AGM Statement

Power Leisure PLC
26 April 2002


                               POWER LEISURE plc

Annual General Meeting

26 April 2002

Power Leisure plc trading as Paddy Power, the leading bookmaker in Ireland with
on-line interactive betting services in both Ireland and the UK. At this
morning's AGM the Company made the following statement;

This is the first full year of trading as a plc and a year in which significant
progress has been made across your Group.  The main driver of this growth
continues to be our obsession with providing value to customers. This was
illustrated in 2001 by our highly successful money back offers which enhanced
entertainment and gave punters a better run for their money during the year. Our
customer driven ethos will continue to be the focus of our business development.

The year has started very robustly, with good levels of activity in all key
areas.  Trading for the year to date has been very strong with the underlying
growth seen in the second half of 2001 continuing this year. However, direct
comparisons with the same period in 2001 are difficult due to the limited horse
racing in Ireland and the UK from March to May last year due to the Foot and
Mouth outbreak. This included the cancellation of the Cheltenham festival, which
is traditionally a material contributor to the first quarter turnover.



Turnover for the fifteen weeks to 16 April has increased by approximately 68% in
comparison to the same period in 2001. Turnover increased by 42% in the LBO
estate, 288% in the Dial-a-Bet division and 297% in the On-line division.  While
part of this growth reflects the impact of the limited horse racing due to the
Foot and Mouth outbreak in March last year, underlying trading has also started
the year very strongly across all three distribution channels.  The introduction
of the Euro has happened smoothly and average stake size has grown in comparison
to the same period in 2001. Average stake sizes for the LBO's for the period to
16 April have been €13.51 compared to €12.09 for the same period in 2001.



Average gross margin has been strong across all channels.  However, as there has
been no fundamental change in the underlying trading or risk profiles we expect
average gross margins to fall within their normal range for the year as a whole.



We look forward to the World Cup in June 2002, which will offer significant
marketing opportunities in Ireland and the UK thereby providing some additional
top-line growth. However, we remain cautious as to the profitability of the
event as a whole given past experience of similar events.



We continue to watch the development of the UK market and are very encouraged by
the Governments response to the Budd report. We believe that in the medium term
this greatly enhances the overall attraction of the UK betting and gaming market
and will make it easier for Paddy Power to expand in the UK LBO market.



We are pleased to see that an agreement has been reached with the BHB and the UK
bookmakers with regards to the media rights for UK racing. Discussions are
underway between the Irish Bookmakers and BHB to reach an agreement that
reflects the differences between the Irish and UK bookmaking industries.



We look forward to the cut in Irish betting taxes effective from 1 May 2002
which will virtually half the betting tax paid by our customers. This will be
good for both our customers and Paddy Power.


In the past three weeks, we announced that we had placed 6,696,671 existing
ordinary shares in Power Leisure principally with institutional investors in
Ireland and the UK.  The level of demand for these shares gives us continuing
confidence in the market support for the Company.



Looking forward, it is the Board's view that the company's proven strategy of
customer dedication will continue to be the driver of success.



A number of Board appointments were outlined at the 2001 preliminary results.
John Corcoran is scheduled to retire as Chairman of the Board of Directors with
Mr Stewart Kenny taking up this position on his retirement.  We announced at the
time that we are in the process of recruiting a new Chief Executive Officer to
replace Mr Kenny.  The appointment process is progressing well and we are very
pleased with the quality and variety of candidates for the position and expect
to make an announcement shortly.  Mr Corcoran will continue as Chairman and Mr
Kenny will continue as Chief Executive Officer until this appointment is made.



Ends

26 April 2002


Issued on behalf of Power Leisure plc by Drury Communications



For reference :



Ross Ivers                                      MarkCahalane
Finance Director                                Marie-Therese Duffy
Power Leisure plc                               Drury Communications
Tel: [phone]                            Tel: [phone]



Trevor Philips
Holborn
Tel: [phone]


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