Trading Statement

GUS PLC
12 April 2006

12 April 2006

                                    GUS plc
                           Second Half Trading Update

GUS plc, the retail and business services group, today issues its regular update
on trading.

John Peace, Group Chief Executive of GUS, said:

'Experian has delivered record sales growth in the year just ended, with a good
balance between organic and acquired growth. It continues to benefit from its
investment in new products, markets and regions.

We continue to remain cautious on the outlook for UK retailing, especially in
DIY. However, in the difficult environment during the second half, sales at both
Argos and Homebase again outperformed their markets.'


Argos Retail Group (ARG)

% change in sales year-on-year
Six months to 31 March 2006                                   %
                                                              
Argos     - total                                             9
          - like-for-like                                     0

Five months to 28 February 20061                                           
Homebase  - total                                            (1)
          - like-for-like                                    (5)
-------------------------                                ----------------------
1 Homebase's year-end is the end of February to avoid distortions relating to
the timing of Easter.

Argos
Argos again outperformed its market, with total sales up 9% in the second half
of the year. All of this came from new stores, including the 33 sites acquired
from Index. At 31 March 2006, Argos had 657 stores, having opened 65 during the
year.

Like-for-like sales in the second half were in line with last year. Consumer
electronics continued to perform strongly, as did bedroom furniture, textiles
and white goods. Jewellery remained a difficult market. Argos now offers
customers a wider choice than ever with the national roll-out of Argos Extra.
The current catalogue is the first Spring/Summer edition to offer the expanded 
range of 17,200 lines (up from 13,300 in the main catalogue a year ago).

Gross margin was in line with last year, with supply chain gains funding lower
prices for consumers.
Customers again increased their use of Argos' multi-channel capabilities. Argos
Direct, the delivery to home operation, grew sales by 13% in the second half,
representing 21% of revenue. Within this, sales ordered over the Internet rose
by 39%, contributing 7% of revenue. A further 12% of sales were reserved by
phone or Internet for later collection in store (known as Check and Reserve).
The latter was also 39% ahead of the same period last year.

Homebase
The DIY market weakened further in the second half of the financial year.
Against this background, sales at Homebase in the five months to 28 February
2006 fell by 1% in total.

New stores contributed 4% to sales. At 28 February 2006, Homebase had 297
stores, an increase of 10 during the year. Of these, 144 had a mezzanine floor,
compared to 111 a year ago.

Despite increased promotional activity, like-for-like sales deteriorated during
the period, leading to a 5% decline in the half. Although kitchens and furniture
showed continued strong growth (helped by the roll-out of Furniture Extra and
additional mezzanines), core DIY and decorating ranges showed significant
like-for-like sales declines in the period.

Gross margin was down year-on-year, reflecting an adverse mix and more price
reductions, especially in the latter part of the period. The impact of these
reductions, which did not generate the required volume uplifts, coupled with
higher costs, will result in EBIT at Homebase for the year just ended of around
£50m. Looking forward, Homebase expects the DIY market to remain weak for much
of 2006, but also expects to continue to take share driven by its initiatives in
customer service, new space and leveraging the ARG infrastructure.


Experian

% change in sales year-on-year for the six months to 31 March 2006
Continuing activities only               At actual exchange        At constant 
                                             rates %            exchange rates %
Experian North America                         45                     35
Experian International                         13                     13
Global Experian                                30                     25

Experian has completed another successful year, delivering double digit sales
growth for the fourth consecutive 12 month period. In the second half of this
financial year, sales increased by 25% reflecting the strength of Experian's
organic growth (9%), as well as its ability to acquire and integrate related
businesses. Experian continues to invest in new products, markets and
infrastructure.


Experian North America
In dollars, sales at Experian North America grew by 35%. Of this, 9% was organic
growth and 26% was from corporate acquisitions, including LowerMyBills which was
acquired in May 2005. In the next financial year, acquisitions made to date are
expected to increase percentage sales growth by mid single digits.


Credit Information and Solutions together increased sales by 10% excluding
acquisitions. This was driven by good market demand for consumer credit
profiles, prescreen services and business credit reports, as well as increased
sales penetration in value-added solutions such as account management, triggers
and authentication services. The FACT Act cost recovery charge fully annualised
on 1 January 2006, contributing only 1% to Credit sales in the second half as a
whole.


Marketing Information and Solutions together showed solid organic growth in the
second half, with a continued strong performance in email marketing and
syndicated market research partially offset by weakness in data sales.


Sales at Experian Interactive more than doubled in the second half of the year,
largely reflecting first time contributions from acquired businesses, including
LowerMyBills and PriceGrabber, both of which are trading well. Consumer Direct
grew by about 30% year-on-year, driven by more new members and increased revenue
per member.


As expected, sales at MetaReward were significantly down year-on-year.
MetaReward has now decided to close its incentive marketing websites, which
operate in an increasingly unattractive market for both consumers and thus
clients. Sales here in the year to 31 March 2006 were about $75m (equivalent to
about 4% of Experian North America's total revenue), with an EBIT margin well
below 10%.

Experian International
Sales at Experian International increased by 13% at constant exchange rates in
the second half. Acquisitions contributed 4% of this, aided by the purchase of
ClarityBlue in late January 2006. ClarityBlue is trading well and has recently
won a significant contract extension to support BSkyB's subscriber growth
targets.


Organic sales growth in the second half was 9%. Sales of Credit Information and
Solutions accelerated, reflecting strong growth in decision analytics,
especially in Europe and Asia Pacific and a robust performance from the UK,
especially outside financial services. Marketing showed good growth in the half,
helped by strong performances from email marketing, Business Strategies and from
QAS in the public sector. Outsourcing continued with its steady rate of growth.
Experian recently won a multi-million euro contract with the French government
to run the workers' electoral roll (Prud'homales) for the third consecutive
time.


Further on the demerger of ARG and Experian
Following discussions with the FTSE, it is expected that ARG will be classified
in the General Retailing sector and Experian in the Support Services sector.

Future announcements
GUS will announce its Preliminary Results for the 12 months to 31 March 2006 on
24 May 2006.

Enquiries

GUS
David Tyler                 Group Finance Director                020 7495 0070
Fay Dodds                   Director of Investor Relations

Finsbury
Rupert Younger                                                    020 7251 3801
Rollo Head

GUS announcements are available on its website, www.gusplc.com. There will be a
conference call to discuss this update at 3pm today, with a recording available
later on the GUS website.

Certain statements made in this Trading Update are forward-looking statements.
Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ
materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these
forward-looking statements.





                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange