Statement re Confused.com

Admiral Group PLC 12 July 2007 Admiral Group Plc today reports that it has ended discussions with potential private equity investors regarding its subsidiary price comparison business, Confused.com. After careful consideration of the offers made, the Board of Admiral Group have decided to terminate this consultation process. In response to interest shown, discussions were held with a number of private equity firms about the sale of a minority interest in the Confused business. Potential minority investors typically expressed an interest with an implied valuation of the entire business in the range of £600m to £650m. However, the corporate structure and governance demanded by minority investors was significantly more onerous than the Board had anticipated. The Board has therefore concluded that this weakening in its flexibility to determine the strategy of Confused would restrict the ability to maximise Confused's potential as part of the Admiral Group in the medium to long term. It is for these reasons that the Board at present believes that it is in our shareholders' best interests for the Group to retain a 100% interest in Confused and to continue to follow our clearly defined growth strategy for the business. That strategy is focused on maintaining Confused's strong market share of car insurance price comparison; on maximising the value created for shareholders from that position; and on exploiting fully the potential for Confused derived from the growth of price comparison in other product areas. The Group's interim results will be announced on Tuesday 4 September 2007. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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