AGM Statement

Inchcape PLC
15 May 2003


15 May 2003

                         Inchcape AGM Trading Statement

In his statement to shareholders at today's Annual General Meeting, Sir John
Egan, Chairman of Inchcape plc, will make the following comments about current
trading:

'Trading in the UK this year has started well and, despite increased pension and
national insurance costs, we remain confident that the improvement in UK
profits, seen in 2002, will continue in 2003.

'The revised European Block Exemption legislation has turned out much as we
predicted and we are in discussion with several key partners with a view to
increasing our representation with them.

'In Greece and Belgium trading has been better than expected and the new Toyota
Avensis will be launched this month. Profits are therefore expected to improve
this year in both countries.

'In Hong Kong the car market is suffering from car tax increases and the impact
of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). There are still uncertainties
as to how SARS will affect the economy in the short to medium term. However the
combined effect is that we would expect profits in Hong Kong to be lower than
last year.

'In Singapore trading has been strong and we continue to increase our market
share. In addition the COE (Certificate of Entitlement) quota for the next
twelve months has been issued and the resultant car market for this year is
likely to be higher than previously expected.

'In Australia the market is up on last year and our performance is exceeding
original expectations.

'We expect the positive factors highlighted above to offset the market pressures
in Hong Kong. This again demonstrates the benefits of our broad geographic
spread and we remain confident that 2003 will show further progress for
Inchcape.

'Overall, the excellent strategic progress made in recent years, the strength of
our OEM partnerships and the robust operational base that has been established
demonstrate that this is a high quality cash generative business.'


Notes to editors

Inchcape, as an international automotive services group, provides quality
representation for its manufacturer partners, a choice of channels to market and
products for its retail customers and a range of business services for its
corporate customers. Operations are focused on the UK, Greece, Belgium,
Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Our key manufacturer partners are Toyota/
Lexus, Subaru, Ferrari/Maserati, BMW and the Premier Automotive Group of Ford.
Inchcape's activities include exclusive Import, Distribution and Retail,
Business Services, automotive E-commerce and Financial Services.



For further information, please contact:

Group Communications, Inchcape plc 020 7546 0022
John Olsen/Tom Leatherbarrow, Hogarth Partnership Limited 020 7357 9477
For further information, visit us at www.inchcape.com


                      This information is provided by RNS
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