Rule 8 - Coats PLC

Guinness Peat Group PLC
1 April 2003



Letter to RNS

Coats plc 


The following is the text of a Disclosure sent by Avenue Acquisition plc
today to the Company Secretary of Coats plc. 


"Disclosure of Interest in Shares Pursuant to Rules 8.1 of the City Code on
Takeovers and Mergers. 


Avenue Acquisition plc ("the Company") hereby notifies Coats plc ("Coats")
that following market purchases on 31 March 2003 of 3,139,121 Ordinary 20
pence shares of Coats ("Shares") at a price of 58.25p and 57,860,879 Shares
at 58.50p the Company's interest in the Shares (and any person acting in
concert with it holding Shares) now amounts to 354,280,632 representing
50.04% of the issued share capital. 


As stated in the RNS announcement of 6 March 2003, each of GPG (UK) Holdings
plc, a subsidiary of Guinness Peat Group plc, RIT Capital Partners (and
certain parties connected to it) and Chapman International Investments
Limited are shareholders in Avenue Holdings Group Limited which is Avenue
Acquisition plc's parent company and have entered into a shareholders'
agreement, certain terms of which are described in that announcement.
Accordingly, all of them should be regarded as being interested in the Shares
in which Avenue Acquisition plc is itself interested, as referred to above. 


Please also accept this notification as a notification of the relevant
interests of the parties referred to above pursuant to sections 198 to 202 of
the Companies Act 1985. " 
 

From  Richard Russell 
Company Secretary 
Guinness Peat Group plc



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