Re Joint Venture

Barclays PLC 29 September 2004 29 September 2004 Barclaycard enters into joint venture with House of Fraser Barclays PLC ('Barclays') and House of Fraser have entered into a partnership under which Barclaycard will form a joint venture with House of Fraser to manage its financial services business from June 2007 for a period of 10 years. House of Fraser and Barclaycard will share the profits generated by the joint venture on a 50/50 basis. Barclaycard is expected to make total cash payments to House of Fraser, between January 2005 and 2007, totalling some £25 million. The cash payment will be made from Barclays internal resources. The expected premium to receivables transferred by House of Fraser to the joint venture is 16% to 18%. The current House of Fraser loyalty and storecard business has over one million active cardholders. From 2007, the joint venture will manage existing and new accounts and both parties see an exciting opportunity to develop a range of financial services. The move underlines Barclaycard's strategy to grow its UK lending business, with a growing contribution from non Barclaycard-branded businesses, namely Monument, Littlewoods Financial Services and Clydesdale Financial Services. - ends - For further information, please contact: Ian Barber/Mark Gonnella Public Relations, Barclaycard Tel: + 44 (0) 1604 251229 James. S. Johnson Investor Relations, Barclays Tel: +44 (0) 207 699 4525 Barclays PLC Barclays is an international financial services group engaged primarily in banking, investment banking and investment management. Barclays has been involved in banking for over 300 years and operates in over 60 countries, with 76,200 employees and over 2,900 branches worldwide. Barclays has five major business groupings. UK Banking is its core retail and business banking franchise in the UK. Barclays has around 14 million UK personal customers and 740,000 business customers. Private Clients and International are comprised of Barclays wealth management business and personal and commercial banking activities outside the UK. Barclaycard is the largest credit card brand in Europe and operates in Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and across Africa. Barclays Capital is the Group's investment bank focused on financing and risk management focused and BGI is Barclays global leader in the institutional investment management market. For more information about Barclays PLC, please visit www.barclays.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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Barclays (BARC)
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