Group Chief Executive
Derek Walter, Group Finance Director

Weber Shandwick Square Mile                                        020 7067 0700
Chris Lynch / Nick Dibden

VOLEX GROUP plc

Preliminary Announcement of the Unaudited Group Results for the Financial Year
Ended 3 April 2005

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

After the downturn experienced through late 2001, Volex Group has taken
significant actions to reduce debt and return to profitability. Having achieved
a revenue peak of £418m in FY2001, the Group experienced a dramatic decline to
£230m in FY2003 and has improved from that low point to close the last financial
year (FY2005) at a revenue level of £245m. Despite the limited access to funds,
a number of key actions have been undertaken over this period:

•    Gross borrowings have been reduced from £72m to £45m;
•    Gross margins have recovered from a low of 11.6% to FY'05 levels of 14.5% 
     through reductions in material costs and labour cost reductions by moving 
     to lower cost areas;
•    Facilities have been closed and manufacturing transferred to low cost 
     locations and under-utilised assets have been disposed of;
•    A strong global purchasing function has been established;
•    The global account team was enhanced and has delivered momentum to the 
     emerging medical and industrial business which has grown to 10% of Group 
     revenue; and
•    New management and systems have been introduced to the harness businesses 
     (Wiring Systems and Ionix).

The financial year 2005 had been expected to improve further on these
achievements and the Group delivered revenues in 2005 at a level of £245m which,
when the effects of currency translation are removed was a growth year on year
of 8%. The Group has benefited from the general improvement in the demand across
most of the markets that we service but has also made significant strides in
developing new business opportunities in targeted markets. The broadening of the
customer base in existing and new markets remains a key focus for the Group and
reduces the impact of cyclical demand patterns in any one sector.

However, while the market demand profile supported the revenue ambitions of the
Group the translation of those revenues to operating profit was disappointing
and was impacted by unanticipated events, some of which were one-off in nature.

  • The escalation of commodity prices, particularly copper and petroleum,
    impacted the Group by circa £6m in profit. While the sales teams have been
    successful in passing some of these effects through to the customer base,
    there was a lag between the supply base increases and the successful
    conclusion of negotiations with those same customers.


  • The turnaround of North America division was adversely impacted by an
    unsuccessful change in management, resulting in a failure to achieve the
    product transfer and margin improvement targets for the business, and by a
    fire in one of two buildings in Tijuana, Mexico that created loss of sales
    in the period.

On a positive note the Group has already addressed many of these areas and the
better performing divisions achieved operating margins of 6%+ in the year.
Operationally, we recovered the Tijuana fire impact successfully and the speed
and effectiveness of that recovery bears testament to the ability of the Group
to manage significant events without impacting the supply line to the customer
base. We have changed the leadership of North America (October 2004) and
positioned one of the non-executive directors back into the regional leadership
position. We have built a new team and strengthened sales, engineering and
operations. We have developed a strong global purchasing function that has
mitigated the full effect of rising commodity prices by materials savings
secured elsewhere in the supply chain.

Despite the limited access to funds the Group continued to focus on cost
reduction, re-profiling the manufacturing footprint and the level of debt within
which the Company had to operate. In the year three further facilities were
announced for closure: Conover (US), Malaysia and Philippines. The Group
strengthened its focus and resource allocation in global account management to
penetrate new markets, new accounts and the existing accounts for incremental
revenues, some of which were already realised in the reported year.

Global markets

The dynamics of the cable assembly market continue to be challenging. However,
it is increasingly providing opportunity for the Group as global customers
continue to consolidate their supply base in favour of global suppliers such as
Volex. The Group continues to use its global presence and the breadth of its
product portfolio in combination with strong account management to secure a
strong position in this consolidation process.

