AGM Statement

Tribal Group PLC 12 September 2002 For release on 12 September 2002 Tribal Group plc 2002 AGM statement At today's Annual General Meeting of Tribal Group plc, a leading UK professional support services company in the education, local authority and health markets, David Telling, Chairman of Tribal, will comment: 'Results The results for the year ended 31 March 2002 showed that the Group enjoyed another excellent year. Excluding the amortisation of goodwill and costs associated with employee benefit trusts, turnover increased by 161% to £45.7m; net profit increased by 326% to £8.1m and fully diluted earnings per share by 106% to 14.2p. Operating margins improved to 18.3% and during the period the Group generated positive operating cashflow of £9.5m; an operating profits to cash conversion rate of 114%. Our markets The level of activity in our market areas remains buoyant. There is increasing need in education, health and local authorities for support from the private sector to help deliver the Government's targets. Also there is a political will to see reform and tangible improvements in public services and a growing willingness to engage constructively with the private sector. We continue to strengthen our management teams to take advantage of these opportunities. Organic growth and contract wins Since the financial year end trading has been very encouraging and the Group has been awarded a number of new contracts. In May 2002 we announced a three year contract to provide strategic management services to Swindon Local Education Authority. We announce today the award of a £2m three year contract with UfI, the organisation implementing the Government's University for Industry initiative, to develop and manage the new corporate e-learning environment for learndirect. Acquisitions We believe that a window of opportunity exists to continue to acquire high quality companies that further strengthen our position, as a leading support services business, in our chosen markets. We aim to become a leading provider in each of our defined areas of expertise. Since the year end we have announced the acquisitions of Nightingale Associates, the largest healthcare architectural practice in the UK; Malcolm Judd, a town planning and property consultancy and Yale Consulting, a supplier of management and IS consultancy services to the public sector. We expect to announce further acquisitions in coming months. Inclusion in the FTSE Indices Following our move onto the Official List in July this year, we are pleased to note the announcement made by FTSE last night of our pending inclusion into the FTSE All Share and FTSE SmallCap indices which will become effective on 23 September 2002. Current trading and prospects Trading for the first five months of the year has been in line with the Board's expectations and, as at the end of August 2002, is significantly ahead of the corresponding period in 2001. We are encouraged by both the excellent performance of our acquisitions and the strong organic growth that we have achieved. We are benefiting from strong demand for our services across all of our markets and are particularly pleased to see an increasing number of contract wins. As at 1 September 2002, 70% of management's budgeted turnover for the year is already secured, a particularly strong performance given that historically the majority of the turnover and profit for the Group has been generated in the second half of the year. We continue to believe that the prospects for the Group remain excellent.' For further information please contact: Tribal Group plc - Henry Pitman, Chief Executive 01285 886020 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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Tribal Group (TRB)
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