First Quarter Trading Update

Great Universal Stores PLC
25 July 2001



                                                                  25 July 2001



                      THE GREAT UNIVERSAL STORES P.L.C.

                         FIRST QUARTER TRADING UPDATE



The Great Universal Stores P.L.C. (GUS), the retail and business services
group, which today holds its AGM, issues its regular update on trading in its
main businesses.

John Peace, Group Chief Executive of GUS, said:

'All our main businesses have made a good start to the financial year with
particularly strong progress at Argos and Burberry. However, we remain
cautious about the impact on the Group of economic slowdown in the countries
in which we operate and are working to mitigate this, while still investing in
our key businesses.'

Experian

% change in sales year on year for the three months to 30 June 2001
                                                                  %
                                                             Total   Underlying*
Global Experian                                                 12             6
Experian North America                                          12             3
Experian UK                                                     14            11
Experian Rest of World                                           4            13
Experian International                                          10            12

*     Underlying sales growth excludes acquisitions and divestments and is at
constant exchange rates.



Experian's worldwide sales for the first quarter showed a 6% underlying
increase.

Experian International continued to deliver double-digit sales growth during
the first quarter in both the UK and Rest of World. Sales were up by 11% and
13% respectively on an underlying basis, with gains in all major product
areas. Experian has made further small in-fill acquisitions in German private
label card processing and French cheque processing.

Sales in Experian North America grew by 3% on an underlying basis, with sales
in Information Solutions up by 3% and Marketing Solutions up by 4%. Corporate
clients are continuing to reduce expenditure on direct marketing campaigns in
the light of weakness of the US economy. In this quarter, however, this was
partly offset by revenues from new products such as the automotive database.
FARES, its real estate information joint venture, performed very well,
benefiting from the strength of the mortgage refinancing market; its sales are
not included in the total shown above because Experian only owns 20%.

We remain uncertain of the impact on Experian North America of a slowing US
economy. As part of the new management team's programme to increase
efficiency, jobs are being eliminated in a number of areas across the
business.



Argos Retail Group

% change in sales year on year for the three months to 30 June 2001
                                                                              %
Argos*                           -     total                                 15

                                 -     like-for-like                         12
UK Home Shopping                                                             -2

*     These figures exclude the impact of Argos Additions and jungle.com.



Argos Retail Group has benefited from strong consumer demand in its markets in
the quarter.

Sales at Argos, including Argos Additions and jungle.com, increased by 24%
over the same period last year. Excluding Argos Additions and jungle, Argos'
sales grew by 15%, or by 12% on a like-for-like basis. Sales were particularly
strong in furniture and white goods. Gross margins remained firm. Argos
Direct, the delivery to home operation, traded well and accounted for 16% of
total sales - up from 14% in the comparable period.

Sales at UK Home Shopping for the quarter were only 2% lower than last year,
with new marketing initiatives bringing sales forward into this quarter. The
latter weeks of the quarter showed a lower level of demand. Gross margins were
broadly maintained, with reduced markdowns partly offsetting the trend towards
lower margin home and leisure sales.

Progress continues in other initiatives at Argos Retail Group:


  * Argos Additions has achieved sales of £30m in the quarter, slightly
    ahead of expectations;

  * at the end of June, there were 270,000 Argos store card customers,
    following the card's national launch in January of this year; and

  * e-commerce sales excluding jungle.com were £21m, more than three times
    sales in the comparable period.



Reality

Sales to external customers of Reality continued to show double-digit growth.



Burberry

% change in sales year on year for the three months to 30 June 2001
                                                                              %
Total (including Spain)                                                      46
Underlying (excluding Spain)*                                                25

  * Underlying sales growth is at constant exchange rates and excludes
    Burberry Spain, which was acquired on 30 June 2000, and discontinued
    Wholesale activities.



In the first quarter of the year, underlying sales at Burberry increased by
25% over the same period last year. Wholesale and Retail operations both saw
double digit growth, with Wholesale being particularly strong. Sales at
Burberry Spain continued to grow at similar levels to last year. A new
property has been secured in Barcelona for a flagship store. This is expected
to open in Spring 2002.

Against a backdrop of softening economies, Burberry Wholesale order books for
Autumn/Winter 2001 show further good growth, although not at the exceptional
levels of last year.

In preparation for the planned partial IPO of Burberry, Victor Barnett is
standing down as Chairman in order to enable the appointment of an
independent, non-executive Chairman, consistent with customary UK practice.



Future announcements

GUS will announce its interim results on 29 November 2001. The First Half
Trading Update will be on 11 October 2001.



Enquiries:
GUS      David Tyler     Finance Director               Tel: [phone]

         Fay Dodds       Investor Relations

Finsbury Rollo Head                                     Tel: [phone]



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