The demand environment across all our sectors remains relatively stable.
However, there are some indications of weakness in some sectors through the
second half of this calendar year 2005. Energy prices continue to weigh heavily
on most sectors; however, the Group has assumed some level of caution in the
forward forecasts of revenue that is anticipated for the full financial year.
The organisation is firmly committed to achieving growth, which is anticipated
to come largely from increased market share driven by the consolidation of the
supply base and also from our ability to further penetrate existing or emerging
markets. In addition the Group was very focused in the second half of the
financial year 2005 on improving the quality of revenue and eliminating
non-profitable or low margin business from its revenue stream. This is expected
to continue and while it may depress revenues in some areas it will remove the
dilutive effect of this low margin business from the performance of the Group
overall.

Regional operations

As outlined sales improved over the prior year by 3%, however, the currency
effect of £13m masks the growth achieved in specific areas of our global
operation. In the Americas the revenue by destination increased by 3.5% but were
somewhat impacted by the fire in the Tijuana facility. This event had a more
pronounced effect on the cost base reduction programme which when combined with
the change of leadership in the region, caused a significant under-performance
to budget expectations. The Board now believe that the progress made in the last
number of months has brought this programme back on track albeit 6 months behind
schedule. The market environment in North America continues to be relatively
stable with some suggestion of weakness in the computer electronics sector for
the forthcoming calendar year.

Sales in and into Asia improved by approximately 5.5% over the previous year in
local currency terms. As in prior years, the strong drive for the performance
was attributable to the powercord element of our business; however, the dynamic
of copper price increases at the commodity level impacted the translation of
this performance into growth in operating profits. At the end of the financial
year the Group announced two site closures in Asia as we continue to strive for
reduction in our global footprint and a rationalisation of our facilities into
larger manufacturing centres, particularly in China and India.

Sales in Volex Europe (Data/telco) increased by 12% over the prior year helped
by an improved telecommunications market in the region and also the assembly of
OEM systems for deployment in Asia meant that the sub-assembly portfolio was
supported out of Europe. Additionally the team in Europe secured improved
revenue streams into the medical sector. In the UK the demand environment for
our specialist harness businesses remained relatively stable year on year. A
recovering environment for the aerospace and defence harness industry
compensated somewhat for some weakness at the customer level in the automotive
harness area. The smaller units experienced operational and execution issues
that adversely affected the operating profit level. These have been largely
corrected with the deployment of new management and existing Group resources
diverted to securing sustainable process improvement there.

Dividends

The directors are not proposing to declare a dividend in respect of the reported
financial year.

Future

The Group strategy continues to be focused on exploiting its key differentiators
to position the Group as the leading global provider of cable assembly solutions
in the global market. We offer breadth of the product portfolio across the
entire range of power and signal products. Our independence of specific
technology allows the Group to leverage the most cost effective yet technically
competent solution available in the marketplace to meet our customers'
requirements. Increasingly, the capabilities of the Group at the supply chain
level and product development level enable us to provide a range of services
around and beyond the cable assembly from design to distribution. The Group is
well positioned in the marketplace to continue to drive for improvements in
market share and revenues above market growth.

Despite the constraints on cash much has been achieved but a lot has still to be
achieved. As the funding required to correct the residual issues within the
business cannot be supported by the existing lending profile, it is clear that
further equity investment is required to accelerate the cost reduction activity,
to invest for growth, to re-structure the finances of the Group and to normalise
the servicing of the debt. Specifically, the Group needs to:

•    continue to reduce the manufacturing footprint and move to lower cost 
     locations;
•    develop markets and products that enrich the margin potential for the 
     Group;
•    strengthen the competencies in the Group by enhancing key skills (e.g. 
     development and sourcing) and re-aligning management structure and
     reporting in selected areas; and
•    build alliances to expand the product set and technology offering.

All of the above, when delivered, should return this Group back towards
historically achieved levels of profitability and provide a platform for margin
enhancement.

To that end the Group is seeking to raise £15.8m (net of costs) and listing
particulars together with a related announcement will be issued immediately
following this preliminary results' announcement.


