Argos Retail Group Seminar

GUS PLC
16 October 2001



16 October 2001



                                   GUS plc



                          ARGOS RETAIL GROUP SEMINAR

At a seminar for analysts and institutions this afternoon, Terry Duddy and the
executive team of Argos Retail Group will discuss its operations, strategy and
future growth opportunities.

Highlights

Argos:

  * like-for-like sales up by 13% in first half;
  * to increase the rate of new store openings to about 35 per annum;
  * to refurbish all remaining small stores by March 2004;
  * to increase the range in all stores by 1600 lines in Autumn 2002;
  * to invest £120m over four years in its supply chain, yielding benefits
    of about £50m per annum to re-invest in pricing, to improve its value
    proposition and to support margins;
  * to grow the capacity and improve customer service in Argos Direct, which
    grew by over a third in the first half of this year.

ARG Financial Services:

  * 350,000 Argos storecard customers at 30 September 2001, with balances
    outstanding of about £60m;
  * P&L investment spend peaking this year at about £20m;
  * key competitive advantage is low customer acquisition costs, due to the
    strength of the Argos customer base.

Home Shopping:

  * on track for £80m per annum of cost savings over three years;
  * agency customer numbers in managed decline, with average spend
    increasing, helped by product and service enhancements;
  * trialling new direct catalogues, including abound, which has started
    well in early trading since its launch in late August.

Argos Additions:

  * about £60m of sales from first catalogue available in all Argos stores;
  * expect to move into profit by March 2003;
  * more products and pages for Spring/Summer 2002 catalogue.

A webcast of the presentation and the slides used will be available later in
the day on the GUS web site www.gusplc.com.

Enquiries:
GUS      David Tyler      Finance Director             Tel: [phone]
         Fay Dodds        Investor Relations
Finsbury Rupert Younger                                Tel: [phone]