AGM Statement

Gleeson(M J)Group PLC
9 January 2002

                                                                9 January 2002


                             MJ GLEESON GROUP plc

                           CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT

At the AGM at 12.00 noon today of M J Gleeson, the construction services,
homes and property group, Dermot Gleeson, Executive Chairman, will say:

2000/01

As a detailed review of the Group's financial performance appears on page 21
of the Annual Report, I shall restrict my comments to the following points.

The year ended 30th June 2001 witnessed a sixth successive increase in each of
turnover, pre-tax profits, earnings per share, dividends per share and net
assets per share.

On turnover up 20.8% at £422.5m, Gleeson achieved a pre-tax profit 17.1%
higher at £18.9 million, with earnings per share increasing 17.2% to 134.4p.

Year end net assets per share totalled £14.20, up 6.8%.  Subject to approval
at this meeting, total dividends per share will be raised by 17.0% to 31.0p.

2001/02

Construction Services

Turning to the current year and beyond, the Group's construction divisions and
subsidiaries are continuing to enjoy a period of remarkably strong and
profitable growth.

I am delighted to be able to announce today three very significant recent
achievements.

First, the Board of the West of Scotland Water Authority has approved our
proposals for the design and construction of the Loch Katrine water treatment
project.  This has the potential to generate £90m of partnering work over the
next three years.

Secondly, the Group has secured a three year partnering agreement with Wessex
Water, which has an anticipated value of £70m.

Finally, the Group has been appointed Preferred Bidder for  a social housing
PFI project at Plymouth Grove in Manchester with a construction value of £86m.
This is the first of the Government's pathfinding PFI schemes in the housing
sector.

The combined Construction Services forward order book as at 31st December 2001
totalled £927m, which compares with £630m a year previously.  Nearly 70% of
this workload relates to relatively low risk partnering agreements extending
over four to seven years.  For the current year, we anticipate that our
Construction Services turnover will rise by over 30% and are hopeful of an
increase over last year's operating margin of 2.65%.

Gleeson Homes

With respect to our housing operations, the situation is, I regret, less
satisfactory.  Following his appointment at the end of October as Managing
Director of Gleeson Homes, Terry Massingham, who was formerly Managing
Director of Alfred MacAlpine Southern Limited and who was yesterday appointed
to the Board, instituted a review of the division's operations. This revealed
that, despite earlier action taken by the Board to strengthen cost control
procedures, further cost overruns have been incurred in the South East of
England and that, in most of the division's regions, the sales forecasts
produced at the beginning of the financial year were, to a greater or lesser
extent, over optimistic.  Against this background, Gleeson Homes is now
expected to achieve a pre-tax profit in the year ending 30th June 2002 which
will be significantly lower than both budget and last year's £10.2m.

Following Terry Massingham's review, the division has introduced additional
financial controls.  It is also refocusing its operations by switching the
emphasis away from refurbishment schemes in favour of new build projects, the
costs of which are much more predictable.  To assist in the implementation of
this new strategy, the division has recruited an Operations Director, Roger
Dunlop, formerly of Countryside Properties and Bryant Homes.

The division's problems relate largely to the recent past and, assuming
housing demand continues to benefit from historically low mortgage rates, a
strong recovery, based on substantially improved operating margins, is
expected in 2002/03.

Gleeson Properties

As I explained in October, at the time of the preliminary announcement,
Gleeson Properties is taking advantage of a weaker commercial property market
to acquire investment properties on favourable terms.  In the current year,
the division has acquired industrial premises in Nuneaton and Romford and an
office in Paris, for a total of £14.3m.

The division also continues to progress its programme of developments for
sale.  63% of the Thame industrial development has been pre-let and a further
floor has been let at the Spectrum Building in Glasgow.

Financial Outcome

As a result of Gleeson Homes' unsatisfactory performance, the Board expects to
announce a pre-tax profit for the half year ended 31st December 2001 lower
than the £5.3m achieved in the first half of last year.

While the setbacks at Gleeson Homes are a disappointment, the Group's other
operations are, as I have indicated, performing well.  As regards the year
ending 30th June 2002, the Board therefore believes that it should be possible
to achieve a pre-tax profit in line with current market expectations.


Enquiries:

M J Gleeson Group plc                                             020 8644 4321
Dermot Gleeson (Executive Chairman)
David Eyre (Group Managing Director)
Colin McLellan (Finance Director)

Bankside Consultants Limited
Charles Ponsonby                                                  020 7444 4166