D.J. Molloy
Chairman

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Turnover for the 52 weeks ended 3 April 2005 at £244.6m was 2.6% up over the
2004 financial year, (which included an extra week), despite a £13m negative
currency effect. Year on year the average exchange rate for the US dollar fell
9% against the £, the Singapore dollar and the Brazilian real both weakened by
6% and the Euro by 2%.

A geographical review of sales by destination showed sales in Europe (excluding
UK) in sterling terms increase by 11.7% to £63.1m and in the Americas increase
by 3.5% to £77.3m. Sales in Asia were very slightly lower by £0.3m at £65.6m and
sales in the UK were down by 7% to £38.5m.

A comparison of Group sales by source or manufacturing location, based on gross
sales including intra-group trading showed a year on year improvement in Asia of
£6.7m, 7%, to £99.6m gross sales accounting for 39% of the Group's output (2004
- 37%). America's gross output declined by £1.3m, 2%, in sterling terms to
£77.2m over the previous year and represented 30% of Group's total gross output
(2004 - 31%). Sales sourced from Europe (excluding UK) improved by £3.1m, 6%, to
£51.5m and accounted for 20% of the Group's gross output (2004 - 19%). UK sales
decreased by £1.8m, 6%, to £29.8m, 11% of the Group's gross output (2004 - 13%).
Intra group sales remained relatively unchanged at £13.6m. Additional analyses
of sales by product category and market sector are given in note 1 to the
results.

Gross profit was 14.5% compared with 14.4% in the previous year. The impact of
raw material prices affected the Group considerably with copper costs alone
estimated to have increased by some £6m year on year but ongoing cost reduction
programmes including procurement and value added engineering programmes helped
mitigate those cost increases and the effect of the fire at Tijuana in September
2004.

The Group recorded an operating profit (pre goodwill amortisation and
exceptional operating items) for the year of £1.5m (2004 - £2.5m). The
translation of foreign currency operating profits into Sterling had an adverse
impact of £0.2m. The fire at Tijuana Mexico in September also impacted
production and excluding the under-recovery on the insurance claim is estimated
to have cost the Group in total at the operating profit line at least an
additional £0.6m of costs.

Profits in Asia were lower in 2005 compared with 2004, as Asia experienced a
lower second half in 2005 than the first half. Losses in North America in 2005
were reduced as the second half showed improvement but the fire at Tijuana held
back its recovery. Europe (excluding the UK) continued its profitable recovery
from the restructuring in 2004 and reported a better second half than the first
half in 2005. UK harness operations as a whole had a disappointing year in 2005
with increased losses in the second half.

Exceptional costs for FY05 of £8.5m relate to the provisions for three property
leases of £3.3m, a write off of an automated manufacturing line and costs of
closure relating to one site in Poland, the factories in Malaysia and the
Philippines and the Conover North America site. The exceptional costs also
include £0.9m under-recovery of the insurance claim relating to the Tijuana fire
in September 2004 pending negotiations. The goodwill remaining on the investment
in Brazil of £1.7m has been written off following the initial write off in 2002.

The operating loss after charging goodwill amortisation and exceptional
operating items was a loss of £7.3m (2004 - loss of £4.5m). During 2005 five
properties were sold and realised a profit of £1.9m. These sales included the
sales of the head offices of the Volex Europe and the Volex Asia divisions with
the latter head office being leased back. In the case of the Volex Europe head
office this was the culmination of the programme begun in the 2002 financial
year to move production from Ireland to lower cost European sites in Poland and
Croatia.

Finance charges (net) included interest costs of £3.2m similar to last year plus
amortisation costs of £0.2m (2004 - £0.7m) relating to the bank facilities
obtained through to June 2004 and a further £0.7m relating to the one year
facilities' extension negotiated at the end of the 2004 financial year.

Taxation
Despite an overall group loss before tax, there was a tax charge of £4.4m (2004
- £2.9m). This charge related to taxes paid in countries where taxable profits
were made and also included a provision of £1.1m in respect of tax relating to
an overseas subsidiary in respect of prior periods. Deferred tax assets
totalling £0.8m have been written off.

