Director Shareholding

    PRESS RELEASE                            3 October 2003

FREEPORT PLC ("the Company")
                                    
Notification of Interests of Directors and Connected Persons

The  Company was notified on 2 October 2003 for the purposes of  section
329  of  The  Companies  Act 1985 by Cannon Trust Company  Limited,  the
corporate  trustee  of the Freeport Employee Benefit  Trust  2002  ("the
Trust"),  which  was  established for  the  purposes  of  the  Valuation
Incentive  Plan ("the VIP"), that the share awards as set out below  had
vested,  in which the following directors and their respective  families
are  interested.  These awards relate to the completion  and  subsequent
disposal  at a profit of the Braintree Leisure development, adjacent  to
Freeport's designer outlet shopping village at Braintree, Essex.

The  following  share awards were made on 19 September  2003  under  the
rules  of the VIP to a trust in which the directors and members of their
respective families are potential beneficiaries.

Director            No. Ordinary        % of issued share capital
                    Shares Awarded
S M Collidge             29,706                   0.06
J L Rawnsley             11,808                   0.02
G A M Russell            15,340                   0.03
P T G Woolley            15,340                   0.03

As  a  result  of these transactions these directors have the  following
total interests in the share capital of the Company.

Director       No. Ordinary Shares Held   % of issued share capital

S M Collidge             915,655                  1.81
J L Rawnsley              14,450                  0.03
G A M Russell             36,401                  0.07
P T G Woolley             45,315                  0.09

Contact:

Ian Brownstein     Company Secretary, Freeport plc     020 7299 9360
Stephen Benzikie   Edelman Financial                   020 7344 1325