3rd Quarter Trading Update

Quarto Group Inc
12 October 2001

                                                               12 October 2001


                              THE QUARTO GROUP, INC
                              
                          THIRD QUARTER TRADING UPDATE

                      'very much in line with expectations'


Quarto, the fully listed international book publisher, announces that trading
in the quarter ended September 30th, 2001 was very much in line with
expectations.  In the USA, in particular, August and September were strong
months for book sales, despite a significant but short hiatus after the tragic
events of September 11th.

For the quarter, unaudited sales were £19.8m (2000: £21.0m) and operating
profits were £924,000 (2000: £878,000), bringing the 9 month totals to £50.0m
(2000: £51.0m) and £2.85m (2000: £2.70m) respectively. Traditionally, the
fourth quarter of the year is the most important for sales, much of them based
on orders in hand at September 30th.

For management purposes, and so as to better judge performance, Quarto also
prepares 12 months' trailing results, as these eliminate seasonal distortion.
For the 12 months ended September 30th, 2001, unaudited sales were £72.6m
(2000: £74.5m) with operating profits of £6.24m (2000: £5.73m).  Pre-tax
profit, before amortisation of goodwill, rose by 13.6% to £4.35 million (2000:
£3.83 million).  Gross margins increased by one percentage point, in spite of
continuing pressure on the currency front.  'We are managing this well,' said
Laurence Orbach, Chairman & Chief Executive, 'and are continuing to hold the
line on costs. Our decision to eliminate some marginal sales has helped the
focus of our operations.'
                      
'Book publishing has tended, historically, to withstand recession better than
most other consumer goods industries,' continued Mr Orbach.  'We have already
seen evidence of that in this cycle, and we expect that our substantial
backlist of how-to books will continue to sell well. Sales of new titles
continue to be good, whilst reprint orders received since September 11th are
running ahead of the comparable period a year ago. We do, however, expect a
small negative impact from economic uncertainty on our art publishing
business.'

Quarto's preliminary results for the year ending December 31st, 2001 are
expected to be released in February 2002.


Notes for Editors:


Quarto's International Co-edition Publishing Division primarily creates
content for publication internationally by other publishers.  It also includes
Regent and Pro Vision, which are Far East-based print broking and production
supervision services businesses, serving both third parties and the Group.


Quarto's Publishing Division primarily publishes books, under imprints owned
by the Group, and art images, mainly for their domestic markets and from US
locations.  In addition, it includes two UK-based screen printers primarily
serving the point of sale display market, Western and AP Screen.


Although a Delaware registered corporation, Quarto's Head Office is situated
in Islington, London N7 and its shares are fully listed on the London Stock
Exchange.



Enquiries:

The Quarto Group, Inc                            020-77 00 90 00
Laurence Orbach (Chairman & Chief Executive)
Mick Mousley (Finance Director)

Bankside Consultants Limited
Charles Ponsonby                                 020-74 44 41 66