Issue of Equity

Artemis Alpha Trust PLC
15 December 2003

ARTEMIS ALPHA TRUST PLC (the 'Company')

ADMISSION OF NEW ORDINARY SHARES TO THE OFFICIAL LIST AND TO TRADING ON THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE

In accordance with the prospectus issued by the Company on 17 November 2003,
17,543,754 new ordinary shares in the Company have been issued under the placing
and the open offer. As a result, the Company now has 30,593,452 ordinary shares
in issue. The Company also has 2,609,939 manager warrants in issue, each warrant
exercisable into one new ordinary share at an exercise price of 87.96p.

The new ordinary shares will not rank for any of the dividends payable by the
Company for the financial year ending 30 April 2004. It is expected that
aggregate dividends of 2p will be paid on each existing ordinary share (1p
interim and 1p second interim) in respect of the financial year ending 30 April
2004. This is a statement of expected dividends and is not a profit forecast.

The new ordinary shares were admitted to the official list, and dealings
commenced on the London Stock Exchange, today.



ENQUIRIES
Simon Miller         Chairman, Artemis Alpha Trust plc            0131 718 2302
Mark Tyndall         Artemis Investment Management Limited        0131 225 7300
Ben Money-Coutts     Bridgewell Securities Limited                020 7003 3000
Robin Archibald      Intelli Corporate Finance Limited            020 7653 6300



15 DECEMBER 2003


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