AGM Statement

RNS Number:9450P
Tribal Group PLC
19 September 2003

For release on 19 September 2003


Tribal Group plc 2003 AGM statement

At the Annual General Meeting of Tribal Group plc ("Tribal" or the "Group") to
be held at 10 a.m. today, Tribal will provide the following update:

"Results

The results for the year ended 31 March 2003 showed that the Group enjoyed
another excellent year. Excluding the amortisation of goodwill, the exceptional
costs relating to the Group's move to the main market and costs associated with
employee benefit trusts, turnover increased by 131% to #105.7m; profit before
taxation increased by 90% to #15.4m and fully diluted earnings per share rose by
31% to 18.6p.  Operating margins were 17.0% and, during the period, the Group
generated positive operating cashflow of #20.4m, an operating profit to cash
conversion rate of 122%.

Our markets

The level of activity in our market areas remains buoyant.  There is increasing
acceptance across government that the private sector has a role to play in
helping to reform and to deliver public services.  We are seeing opportunities
across all our markets in education; local government, housing and regeneration;
health and social care; and central government. We continue to extend our
service offering and 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 April, we were appointed to the
DfES Management Consultancy Framework; in May, we were awarded a #4.4m contract
to supply e-learning services to the South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme, as
part of a consortium led by RM plc; in July, we were awarded a #4.5m contract by
the Adult Basic Skills Agency and, in August, we were awarded a three year
contract as the NHS's first franchise management partner at Good Hope Hospital.

Treatment Centre initiative

Last week, we announced that we had, through our wholly owned subsidiary Mercury
Health, been selected as 'likely preferred bidder' for a #300m plus contract to
design, set up and manage a network of 10 treatment centres stretching from
Cornwall to Northumberland.  This contract, which is expected to reach financial
close by the end of the year, will be for five years commencing in the Spring of
2005.

This contract demonstrates the strength of our business model.  We have through
our acquisition strategy been able to bring together several of the leading
businesses in healthcare which have supported the successful bid for this
important contract.

Acquisitions

Our largest acquisition to date, HACAS Group plc, which was announced with our
preliminary results in June, has now been completed. HACAS is the UK's leading
consultancy business in the social housing sector. The acquisition has
considerably strengthened our consultancy capability and is a major step in
creating one of the leading consultancy practices in the public sector.

We have made a number of other acquisitions since the year end, which are all to
date performing to plan.  These include Foundation Software Solutions, a leading
supplier of management information systems to local education authorities;
Kinetic Technologies, a specialist asset management software provider, which has
now merged with our existing asset management business to form Tribal Asset
Management; and Geronimo, one of the UK's leading public sector PR and corporate
social responsibility agencies.

We continue to review a number of potential acquisition opportunities.

Changes to Main Board

We announce today that Bill Roots, who has been a director since 1 April 2000,
will retire at the AGM.  We would like to record our thanks for the contribution
he has made to our development.

Dominic Collins, a main board director of Jardine Lloyd Thompson plc, has joined
our board as Deputy Chairman, with effect from 1 July 2003.

Current trading

Trading for the first five months of the year has been in line with the Board's
expectations and, at the end of August 2003, was significantly ahead of the
corresponding period in 2002.

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. At 1 September 2003, over 60% of
management's budgeted turnover for the year had been secured, a 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
Simon Lawton, Group Finance Director 01285 886020



End


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

AGMEANNPFFDDEFE