The result for the financial year after tax was a loss of £13.9m (2004 - loss of
£11.2m).

Earnings Per Share
Basic loss per share this year of (47.2)p compares with (39.1)p in the prior
year. The adjusted loss per share (arrived at after adding back exceptional
operating items, profit on sale of fixed assets and goodwill amortisation) shows
a deterioration from (14.7)p in 2004 to (23.8)p per share. The earnings per
share figures are distorted by the higher than normal tax charge as referred to
above and adding back £1.1m in respect of the overseas prior years' tax charge
and the deferred tax assets written off of £0.8m in total, the adjusted loss
would have been reduced to (17.2)p per share.

Funds Flow
During the year there was a net inflow of funds before financing of £0.6m,
comprising inflows of £1.6m from operations, £7.8m from the disposal of fixed
assets, in part offset by outgoings of £2.1m on capital expenditure (excluding
new finance leases), £4.5m on interest/financing costs and £2.2m of taxation
payments. Currency translation of £0.7m impacted favourably on the debt position
during the year. Fixed asset additions in the Group totalled £2.2m (2004 -
£2.5m) including new finance leases during the year, less than half the
depreciation charge.

Borrowings
The Group's net borrowings at the end of the year were £30.5m (2004 - £31.6m).
These borrowings resulted in a year-end gearing ratio of net borrowings to
shareholders' funds of 162% (2004 - 97%).

The Company's present bank facilities remain available until 30 June 2005 and
are currently the subject of negotiation. Conditional upon new equity being
raised, the Group will enter into new banking facilities for 3 years. The total
costs incurred in the renegotiation of the Group's facilities for future years
will have amounted to approximately £1.5m and will be amortised over the life of
the facilities as a charge.

Going concern
As stated in the Company's trading update in February 2005, the Company has been
in discussions with the Banks to replace the Company's Existing Bank Facilities
with a new facility or facilities. The Company today announces that it has today
entered into new longer term bank facilities on more favourable terms to the
Company (the 'New Bank Facilities'), conditional on completion of the issue of
new shares to the market (the 'Issue').

Shareholders should be aware that if the Resolutions relating to the Issue are
not approved at the EGM and Admission to the London Stock Exchange does not take
place on 30 June 2005, the net proceeds of the Issue will not be received by the
Company and the Company will not be able to draw on the New Bank Facilities. The
Existing Bank Facilities expire on 30 June 2005 and the Company would no longer
have banking facilities and would not have adequate working capital to continue
trading from that date.

The directors consider that in the scenario outlined above, the withdrawal of
the Existing Bank Facilities would not be in the best interests of either the
Banks or the Company and believe that the Existing Banking Facilities would be
extended for a short period beyond 30 June 2005 whilst they were renegotiated
for a longer period to enable the Company to continue trading. The directors
believe, however, that such renegotiated facilities would be on substantially
worse terms than both the Existing Bank Facilities and the New Bank Facilities,
in particular in regard to interest rate, use of free cash and repayment
scheduling.

Having considered the above, the directors consider that it is appropriate to
adopt the going concern basis for the preparation of the preliminary financial
information. As a result, the preliminary financial information does not contain
any adjustments that would arise if the preliminary financial statements were
not drawn up on a going concern basis.

International Financial Reporting Standards
In 2006 Volex Group plc will be required to produce its financial statements in
accordance with IFRS. The process regarding the endorsement of IFRS by the EU
commission is ongoing and there may therefore be changes prior to IFRS being
adopted by the Company. The first numbers to be reported in this format will be
in respect of the six month period ending 2 October 2005. This will include
appropriate comparatives for FY 2005. The areas considered to have the most
significant impact for Volex Group plc are in respect of defined benefit pension
schemes and hedge accounting.

The Group will be required to reflect the deficit of £4.1m, on its two closed UK
defined benefit pension schemes in the Group's balance sheet. The impact of the
new foreign exchange hedging rules is not clear.

