Acquisition

GUS PLC
19 March 2002


19 March 2002







                                    GUS plc

                   ACQUISITION OF CONSUMERINFO.COM FOR $130M

GUS plc, the retail and business services group, today announces that Experian
North America has reached an agreement to acquire ConsumerInfo.com for $130m in
cash from Homestore.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOMSE).  This acquisition is subject to
Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust clearance and other customary closing conditions.

ConsumerInfo.com is the leading supplier of online credit reports, scores and
related information to consumers in the United States.  In the year to December
2001, it made a small operating profit on sales of $50m.  The business has
generated an operating profit each month since September 2001 and is expected to
be immediately earnings enhancing for GUS.  ConsumerInfo.com has been cash
positive during the last twelve months.  It will have no net debt at the time of
acquisition.

About three quarters of ConsumerInfo.com's revenue comes from membership
subscriptions.  For an annual subscription of $79.95, members can access their
credit reports as often as desired, monitor their files monthly to see, for
example, which organisations have requested their credit status and take advice
on managing credit and debt levels.  At 28 February 2002, ConsumerInfo.com had
778,000 members, up from 492,000 a year previously.  The rapid growth in this
business follows the trend of consumers wanting to take greater control of their
own finances and closely monitor their creditworthiness.  The remainder of its
revenues comes from the sale of one-off online credit reports and scores at
prices between $9.95 and $44.95 each.

ConsumerInfo.com operates in high growth markets and is complementary to
Experian's existing services.

Direct-to-consumer a growing market: Experian believes that selling credit
services direct to consumers is a high growth market in the US.  By carefully
monitoring and managing their credit files, consumers can actively influence
both the amount of credit available to them and the rate of interest they pay.
The services available also help reduce the growing problems of credit card
fraud and identity theft.  Experian estimates that about one million consumers
currently subscribe to an on-line credit information service and this is set to
show future rapid growth.

Complements existing Experian services: ConsumerInfo.com complements Experian
North America's existing direct to consumer services, Experian.com and
CreditExpert.com, which together represent an important source of future growth
for Experian.  It will broaden the reach and distribution of Experian's
products.  In addition, ConsumerInfo.com's existing management team brings
experienced consumer marketing expertise into Experian North America.

First mover advantage: ConsumerInfo.com was the first company to offer online
credit reports and monitoring to consumers in 1997 and remains market leader.
Through 100 co-branded sites and over 65,000 affiliates, seven million consumers
visit its website monthly.

Cross-selling opportunities: The acquisition of ConsumerInfo.com will strengthen
Experian's relationship with consumers and will enable it to cross-sell
additional existing products such as Vehicle History Reports and real estate
information.

Don Robert, Chief Operating Officer of Experian North America, said:

'This acquisition is an opportunity to expand significantly our reach into the
direct to consumer market - a major growth strategy for Experian North America.
ConsumerInfo.com has a powerful distribution network and an experienced
management team.  With them, we will be able to leverage the power of our core
credit file and analytical tools and deliver them to fast growing new markets.'

Ed Ojdana, Chief Executive Officer and founder of ConsumerInfo.com, said:

'Being part of Experian North America will enable us to develop faster.  As well
as continuing to serve the hundreds of thousands of consumers with whom we have
built relationships, Experian brings us immediate access to new channels via its
sales force and strategic client relationships.'


Enquiries:


GUS              David Tyler           Finance Director       Tel: [phone]
                 Fay Dodds             Investor Relations

Finsbury         Rupert Younger                               Tel: [phone]
                 Rollo Head


The announcement is also available on the GUS web site www.gusplc.com.

The following web sites illustrate the range of direct to consumer credit report
and score services now available from Experian North America:



www.experian.com

www.creditexpert.com

www.consumerinfo.com





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