£49.4m French Acquisition & Share Placing

Anite Group PLC
30 May 2000



          ANITE GROUP PLC ('Anite' or the 'Company')
                               
    Acquires French IT services and E-commerce consultancy
                       for £49.4 million
                  Cash placing of £12 million
                 Statement on current trading

Anite announces that it has today entered into an agreement to
acquire  the  entire issued share capital of  Datavance  Group
Sarl  ('Datavance'), an IT consultancy based in Paris,  for  a
maximum  consideration including earnout of Ffr 520.3  million
(£49.4  million  based  on an illustrative  exchange  rate  of
Ffr10.5  to £1 ('Exchange Rate')).  The consideration will  be
split  between  an  initial consideration of Ffr309.2  million
(£29.4  million  based on the Exchange Rate), plus  a  maximum
earnout  of  Ffr211  million (£20.0 million)  payable  on  the
satisfaction  of certain profit targets to 31  December   2000
and 31 December 2001 ('Acquisition').

Datavance   provides  IT  consultancy  services  to   banking,
telecoms,  public sector and other customers  in  France.   It
engages  approximately  270 employees  and  consultants.   The
business  was  formed in 1990 and focuses on   E-commerce  and
internet services.

In  recent  years,  Datavance's operating  margins  have  been
around  15  per  cent. with annual growth of 40-60  per  cent.
Trading  profits for the year to 31 December 1998 were Ffr13.4
million  on sales of Ffr79.9 million. Profits before tax  were
Ffr11.5  million  for the year ended 31  December  1998.   The
value of the net assets being acquired was Ffr11.6 million  as
at  31  December 1998. The management team of  Datavance  will
remain  in place and is incentivised via an earnout to achieve
significant further growth following the Acquisition.

The  Acquisition  provides  Anite with  critical  mass  in  E-
commerce consultancy services in France.  The Acquisition will
also  increase Anite's presence in two of its focused vertical
markets:   Finance  and  Telecoms,  in  addition  to   further
developing Anite's fast growing E-commerce capabilities.

Of the initial consideration, Ffr209.2 million (£19.9 million)
will  be paid in cash with the remaining Ffr100 million  (£9.5
million)  being  satisfied by the issue of 6,425,265  ordinary
shares in the capital of the Company ('Ordinary Shares').  The
earnout will be satisfied by a combination of the issue to the
vendors of Ordinary Shares and cash.

The  Acquisition is conditional upon the successful completion
of  the  placing. In addition, the Company has  undertaken  to
take  certain  other actions prior to the  completion  of  the
Acquisition. Completion of the Acquisition is expected to take
place not later than five weeks from today's date.

Cash  placing  of 8,664,260 New Ordinary Shares (the  'Placing
Shares')

Anite  today announces that it proposes to raise approximately
£12  million, before expenses, by means of a cash  placing  of
8,664,260  Placing  Shares at a price of  138.5p  per  Placing
Share  to  satisfy  in  part  the initial  cash  consideration
payable  under  the  Acquisition.  The issue  has  been  fully
underwritten by UBS AG, acting through its financial  services
group, UBS Warburg.

Applications  will  be  made to the UK Listing  Authority  for
admission  of the Placing Shares to the Official List  of  the
London Stock Exchange and to the London Stock Exchange for the
admission  to  trading on the London Stock Exchange's  markets
for listed securities ('Admission of the Placing Shares').  It
is  expected that Admission of the Placing Shares will  become
effective  in  accordance  with the Admission  and  Disclosure
Standards  of  the  London  Stock  Exchange  ('Admission   and
Disclosure Standards') on or about 6 June 2000.

Applications  will  be  made to the UK Listing  Authority  for
admission  of  the  shares  to be issued  to  the  vendors  of
Datavance ('Consideration Shares') to the Official List of the
London Stock Exchange and to the London Stock Exchange for the
admission  to  trading on the London Stock Exchange's  markets
for   listed   securities  ('Admission  of  the  Consideration
Shares').   It is expected that Admission of the Consideration
Shares  will become effective in accordance with the Admission
and Disclosure Standards within five weeks of today's date.

The Consideration Shares and the Placing Shares will rank pari
passu  in  all  respects  with the  existing  Ordinary  Shares
(including but not limited to, entitlement to dividends).

Current trading and prospects

The  Board  of Directors of Anite (the 'Board') is pleased  to
announce that the results for the year ended 30 April 2000 are
in line with its expectations. Anite's core IT consultancy and
services  business  continues  to  perform  strongly.  Anite's
German  business,  comprising 28 per  cent.  of  group  sales,
provides  what  the  directors consider  to  be  an  excellent
opportunity  to exploit the largest IT market in  Europe.  The
Telecoms  and  Travel solutions businesses  are  trading  very
successfully within these fast growing sectors.  In  both  the
Consultancy  and  Solutions areas Anite is making  significant
progress  in  the  expansion  of the  e-commerce  services  it
provides, both by internal development and by acquisition.

Although  the  Company is only three weeks  into  its  current
financial  year,  trading has been strong  and  management  is
confident of continued strong growth.

For further information please contact:        www.anite.com

Anite Group PLC                                0118 945 0121
John Hawkins, Chief Executive
Simon Hunt, Finance Director

Ludgate Communications                         020 7253 2252
Edward Macquisten