The directors believe that these are the major adjustments to the Group's
financial statements which will arise on transition to IFRS. As there is still
work to do to finalise a range of minor adjustments and to review the
completeness of the adjustments it is therefore possible that other adjustments
may come to light which will impact the Group in the preparation of the first
full set of IFRS financial statements for the year ending 2 April 2006.

Consolidated Profit and Loss Account
For the financial year ended 3 April 2005 (4 April 2004)

                                                       Unaudited         Audited
                                                        52 weeks        53 weeks
                                                            2005            2004
                                              Notes        £'000           £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Turnover

Continuing operations                             1      244,551         238,353

Cost of sales                                           (209,062)       (204,108) 
                                                      ------------    -----------
Gross profit                                              35,489          34,245

Other operating expenses (net)                           (42,795)        (38,767)
                                                      ___________________________
Operating profit before goodwill amortisation
 and exceptional operating items                           1,528           2,486

Exceptional operating items                       2       (8,532)         (6,680)

Amortisation of goodwill                                    (302)           (328)
                                                      ___________________________
                                                      ------------    -----------
Operating loss - continuing operations                    (7,306)         (4,522)

Profit on sale of properties                               1,918               -
                                                      ------------    -----------
Loss on ordinary activities before finance charges        (5,388)         (4,522)
                                                      ___________________________
Finance charges - interest (net)                          (3,184)         (3,140)
                - refinancing costs and 
                  amortisation of debt issue 
                  costs                           4         (932)           (683)
                                                      ___________________________
                                                          (4,116)         (3,823)
                                                      ------------    -----------
Loss on ordinary activities before tax                    (9,504)         (8,345)

Tax on loss on ordinary activities                5       (4,424)         (2,861)
                                                      ------------    -----------
Loss for the financial year                              (13,928)        (11,206)

Other finance costs of non-equity shares                      (6)             (6)
                                                      ------------    -----------
Loss for the financial year transferred from 
 reserves                                                (13,934)        (11,212)
                                                      ------------    -----------
Adjusted loss per ordinary share                  6        (23.8)p         (14.7)p

Basic and diluted loss per ordinary share         6        (47.2)p        (39.1)p

Consolidated Statement of Total Recognised 
Gains and Losses
For the financial year ended 3 April 2005 
(4 April 2004)
_________________________________________________________________________________

Loss for the financial year                              (13,928)        (11,206)

Currency variations                                          266          (2,335)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Total recognised losses relating to the financial year   (13,662)        (13,541)

Group Balance Sheet
At 3 April 2005 (4 April 2004)
                                                       Unaudited         Audited
                                                            2005            2004
                                                           £'000           £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Fixed assets

Goodwill                                                   1,760           3,798
Tangible assets                                           13,568          23,872
                                                      ------------    -----------
                                                          15,328          27,670
                                                      ------------    -----------

Current assets
Stocks                                                    28,030          29,345
Debtors                                                   50,381          50,358
Cash at bank and in hand                                  14,962          11,919
                                                      ------------    -----------
                                                          93,373          91,622
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year:
Borrowings and finance liabilities                       (45,453)         (3,883)
Other                                                    (40,180)        (43,292)
                                                      ------------    -----------
                                                         (85,633)        (47,175)
                                                      ------------    -----------
Net current assets                                         7,740          44,447
                                                      ------------    -----------
Total assets less current liabilities                     23,068          72,117

Creditors:
Amounts falling due after more than one year:
Borrowings and finance liabilities                           (43)        (39,586)
Other                                                         (8)              -
                                                      ------------    -----------
                                                             (51)        (39,586)

Provisions for liabilities and charges                    (4,148)              -
_________________________________________________________________________________

Net assets                                                18,869          32,531
_________________________________________________________________________________

Capital and reserves
Called-up share capital                                    7,465           7,465
Share premium account                                     20,986          20,986
Other reserves                                            (3,766)         (4,032)
Profit and loss account                                   (5,816)          8,112
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                                          18,869          32,531
_________________________________________________________________________________

