Re Agreement

British Empire Sec & Gen Tst PLC
16 July 2001



British Empire Securities and General Trust p.l.c. - Management Agreement

The Board of British Empire has been informed that agreement has been reached
between Friends Ivory & Sime plc (FIS) and Aberdeen Asset Management PLC
(Aberdeen) for the sale of ISAM (a wholly-owned subsidiary of FIS) to
Aberdeen.  ISAM is the investment manager of British Empire.

The Board, following discussions with Aberdeen, FIS and ISAM, has indicated
that it is supportive of the change and intends to continue the existing
investment management arrangements with ISAM.  The Board has been advised that
Aberdeen intends to provide full marketing support to the Company and to
incorporate ISAM into Aberdeen in such a way as to maintain the distinctive
investment approach of the management team.  Application of this approach has
resulted in an excellent investment performance record.

In the Interim Report published in May 2001, the manager referred to the
following recent awards - Standard & Poors, 1st place out of 30 UK Investment
Trust Global Growth Funds over one year and Money Observer, 1st place as Best
Global Trust.  Over the past 16 years, British Empire's net asset value total
return of £908 on a £100 investment placed it first amongst 16 conventional
Global Growth trusts.

John Walton and his team at ISAM have confirmed their full commitment to the
new arrangements.

Enquiries:

British Empire (Chairman):              William Fossick
                                        Tel:  [phone]


ISAM:                                   John Walton
                                        Tel:  [phone]


Intelli Corporate Finance:              Gordon Neilly
                                        Tel:  [phone]