NOTES

1. Segmental analysis

Underlying operating profit in the segmental analysis excludes the amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items.

	Turnover			Profit/(loss) before interest
	2000	1999	1999	2000	1999	1999
	Half Year	Half Year		Half Year	Half Year
	unaudited	unaudited	audited	unaudited	unaudited	audited
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Analysis by Market Sector
Telecoms and Media	42,380	28,151	47,464	9,900	3,731	6,724
Maritime, Trade and	24,860	19,232	42,578	2,602	2,700	6,909
Transport
Finance and Insurance	24,556	21,907	44,044	3,036	2,157	5,130
Law and Tax	30,117	25,977	51,573	3,388	1,454	4,023
Commodities and Energy	15,851	11,723	26,502	1,389	306	1,185
Biomedical and Pharmaceutical	7,940	7,606	14,753	563	3	412
Other	1,825	1,481	859	(81)	(111)	(119)
	147,529	116,077	227,773	20,797	10,240	24,264

	Underlying profit/(loss)
	2000	1999	1999
	Half Year	Half Year
	unaudited	unaudited	audited
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Analysis by Market Sector
Telecoms and Media	10,218	6,003	9,633
Maritime, Trade and	3,283	3,799	8,967
Transport
Finance and Insurance	3,838	3,514	7,044
Law and Tax	3,616	2,987	6,132
Commodities and Energy	1,922	845	2,920
Biomedical and Pharmaceutical	624	153	1,103
Other	(82)	(111)	(119)
	23,419	17,190	35,680

2. Earnings and adjusted earnings per share

In order to show results from operating activities on a comparable basis, an adjusted average earnings per share has been calculated which excludes amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items.

		2000	1999	1999
		Half year unaudited	Half year unaudited	audited
		£'000	£'000	£'000
Profit for the financial period		11,158	4,392	11,366
Adjustments:
Amortisation of goodwill		2,622	1,056	2,313
Net effect of exceptional items		-	5,166	8,150
Adjusted earnings		13,780	10,614	21,829
Weighted average number of equity shares
- for earnings and adjusted earnings		116,773,064	115,802,648	116,167,982
Effect of dilutive share options		1,662,864	2,057,543	1,728,586
Weighted average number of equity shares
- for diluted earnings		118,435,928	117,860,191	117,896,568
Earnings per equity share		9.56p	3.79p	9.78p
Diluted earnings per equity share		9.42p	3.73p	9.64p
Adjusted earnings per equity share		11.80p	9.17p	18.79p

3. Reconciliation of operating profit to net cash inflow from operating activities

		2000	1999	1999
		Half year	Half year
		unaudited	unaudited	audited
		£'000	£'000	£'000
Operating profit before exceptional items		20,797	16,134	33,367
Exceptional operating costs		-	(4,003)	(5,687)
Depreciation charge		1,715	1,600	3,197
Amortisation of goodwill		2,622	1,056	2,313
Loss on sale of tangible fixed assets		10	333	28
Decrease in stocks		1,017	1,811	89
(Increase)/decrease in debtors		(2,526)	4,019	(6,860)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors		744	(6,568)	5,137
Other operating items		(213)	870	185
Net cash inflow from operating activities		24,166	15,252	31,769

4. Analysis of net debt

For the period ended 30 June 2000

	At 1 January	Cash flow	Exchange movement	At 30 June
	audited	unaudited	unaudited	unaudited
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cash at bank and in hand	5,096	(446)	80	4,730
Overdrafts	(801)	(1,117)	-	(1,918)
	4,295	(1,563)	80	2,812
Debt due in less than one year	(6,505)	5,183	-	(1,322)
Debt due after one year	(89,130)	(6,569)	646	(95,053)
Total	(91,340)	(2,949)	726	(93,563)

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