Result of EGM

Berry Birch & Noble PLC
4 January 2002

                               4 December 2002

                       Berry Birch & Noble plc ('BBN')

                                Results of EGM

      Share Offer for Berkeley Financial Services Group plc ('Berkeley')

                        Declared Wholly Unconditional

BBN announces that all of the resolutions proposed at the Extraordinary
General Meeting of BBN held earlier today were duly passed. This included,
inter alia, the resolutions to approve the acquisition of Berkeley and
changing the name of BBN to Berkeley Berry Birch plc with immediate effect.

The Berkeley Fundraising has now completed. As at 11.00am on 4 January 2002,
BBN had received valid acceptances in respect of 180,009,483 Berkeley Shares
representing approximately 94.24% of its existing issued ordinary share
capital, following the Berkeley Fundraising. Accordingly, the Offer is
declared wholly unconditional and will close at 3.00pm on 18 January 2002.

BBN has today allotted 50,002,562 ordinary shares in BBN to shareholders in
Berkeley who had accepted the Offer by 11.00am on 4 January 2002. Application
has been made for these new ordinary shares to be admitted to the Official
List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on main market of the London
Stock Exchange and it is expected that such admission will become effective
and that dealings will commence on Monday 7 January 2002 under BBN's new name
of Berkeley Berry Birch plc (new RIC code: BBB).

BBN now intends to apply the provisions of Article 38 of the Articles of
Association of Berkeley to acquire compulsorily any outstanding Berkeley
Shares to which the Offer relates (as defined in the acceptance condition).
Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions contained in the Offer
Document dated 7 December 2001 apply in this announcement.

The BBN Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in this
announcement other than the information relating solely to the Berkeley Group,
the Berkeley Directors, their immediate families and persons connected with
the Berkeley Directors. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the BBN
Directors (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the
case), the information contained in this announcement for which they accept
responsibility is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything
likely to affect the import of such information.

The Berkeley Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in
this announcement relating solely to the Berkeley Group, the Berkeley
Directors, their immediate families and persons connected with the Berkeley
Directors. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Berkeley Directors
(who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case), the
information contained in this announcement for which they accept
responsibility, is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything
likely to affect the import of such information.

Brewin Dolphin Securities Limited, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by
the Financial Securities Authority, has approved the content of this
announcement for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2000. Brewin Dolphin Securities Limited is acting exclusively for
Berry Birch and Noble plc and no-one else in connection with the Offer and
will not be responsible to anyone other than Berry Birch and Noble plc for
providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in
relation to the Offer or the contents of this announcement.

Enquiries

For further information contact:

Berkeley & Berry Birch & Noble                         07774 185 779
                                                       020 7563 6130
Stephen Ingledew

Brewin Dolphin Securities                              0141 221 7733
Jamie Cumming

Citigate Dewe Rogerson                                 020 7638 9571
Patrick Toyne Sewell

Fiona Bradshaw

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Canada, Australia or Japan.