Final Results

Foreign&Colonial Enterprise Tst PLC
21 March 2001


FOREIGN & COLONIAL ENTERPRISE TRUST PLC
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF RESULTS FOR THE YEAR
TO 31 DECEMBER 2000


SUMMARY

Shareholders' funds increased by 3.6%

The share price fell by 2.2%

The investment portfolio rose in value by 5.4%

The Board has proposed a dividend of 4.3p


PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
       
                                    2000         1999      % Change
              
Shareholders' funds               £310.0m      £299.2m       +3.6%
                     
Net assets attributable to 
ordinary shareholders              329.6p       318.1p       +3.6%
                     
Share price                        316.0p       323.0p       -2.2%
                     
FTSE All-Share Index             2,983.81     3,242.06       -8.0%
                     
Dividend per share                   4.3p         4.3p          -


Commenting on the results, John Sclater, Chairman, said:

'The year to December 2000 was a difficult one for UK stockmarkets, with the
FTSE All-Share Index falling by 8.0% and the FTSE Small Cap Index rising by
2.8%.  Against this background, Foreign & Colonial Enterprise Trust (FACET)
continued to make progress with shareholders' funds rising by 3.6%.  At the
year end, net assets attributable to shareholders were £310.0 million,
equivalent to 329.6p per share compared with 318.1p a year earlier.

Against this performance the share price fell slightly during the year,
closing 2.2% down at 316.0p.  However, this was more a reflection of its
strength at the end of 1999, when it was at a premium of 1.5% to underlying
net assets, than to any particular weakness during the year.  The closing
discount of 4.1% compares with a discount for investment trusts as a whole of
5.7%.

Balance Sheet
In recent years performance has been held back by the relatively high levels
of cash and other liquid assets.  Following last year's broadening of the
investment policy, considerable progress was made in 2000 in reducing these
balances.  At the year-end, the investment portfolio had increased from £211.1
million to £243.5 million and accounted for 78.6% of shareholders' funds
compared with 70.6% a year earlier.  FACET's outstanding commitments to
existing investments rose from £15.9 million to £52.5 million, which compares
with net liquid assets of £70.4 million at the year end.

Statement of Total Return and Dividend
In last year's report, I advised shareholders that net revenues were likely to
fall in the next few years as liquid assets, which had previously accounted
for a substantial part of FACET's revenue, were reinvested in lower yielding
unquoted investments.  To take account of this, the board amended the
Company's objective to remove the previous secondary objective of providing a
rising dividend income.  In the event, revenues fell by 12.0% in 2000, but as
total expenses including the taxation charge also fell, the fall in the
revenue return was less at 8.5%.  This lower return is sufficient to cover an
unchanged dividend and the board is therefore able to propose that the
dividend should be maintained at 4.3p per share.  This will result in a
transfer to reserves of £0.4 million and will increase distributable reserves
to £5.4 million.  At this level distributable reserves will now cover the
dividend by more than 1.3 times, giving us considerable latitude to smooth any
future decline in dividends.

The Manager
Since FACET's inception in 1981 it has been managed by F&C Ventures.  Although
F&C Ventures has always been part of the Foreign & Colonial Management group,
its managers have had full autonomy over investment decision making throughout
this period and over the last ten years they have also been responsible for
all FACET's administration. Following F&C Ventures move to independent offices
three years ago, Foreign & Colonial Management has had very limited
involvement in its activities.

In December 2000 contracts were exchanged for the sale of Foreign & Colonial
Management to Eureko, a pan-European insurance company.  It had previously
been agreed that F&C Ventures would not form part of this sale and contracts
were also exchanged in December for F&C Ventures to be acquired by its
management team.  We believe this to be a very positive development.  The
great majority of private equity firms are now owned by their managers and the
change of ownership will ensure that F&C Ventures is well positioned to retain
key employees and to attract high quality new staff.

The management of F&C Ventures has been remarkably stable for many years and
the new owners are the same team that has served FACET so well over the last
ten years.  FACET will be their largest client and the board has no doubt both
of their total commitment to FACET's continued success and that FACET will be
as well served under the new ownership as it has been in the past. 

On completion of the acquisition F&C Ventures will change its name to Graphite
Capital Management Limited.

Change of Name
Under the terms of our agreement with the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust
PLC we were able to use the Foreign & Colonial name for as long as our manager
remained part of the Foreign & Colonial Group.  As our manager will be leaving
the group we will be required to change our name and in any case it is
appropriate that we should do so.

In the past our name has always contained a reference to our manager and the
Board believes that we should continue to do so.  We are therefore
recommending that the company should change its name to Graphite Enterprise
Trust PLC.

The change of name will require shareholder approval.  A special resolution
will be proposed at the AGM to change our name from Foreign & Colonial
Enterprise Trust PLC to Graphite Enterprise Trust PLC.  The Directors
recommend that shareholders vote in favour of this resolution.  Assuming the
change is approved, existing share certificates will continue to be valid and
need not be returned for exchange or amendment.