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
For the financial year ended 3 April 2005 (4 April 2004)
                                                  Unaudited              Audited
                                                       2005                 2004
                                Note       £'000      £'000     £'000      £'000

Net cash inflow from operating 
 activities                       8a                  1,583                5,614

Return on investments and 
 servicing of finance
                                          _______              _______
Interest received                             59                  218
Interest paid                             (3,859)              (3,348)
Refinancing costs                           (743)              (1,000)
                                          _______              _______

Net cash outflow from returns 
 on investments and servicing 
 of finance                                          (4,543)              (4,130)

Taxation
                                          _______              _______
UK corporation tax received                    -                  240
Overseas tax paid                         (2,159)                 (36)
                                          _______              _______
Tax (paid)/recovered                                 (2,159)                 204

Capital expenditure
                                          _______              _______
Purchase of tangible fixed assets         (2,061)              (2,243)
Sale of tangible fixed assets              7,826                  470
Disposal of assets held for resale             -                1,189
                                          _______              _______
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from
 capital expenditure                                  5,765                 (584)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Cash inflow before financing                            646                1,104


Financing
                                          _______              _______
Issue of ordinary share capital                -                  939
Net increase in borrowings                 1,536                    -
Net repayment of loans                         -               (3,136)
Capital element of finance lease 
 rentals                                    (136)                 (25)
                                          _______              _______
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from 
 financing                                            1,400               (2,222)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Increase/(decrease) in cash in the 
 financial year                   8c                  2,046               (1,118)
_________________________________________________________________________________

Movement in Shareholders' Funds

                                                                 2005       2004
                                                                £'000      £'000

Loss for financial year                                       (13,928)   (11,206)
Dividends paid                                                      -          -
Other finance costs of non-equity shares                           (6)        (6)
                                                            ----------  ---------
                                                              (13,934)   (11,212)
Currency variations                                               266     (2,335)
New share capital subscribed                                        -        939
Other finance costs of non-equity shares                            6          6
                                                            ----------  ---------
Net decrease in shareholders' funds                           (13,662)   (12,602)
Opening shareholders' funds                                    32,531     45,133
                                                            ----------  ---------
Closing shareholders' funds                                    18,869     32,531
                                                            ----------  ---------

1  Segment information

                                         External sales           Total sales
Turnover by geographical area            by destination            by source
                                                                        restated
                                        2005         2004        2005       2004
                                       £'000        £'000       £'000      £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
United Kingdom                        38,542       41,343      29,810     31,590
Other Europe                          63,075       56,457      51,500     48,414
                                     --------     --------    --------   --------
Total Europe                         101,617       97,800      81,310     80,004
The Americas                          77,325       74,695      77,165     78,456
Asia                                  65,609       65,858      99,648     92,917
                                                              --------   --------
                                                              258,123    251,377
Less: Intra-group                                             (13,572)   (13,024)
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                     244,551      238,353     244,551    238,353
_________________________________________________________________________________
Turnover by product category
                                                                 2005       2004
                                                                £'000      £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Data/telecommunications                                       104,409    109,503
Powercords                                                    110,882     98,056
Harnesses                                                      29,260     30,794
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                                              244,551    238,353
_________________________________________________________________________________
Turnover by market sector
                                                                 2005       2004
                                                                £'000      £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Data/telecommunications                                        94,296    101,715
Consumer appliances                                            47,836     44,413
Consumer electronics                                           47,821     40,392
Industrial and medical                                         25,588     21,354
Vehicle and aerospace                                          29,010     30,479
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                                              244,551    238,353
_________________________________________________________________________________

Sales by source have been restated in 2004 to take account of the transfer of
the business of Volex Powercords Europe to the Group's Asian operations.

Operating profit, profit before tax and net assets by geographical area and by
class of business are not given as such disclosure is considered by the
Directors to be seriously prejudicial to the interests of the Group. All
activity has arisen from continuing operations.

