Summary

The Board of De Vere notes the announcement today by GPG that its Revised Partial Offer has lapsed.

The Board is grateful for the Shareholder support that it has received and is pleased that it is now free of this lengthy, unnecessary and costly distraction and can focus fully on implementing its clear and dynamic strategy to deliver Shareholder value.  

GPG announced its offer 87 days ago. After all this time, GPG has received only 0.55% acceptances and minimal support for its proposals. This clearly demonstrates that Shareholders have overwhelmingly rejected both GPG's derisory offer and its misguided strategy for the Group. 

Peter Daresbury, Chairman of De Vere, commented:

"We are pleased that GPG's ill-conceived partial offer has finally gasped its last breath. 

We strongly believe that GPG has been pushing its own agenda against the best interests of shareholders as a whole and that GPG's partial offer appears to have been nothing more than an expensive mechanism to re-raise the debate on the Company's strategy.   

GPG has resoundingly lost the strategy debate for the second time in only three years. We sincerely hope that GPG will now review its deeply entrenched position and recognise that, by rejecting GPG's offer, the vast majority of shareholders have shown their support for the Company's clear and dynamic strategy.

In the final analysis, GPG's actions have achieved nothing except diverting management from making progress against its clearly stated financial objectives and forcing the Company to run up significant costs."

Enquiries:
Close Brothes Corporate Finance Limited Tel: 020 7655 3100
Richard Grainger, Chief Executive
Mark Barrow, Assistant Director