Acquisition of Australian Lift Components

Dewhurst PLC
4 February 2000


                         Dewhurst plc
                               
           Acquisition of Australian Lift Components

Dewhurst  plc  has  reached  agreement  to  the  purchase   of
Australian Lift Components (ALC) for a consideration  of  £1.7
million.  ALC is based in Sydney, Australia.  Its business  is
fundamentally   the   same  as  that  of   existing   Dewhurst
subsidiaries  Dupar Controls (Canada) and The Fixture  Company
(USA).   It  manufactures and sells a range of lift components
for  the  Australian market.  The majority  of  sales  are  of
pushbutton control panels for lifts.  Geographically the major
part  of ALC's sales are in its home state of New South  Wales
and  there are opportunities to expand the company's  customer
base through Australia.  We believe that the management of ALC
will benefit from being part of a larger group and from having
access to Dewhurst products, development and commitment to the
lift industry.

Adding  ALC to the Dewhurst Group will give us the opportunity
to  improve  the  service  we  are  able  to  provide  to  our
Australian customers and expand the range of products  we  are
able to offer.  The purchase satisfies our stated strategy  of
having  a  network  of companies around the world  configuring
products to local customers requirements.

In  the  year ended 30th June 1999 ALC generated profit before
tax  of  £381,000 (1998: £313,000) on turnover of £1.9 million
(1998:  £1.6 million).  At  30th June 1999 ALC had net  assets
of £241,000.

The  consideration is being satisfied in cash, partly from the
Company's  cash reserves and partly through a £1 million  bank
loan, denominated in Australian dollars.

ALC  is  currently run by General Manager, Chris Carroll.   He
will  become Managing Director of the new subsidiary and  will
have a 2 year service contract.



4 February 1999