2  Exceptional operating items 
                                                                 2005       2004
                                                                £'000      £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Closure of manufacturing facilities                             1,399      2,991
Impairment of goodwill                                          1,736          -
Impairment of tangible fixed assets                             1,223      3,396
Lease provisions                                                3,298          -
Under-recovery of insurance claim                                 876          -
Loss on disposal of current asset investment                        -        293
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                8,532      6,680
_________________________________________________________________________________

In 2005, costs of closure relate to one site in Poland and facilities in
Malaysia, Philippines and Conover, North America and include £0.3 million of
fixed asset write-offs. The remaining goodwill relating to the Brazilian
operations has been written off as have tangible fixed assets relating to an
automated manufacturing line. Provisions have been recorded with respect to
three property leases. The expected under-recovery of the insurance claim
relating to the Tijuana fire has also been recorded.

The taxation effect of these exceptional items was £nil.

3  Exchange rates

The principal exchange rates used in the preparation of the accounts are:

                               Average            %          Year End          %
                           2005     2004     Change     2005     2004     Change
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                               vs £                         vs £
United States dollar       1.84     1.68       (8.7)    1.89     1.83       (3.2)
Singapore dollar           3.09     2.91       (5.8)    3.12     3.07       (1.6)
Euro                       1.47     1.44       (2.0)    1.45     1.51        4.1
Canadian dollar            2.36     2.29       (3.0)    2.29     2.41        5.2
Brazilian real             5.28     4.99       (5.5)    5.02     5.29        5.4
Swedish krona             13.35    13.17       (1.3)   13.31    13.92        4.6
_________________________________________________________________________________
4  Finance charges

Finance charges include £743,000 incurred during the year on the negotiation of
the extension of the Group's bank facilities through to June 2005 and
amortisation costs of £189,000 (2004 - £683,000) representing the amortisation
of the debt issue costs capitalised in 2003 on renegotiating the Group's bank
facilities for the period through to June 2004.

5  Tax on loss on ordinary activities                            2005       2004

The tax charge is based on the loss for the financial 
 year and comprises:                                            £'000      £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Current Tax
UK corporation tax                                                  -          -

Foreign tax                                                     2,629      1,840

Adjustments in respect of previous years
UK corporation tax                                                  -        735
Foreign tax                                                       930       (134)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Total current tax                                               3,559      2,441

Deferred taxation
Origination and reversal of timing differences                     52       (208)
Decrease in estimate of recoverable deferred tax assets           813        628
_________________________________________________________________________________
Total deferred tax                                                865        420
_________________________________________________________________________________
Total tax on loss on ordinary activities                        4,424      2,861
_________________________________________________________________________________


6  Loss per ordinary share

The calculations of loss per share are based on the following losses and numbers
 of shares:

                                        2005     Per Share    2004     Per Share
                                       £'000         p       £'000         p
_________________________________________________________________________________
Loss for the financial year          (13,928)     (47.1)   (11,206)     (39.1)
Other finance costs of non-equity 
 shares                                   (6)      (0.1)        (6)         -
_________________________________________________________________________________
Basic loss                           (13,934)     (47.2)   (11,212)     (39.1)
Goodwill amortisation                    302        1.0        328        1.1
Exceptional operating items (note 2)   8,532       28.9      6,680       23.3
Exceptional item - profit on 
 disposal of properties               (1,918)      (6.5)         -          -
_________________________________________________________________________________
Adjusted loss                         (7,018)     (23.8)    (4,204)     (14.7)
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                             No. of Shares         No. of Shares
_________________________________________________________________________________
Weighted average number of shares:           29,540,692            28,650,462
_________________________________________________________________________________
Adjusted loss per share                           (23.8)p               (14.7)p
Basic loss per share                              (47.2)p               (39.1)p

Adjusted loss per share has been calculated on the basis of continuing
activities before goodwill amortisation, operating exceptional items and profit
on disposal of properties, in each case net of tax. The directors consider that
this loss per share calculation gives a better understanding of the Group's loss
per share in the year and the prior year. As the Group recorded a loss per
share, the share options are anti dilutive and therefore there is no difference
between the basic and dilutive loss per share.
_________________________________________________________________________________
7  Dividend on equity shares

The directors do not recommend a dividend for the year ended 3 April 2005 (2004
- £nil).

