Premier Farnell plc: Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting

Premier Farnell plc: Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting



LEEDS, England, January 10  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Company announces
that it is today posting to shareholders a circular containing notice of an
Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company to be held on 9 February 2005.

The circular proposes amendments to Premier Farnell plc's (NYSE:PFP) articles
of association to enable the Company to terminate its reporting obligations
under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Premier Farnell will only be able to file for de-registration from the SEC once
the number of US Shareholders, whether holding directly or through nominees,
falls below 300 with respect to each of the Ordinary Shares and the Preference
Shares as separate classes. Consequently the circular seeks shareholder
approval for a new provision enabling the Board to require Ordinary Shares or
Preference Shares which are held by US Shareholders to be sold to non-US
persons. If the Board decides to exercise the compulsory transfer power, it
expects to apply the power first to those US Shareholders with the smallest
holdings of Ordinary or Preference Shares in order to meet this requirement.

Thereafter, to avoid re-commencement of SEC reporting requirements, the Board
may require Ordinary and Preference Shares to be sold in order to ensure that,
at the beginning of each subsequent financial year, the number of US
Shareholders for each class of share remains below 300.

The Company has established that, on the basis of the current numbers and
holdings of US Shareholders and the termination of the ADR programme announced
on 9 December 2004, only a small number of Ordinary Shares and Preference
Shares would have to be sold in order to bring the number of US Shareholders of
each class to below 300.

A copy of the circular can be accessed on the Company's website
(http://www.premierfarnell.com/) and will shortly be available for inspection
at the UK Listing Authority's Document Viewing Facility, which is situated at:

  Financial Services Authority
  25 The North Colonade
  Canary Wharf
  London E14 5HS
  Tel: [phone]


DATASOURCE: Premier Farnell Plc



CONTACT:  James Garthwaite, Group Director, Communications, Premier

Farnell plc, [phone]. Richard Mountain, Financial

Dynamics (UK), [phone]. Andrew Saunders, Taylor

Rafferty (NA), [phone]

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