Disposal

Carillion PLC
20 November 2003


20 November 2003


Carillion sells PPP equity and announces increased dividend



Carillion has agreed to sell its equity interest in the Darent Valley Hospital
PPP concession to Barclays UK Infrastructure Fund, an existing shareholder in
the project, for a cash consideration of £5.2 million.



In addition to the £5.2 million that Carillion expects to receive for its equity
interest, the sale will crystallise as profit the £11.2 million of cash received
when this PPP concession was refinanced in March 2003.  Carillion's proceeds
from the sale and refinancing are therefore some £16.4 million, four times the
value of the original investment in this project of £4.1 million.



The sale is expected to generate a net exceptional profit of around £11 million,
after taking account of profits already consolidated since equity was invested
in this project.  The Board intends to return to shareholders one third of this
exceptional profit, by way of a dividend, equating to approximately 1.7 pence
per ordinary share.  This additional element of dividend will be added to the
normal ordinary dividend for the full year ending 31 December 2003.  It is the
Board's current intention to return a proportion of the proceeds from future PPP
equity sales to shareholders.



In accordance with HM Treasury Guidelines, the refinancing gain was shared with
the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, which received some £10 million mainly in
the form of lower annual payments to the Special Purpose Vehicle company.




Carillion will continue to provide non-clinical facilities management services
at Darent Valley Hospital where it has a 32-year contract, which started in
2000.



The sale is in line with Carillion's previously announced intention to sell PPP
equity investments in order to demonstrate their value and to support the
Group's ongoing commitment to investing in further PPP projects.  The value
achieved by the sale supports the company's valuation of the Group's PPP
investment portfolio in March 2003, of around £115 million.



Commenting, Carillion Chief Executive, John McDonough, said: 'This sale meets
all the objectives we set when we announced our intention to recycle our PPP
equity investments. It demonstrates their value to shareholders and generates
funds to support the Group's increasing investment in new PPP projects which
will provide further returns for shareholders.



'We expect interest in the secondary market for PPP equity to remain positive
and intend to continue recycling PPP equity through new sales in 2004 and
beyond.'



Due to the sale of its equity interest in Darent Valley Hospital, the level of
pre-tax profit that Carillion will report in its Investments segment will reduce
by around £1 million in 2004.



The sale is expected to be completed within a week, subject to confirmation from
the Credit Rating Agency, Moody's Investors Service, that its credit rating for
the public bond used to provide debt finance for this project will remain
unchanged.  Standard & Poor's have already confirmed that their rating will
remain unchanged under the agreed terms of the sale.



Notes to editors

Details of Carillion's portfolio of financially closed projects are set out in
the table below.


PFI/PPP Project                Financial            Status       Concession    Carillion    Carillion   FM & Maint
                               Close                            Period (yrs)    Equity      Equity (%    Value to
                               Date                                           Invested to     share)     Carillion
                                                                                 date                      (£m)
Roads

M40 Motorway                        1997         Operational         30          13.2
                                                                                                  50.0     175.0
A55 North Wales                     1998         Operational         27           5.9
                                                                                                  50.0         -
Other Transport

Notts Express Transit (NET)         2000       In Construction       30           3.4
                                                                                                  12.5        -

Hospitals/Healthcare

Darent Valley Hospital              1997         Operational         32           4.1
                                                                                                  30.0     158.0
Glasgow Southern General            1999         Operational         27           0.6
                                                                                                  50.0     35.0
The Great Western Hospital,         1999         Operational         27           4.6
Swindon                                                                                           33.3     168.0

Harplands Hospital                  1999         Operational         29           1.1
                                                                                                  50.0     44.0

Secure accommodation

HMP Altcourse                       1995         Operational         25            -
                                                                                                  50.0      8.0
Medway Secure Training Centre       1997         Operational         15           0.3
                                                                                                  50.0       1.0
Rainsbrook Secure Training          1998         Operational         15           0.4
Centre                                                                                            50.0        -

HMP Rye Hill                        1999         Operational         25           0.5
                                                                                                  50.0       5.0
Manchester Magistrates Court        2001       In Construction       25            -
                                                                                                  33.3        -

Other accommodation

University of Greenwich             1995         Operational         30            -          100.0
                                                                                                               -
New Accommodation Project           2000         Operational         30           9.0
(GCHQ)                                                                                            40.0     49.0

University of Hertfordshire         2002         Operational         32           3.3
                                                                                                  50.0     55.0












In addition to its financially closed projects, Carillion is the preferred
bidder for seven new PPP projects worth some £2.5 billion and is also
shortlisted for six projects worth around £1.6 billion.  The seven projects at
preferred bidder stage include the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford; the Queen
Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth; the William Osler Hospital, Ontario, Canada; The
Royal Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, Canada; Birmingham and Solihull LIFT; the A249
road project in Kent and a social housing project in Derbyshire.





For further information contact


John Denning, Director Group Corporate Affairs - 01902 316384
Paula Manning, Corporate Communications Manager - 01902 316444




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