Chairman's AGM Statement

600 Group PLC
6 September 2000
                                   
                                       
                               THE 600 GROUP PLC
                                                                              

                     CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT TO THE 2000 AGM


Orders,  sales  and  profits  in  the first  four  months  of  the  year  were
encouragingly  ahead  of last year, despite the difficult  trading  conditions
being  experienced  throughout the major international machine  tool  markets.
Our laser businesses continued the strong performance seen towards the end  of
last  year and our UK factoring business also benefited from strong demand  in
its niche high-tech segments.


We  have continued to execute our programmes of product and market development
within  the  framework of our focused machine tool strategy.   Notable  events
since the beginning of the year include:-


  -    a strategic decision to devote increased resources to the USA market   
       with the establishment of Colchester CNC - a new business, based in    
       Cincinnati, dedicated to increasing our share of the large CNC machine 
       tool sector

  -    the finalisation of a new range of computer-assisted lathes for launch 
       at exhibitions around the world during the second half of the year

  -    the development of collaboration agreements with other international
       machine tool manufacturers to exploit our manufacturing facilities and
       increase our range of factored equipment

  -    the opening of an additional sales office in Lyons, France to          
       complement the recent acquisition based in Paris.


The positive impact of these initiatives will be further enhanced as our major
markets benefit from the increased levels of activity forecast for the  second
half of the year.