Pre-Close Trading Update

Wincanton PLC
26 March 2007


For Immediate Release                                            26 March 2007


                                  Wincanton plc

                          ('Wincanton' or 'the Group')

                            Pre-Close Trading Update


Wincanton today issues the following pre-close season trading update for the
twelve months ending 31st March 2007:

'As indicated at the half year, Wincanton will deliver another year of good
progress in the year to 31st March 2007. Results will be in line with
expectations, building further on the Group's track record of consistent
profitable growth.

The strong momentum in our UK & Ireland business has continued into the second
half, with contract wins, renewals and start-ups across all areas of our
activities. Recent contract gains include a new distribution centre for
Asda-WalMart, a significant expansion of our Comet transport activities, a
second automated warehousing facility for Screwfix, a co-packing and
co-manufacturing operation for Nestle Purina, a new composite distribution
centre for J. Sainsbury and a new non-food operation for Dunnes Stores in
Ireland. New customers added in the period include OOCL and Jacuzzi.

Our recent acquisitions in the construction and home delivery sectors are
progressing well with both now substantially integrated into the Group and
performing in line with our projections. A contract gain with Cemex UK confirmed
the potential for further expansion of our customer base in the construction
industry. Good progress in improving the operational efficiency of our home
delivery business will also allow us to expand our customer base in this
fast-growing sector, with a new contract with Woolworths having already been
added. Our growing portfolio of support services activities continues to make
progress, with a new contract win by Wincanton Records Management generating
significant incremental volume for our recently-expanded London site and good
business gains also recorded in Pullman Fleet Services, consulting and waste
recycling.

We will also, going forward, have ground to make up in the UK and Ireland for
contract losses, but our development pipeline remains very encouraging.

In Mainland Europe, we have closed down our loss-making Spanish operations and
the related freehold properties are being sold. Margin pressure as a consequence
of higher sub-contractor prices has been addressed through price increases,
although underlying transport markets remain challenging. Our new management
teams in France and Germany continue to make progress in reinforcing the
operational excellence of our service offering and building momentum in the
development pipeline. We continue to see high levels of new business activity in
Central and Eastern Europe although contract start-up costs have restricted
profit improvement in the region. Recent new wins in Mainland Europe include
contract gains with Johnson-Diversey, Cussons, Rieber Foods and Selena in
Central and Eastern Europe, Velux in France, and a number of leading
manufacturers in Germany.

Exceptional costs in the year will relate principally to the Spanish closure,
the integration of our UK acquisitions and the final phase of the integration of
last year's French acquisition. We expect these exceptional costs to be offset
by the proceeds of our ongoing programme of property disposals.

We are also announcing separately today a new joint venture with Kerry
Logistics, a leading Asian-based provider of supply chain services, to extend
the range of our customer services to cover Asian and inbound supply chain
management.'


Graeme McFaull, Wincanton's Chief Executive commented:

'The UK continues to be the key driver of our profit growth and cash generation.
New business momentum remains very strong. We remain confident that the
significant investment in people, systems and marketing across Mainland Europe
will deliver a strong platform for future growth'.


For further enquiries please contact:

Wincanton plc                            Tel: [phone]
Graeme McFaull, Chief Executive
Gerard Connell, Group Finance Director

Buchanan Communications                  Tel: [phone]
Charles Ryland / Jeremy Garcia




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