8  Consolidated cash flow statement

a. Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash inflow             2005     2004
   from operating activities                                      £'000    £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Operating loss                                                   (7,306)  (4,522)
Depreciation charges and impairment                               5,943    9,766
Goodwill amortised and impaired                                   2,038      328
Government grants                                                   (19)    (150)
Loss on sale of tangible fixed assets and asset held for resale       -      293
Decrease/(increase) in stocks                                     1,264   (1,376)
Increase in debtors                                                (297)  (2,788)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors                                 (3,800)   4,063
Increase in provisions                                            3,760        -
_________________________________________________________________________________
Net cash inflow from operating activities                         1,583    5,614
_________________________________________________________________________________
Net cash inflow from operating activities pre cash 
 outflows from exceptional operating items                        1,975    8,067

Cash outflows from exceptional operating items                     (392)  (2,453)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Net cash inflow from operating activities                         1,583    5,614
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Analysis of net debt:

                                 4 April           Other Non-cash  Exchange   3 April
                                    2004  Cash Flow       Changes  Movement      2005
                                   £'000      £'000         £'000     £'000     £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
                                           ________
Cash at bank and in hand          11,919      3,096             -       (53)   14,962
Overdraft                         (2,971)    (1,050)            -        (5)   (4,026)
                                           ________
                                              2,046
                                           ________
Debt due after one year          (39,652)       619        39,689      (656)        -
Debt due within one year            (819)    (2,155)      (39,689)    1,374   (41,289)
Finance leases                      (216)       136          (101)        -      (181)
                                           ________
                                             (1,400)
Issue costs                          189                     (189)        -         -
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Net debt                         (31,550)       646          (290)      660   (30,534)
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Non-cash changes relate to new finance leases entered into during the year,
 amortisation of issue costs and reclassifications of banking facilities to be
 due within one year.
                                                                 2005       2004
c. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt:     £'000      £'000
_________________________________________________________________________________
Increase/(decrease) in cash in the financial year               2,046     (1,118)
Cash (inflow)/outflow from (increase)/decrease in debt & 
 lease financing                                               (1,400)     3,161
_________________________________________________________________________________
Change in net debt resulting from cash flows                      646      2,043

New finance leases                                               (101)      (216)
Amortisation of debt issue costs                                 (189)      (683)
Translation difference                                            660      5,238
_________________________________________________________________________________
Movement in net debt in the financial year                      1,016      6,382

Net debt - beginning of financial year                        (31,550)   (37,932)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Net debt - end of financial year                              (30,534)   (31,550)
_________________________________________________________________________________

9  Miscellaneous
    (i)     The current and prior year results set out in this announcement are
            non-statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 240 of the 
            Companies Act 1985.

    (ii)    The results for the financial year ended 3 April 2005 are unaudited.
            The accounts for this financial year will be filed in due course 
            once they have been completed and audited. The auditors have not 
            made a statement under Section 235 of the Companies Act 1985 in 
            respect of these accounts.

    (iii)   The results for the financial year ended 4 April 2004 are extracts 
            from the 2004 Group statutory accounts, which have been reported 
            upon without qualification by the auditors and did not contain a 
            statement under Section 237 (2) and (3) of the Companies Act 1985. 
            The accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies for 
            England and Wales.

    (iv)    The preliminary announcement has been prepared using the accounting 
            policies stated in the Annual Report and Accounts for the financial
            year ended 4 April 2004. There have been no changes to the 
            accounting policies in the financial year ended 3 April 2005.

    (v)     The preliminary announcement was approved by the Board of Directors 
            on 3 June 2005.





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