Savings Schemes
Shareholders who are investing or holding shares through one of the Foreign &
Colonial Group Saving Schemes will be unaffected by the change of ownership as
FACET will continue to participate in all of these schemes.  If you are saving
by Direct Debit you need make no change to the existing arrangements.

Directors
Peter Curry will retire from the board at the AGM in May.  Peter was a founder
director of FACET and has served on the board for twenty years.  He has made
an enormous contribution to FACET's development over this period and we offer
him our sincere thanks for all his help and guidance.

We were delighted to welcome Mark Fane to the board in May 2000.  Mark is
Chairman of Waterer's Landscape plc, one of the larger and faster growing
landscape gardening companies in the UK, and is a non-executive director of
Ottakar's PLC, a successful FACET investment.  He has experience both of
working in the private equity industry and as Chairman of an e-commerce
company established with private equity backing. He therefore brings a
particularly wide range of relevant experience to our board.

Outlook
FACET has always taken a cyclical approach to investing in the UK economy.  In
recent years we have felt that valuations were relatively high and as a result
we have chosen to realise more from our portfolio than we have committed to
new investments.  The current uncertainty is likely to make conditions for new
investment favourable.  The recent falls in the UK stockmarket, the weakness
of the technology sector and the tightening of the debt market should all
create opportunities.  In the private equity market there have been signs of
some easing of competition for new investments.  Additionally FACET's focus on
companies capitalised at under £60 million continues to protect us from the
more intense pressure at the larger end of the market.

Over the last twelve months considerable progress has been made in increasing
the weighting of the portfolio towards unquoted investments.  However, the
fall in stock markets since 31 December 2000 has clearly had an impact on
FACET's quoted portfolio and the performance of this portfolio will be an
important factor in the overall performance in the current year.'


For further information, please contact:

Rod Richards/Martin Crayton
F&C Ventures       Tel:  [phone]
       

FOREIGN & COLONIAL ENTERPRISE TRUST PLC
Preliminary Statement (unaudited) for the year ended 31 December 2000

CONSOLIDATED ASSETS

                                                            At 31 December
                                                          2000          1999
                                                         £'000s        £'000s
              
Investments listed in Great Britain                    186,105       143,894
Investments listed outside Great Britain                   306         4,574
Unlisted investments at directors' valuation           128,616        74,654
Net current (liabilities)/assets                        (1,080)       80,934
Total assets less current liabilities                  313,947       304,056
Minority interest                                       (3,982)       (4,862)
Net assets attributable to ordinary shareholders       309,965       299,194

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF TOTAL RETURN (INCORPORATING THE REVENUE ACCOUNT)

For the year ended 31 December           2000                   1999
       
                             Revenue Capital  Total  Revenue* Capital  Total*
                              £'000s  £'000s £'000s   £'000s   £'000s  £'000s
                                          
Gains on investments              -   14,315 14,315       -    51,912  51,912
Income                         7,227      -   7,227    8,215       -    8,215
Investment management fee     (1,403) (4,208)(5,611)  (1,200)  (3,600) (4,800)
Other expenses                  (874)    356   (518)  (1,002)     209    (793)
Net return before finance 
costs and taxation             4,950  10,463 15,413    6,013   48,521  54,534
Interest payable and 
similar charges                  (16)     -     (16)     (54)      -      (54)
Return on ordinary 
activities before tax          4,934  10,463 15,397    5,959   48,521  54,480
Tax on ordinary activities      (486)    486     -    (1,099)   1,089     (10)
Return on ordinary 
activities after tax           4,448  10,949 15,397    4,860   49,610  54,470
Minority interest                 -     (582)  (582)      -    (3,787) (3,787)
Return attributable to 
equity shareholders            4,448  10,367 14,815    4,860   45,823  50,683
Dividends in respect of 
ordinary shares  (equity)     (4,044)     -  (4,044)  (4,044)      -   (4,044)
Transfer to reserves             404  10,367 10,771      816   45,823  46,639
Return per ordinary share       4.73p  11.02p 15.75p    5.17p   48.72p  53.89p
                                          
* Restated to comply with FRS 16 'current taxation'.

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

For the year ended 31 December                               2000        1999
              
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities       (1,086)       2,546 
Net cash outflow from servicing of finance                   (30)         (58)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from taxation                      167         (239)
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from investing activities      (76,547)       6,698 
Equity dividends paid                                     (4,044)      (4,044)
Net cash inflow from movement in liquid resources         42,512       27,378 
Net cash outflow from financing                           (1,416)        (147)
(Decrease)/increase in cash                              (40,444)      32,134



The Directors propose a dividend of 4.3p (1999 - 4.3p) per share payable on 31
May 2001 to shareholders registered on 30 March 2001.

The Annual General Meeting will be held at 2.30 p.m. on 24 May 2001 at The
Clarendon Room, Brown's Hotel, Dover Street, London W1.  The registered office
of the Company is 4th Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London
W1X 5PA.

Copies of the Report and Accounts will be posted to shareholders on or about
20 April 2001 and copies may be obtained during normal business hours from the
Company's registered office thereafter.

By order of the Board

F&C Ventures Limited

Secretary