Acquisition

Ascot PLC
24 January 2001


                        Ascot PLC ('Ascot')
                            
                   Purchase of Freehold Property

Ascot has bought in, at a net cost of £13.5 million paid
in cash, the freehold of The Lyne Hill Industrial Estate,
Penkridge, a property of which it is a tenant under an
onerous lease expiring in December 2012.  The sole
purpose of the purchase is to give Ascot greater control
over the ultimate disposal of the property.