Statement re Contract

Spice Holdings PLC 13 October 2004 Spice Holdings Plc Contract Extension for Meter-U The Board of Spice Holding plc ('Spice' or the 'Company'), the provider of outsourced support services primarily to the UK electricity, telecoms and water sectors, is pleased to announce that its meter reading division, Meter-U, has reached agreement with Siemens, its principal customer, to provide meter reading services in the East of England. The extension to the existing meter reading contract with Siemens follows Meter-U's success in the East Midlands area of the country. Meter-U has recruited approximately 120 franchisees to service an area which includes the outskirts of London, and most of East Anglia. The contract extension will initially run to March 2006 and is expected to comprise around 5.5 million meter readings per annum with an annual turnover in the region of £2.5m. The Board of Spice is also pleased to announce that Meter-U has been invited by Siemens to conduct a pilot gas meter reading scheme. This new venture will see 18 franchisees reading gas meters in the Barnet area of London, and if successful could lead to further opportunities in this sector. ...Ends... For further information, please contact: Spice Holdings plc Tel: 0113 384 3838 Simon Rigby, Chief Executive Officer Carl Chambers, Chief Financial Officer Rawlings Financial PR Limited Tel: 01756 770376 Catriona Valentine NOTES TO EDITORS Spice is a support services business operating predominantly in the utilities sector. The Group's operations were founded in 1996 and have their origins in the electricity industry, though the range of activities has since been expanded into the water sector, niche telecommunications services and the public sector. Spice's businesses have a common theme of delivering and coordinating basic infrastructure services to customers (typically in regulated industries), although the technological element within the product mix has been built up significantly over the course of the last three years. Meter U Meter U, a subsidiary company of Spice, provides utility meter reading services for domestic, industrial and commercial properties and is now responsible for collecting approximately 7 million meter readings annually. Meter U offers franchises in meter reading to provide an efficient, low-cost outsourcing service that allows clients to concentrate on the processing and aggregation of the data. The working model aims to deliver 'goal congruence' - if the franchisees are successful so is the client and Meter U. Meter U won its first major contract with East Midlands Electricity in December 2000, and now has close to 200 franchisees performing meter reading visits. Meter U's principal customer is now Siemens Energy Services Limited (part of the Siemens group), which acquired the metering business of East Midlands Electricity in 2001, though other customers include Electricity Supply Board, an electricity supplier based in the Republic of Ireland. According to independent research based on a worldwide sample of other meter reading operations, the Meter U model has been demonstrated to produce meter readings at a cost thirty per cent. below the sample average. A predominantly franchised operation, Meter U is located in Nottingham. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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