Trading Statement

GUS PLC
12 January 2006

12 January 2006

                                    GUS plc
                          Third Quarter Trading Update

GUS plc, the retail and business services group, today issues its regular update
on trading.

John Peace, Group Chief Executive of GUS, said:

'The performance of both ARG and Experian in the third quarter reflects the
benefits of our continued investment in initiatives to drive sustainable growth.
Both Argos and Homebase outperformed their markets in the period, while
Experian's broad range of products and services in many countries around the
world continued to underpin its strong performance.'


Argos Retail Group (ARG)

% change in sales year-on-year for 14 weeks to 7 January 2006        
                                                         %
Argos - total                                            9        
- like-for-like                                          0      
                                                                     

Homebase - total                                         1
- like-for-like                                         (3)

The non-food, non-clothing market remained weak during the period, although
there was a boost to spending in the run-up to Christmas. Against this
background, initiatives at Argos, including Argos Extra, and at Homebase,
including mezzanines and Furniture Extra, have enabled both businesses again to
outperform their markets.


Looking forward, ARG continues to plan on the assumption that like-for-like
sales will remain in decline for the non-food, non-clothing market as a whole
for much of 2006, with increased promotional activity continuing in the DIY
market in particular. UK retailers are also facing inflationary pressures on
costs, as previously outlined.


Argos

In the 14 weeks to 7 January 2006, total sales at Argos increased by 9%. New
stores contributed all of this growth, aided by the 33 acquired Index stores.
Argos had 650 stores at the period end, up from 583 a year ago.

Like-for-like sales at Argos were in line with last year, supported by the
national roll-out of Argos Extra. The contribution to sales of toys and
jewellery in the third quarter is about double that in the rest of the year;
jewellery remained a difficult market. There was, however, a good performance
from consumer electronics, with strong market demand in gift areas such as MP3
players and video games systems, as well as flat screen TVs and satellite
navigation. Furniture and white goods also achieved good growth. Gross margin
was in line with last year as supply chain gains countered an adverse product
mix.

Customers continued to increase their use of Argos' multi-channel capabilities.
Argos Direct, the delivery to home operation, grew sales by 14% in the period,
representing 19% of sales. Within this, sales ordered on the Internet increased
by 37% in the period, contributing 6% of sales. A further 13% of sales were
reserved by phone or Internet for later collection in store (Check and Reserve),
up 38% year-on-year.

The Spring/Summer 2006 catalogue, which will be launched on 21 January,
continues to give customers better value and increased range. It will be the
first Spring/Summer catalogue to offer customers in all stores the entire Extra
range of 17,200 lines (up from 13,300 in the main catalogue a year ago).

Homebase

Sales at Homebase grew by 1% in the 14 weeks to 7 January 2006. New stores
contributed 4% to sales growth. Homebase traded from 297 stores at the period
end (of which 141 had mezzanines) compared to 287 a year ago (104 with
mezzanines). Despite an increase in promotional activity compared to last year,
like-for-like sales declined by 3% in the period. Gross margin was slightly down
year-on-year.

In what remained a very difficult DIY market, total sales of core DIY and
decorating products were lower than last year. Homebase's performance in the
quarter was, however, helped by good growth in big ticket items driven by
initiatives such as new mezzanines and the national roll-out of the Furniture
Extra catalogue in Autumn 2005.


Experian

% change in sales year-on-year for the three months to 31 December 2005
Continuing                 At actual exchange                At constant 
activities only                rates %                     exchange rates %

Experian North America          40                                 31
Experian International          8                                  8
Global Experian                 25                                 20

Experian again performed strongly, with a 20% increase in sales in the third
quarter (7% organic; 13% from acquisitions). Experian continues to win business
in many countries, driven by the strength of its product range, its business mix
and broad global reach. As expected, growth at Experian North America slowed
from the exceptional levels achieved in the last twelve months.


Experian North America

In dollars, sales at Experian North America increased by 31% in total, of which
23% came from corporate acquisitions. Although the business traded against much
stronger comparatives, organic growth in the quarter was 8%, supported by
contract wins in many areas.

In dollars, Credit Information and Solutions together delivered double-digit
growth excluding acquisitions. This was driven by continued strength in
prescreen, scoring and analytics. The FACT Act cost recovery charge contributed
3% of the growth in Credit and has fully annualised from 1 January 2006.
Marketing Information and Solutions together showed solid growth, with e-mail
marketing and syndicated market research performing particularly well.

Experian Interactive accounted for 35% of North America sales in the third
quarter. This reflected a first time contribution from acquisitions
(LowerMyBills.com, ClassesUSA and PriceGrabber.com), which are trading ahead of
plan, and a continued strong performance from Consumer Direct. MetaReward was
down year-on-year as expected as it anniversaried some large, one-off campaigns
last year.

Experian International
At constant exchange rates, sales at Experian International increased by 8% in
the third quarter. Organic growth was 6% and acquisitions contributed 2% (as QAS
has now been part of Experian for more than a year).

Experian International showed solid growth in Credit, Marketing and Outsourcing.
There was good growth at Experian UK despite subdued consumer lending. This
reflected strength in both credit and marketing solutions, continued new
contract wins in the telecoms and public sectors and direct-to-consumer.
Experian-Scorex delivered double-digit growth with strong performances in
Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific. The French Outsourcing business has recently
won major contracts in cheque processing and the government sector.

Experian International continues to make complementary acquisitions, including
FootFall, the market leader in measuring pedestrian shopper flows. This
transaction reinforces Experian's position as a leading provider of data,
analytics and consultancy services for retailers and property owners.

Disposals

The demerger of GUS' remaining stake in Burberry to its shareholders was
completed on 13 December 2005. Benchmark profit before tax1 for GUS for the year
to 31 March 2006 will include a contribution from Burberry up to the date of
disposal.

On 28 October 2005, GUS announced an agreement to dispose of Wehkamp for about
€390m to Industri Kapital, a private equity firm. Subsequently, the Dutch
government announced a reduction in the maximum interest rate chargeable by
commercial lenders to consumers from 21% to 16%. As this reduction will have a
substantial effect on the future profitability of Wehkamp, the external funding
made available to the purchaser was cut. In the circumstances, GUS has agreed to
a reduction in consideration to approximately €320m to reflect lower expected
earnings. Completion of the transaction is expected later this month. The net
book value of assets at the date of completion is expected to be approximately
€335m. GUS now expects to realise a loss, after costs, of about €25m on the
transaction which will be booked in the second half of the current financial
year.

Future announcements
GUS will announce its Preliminary Results for the 12 months to 31 March 2006 on
24 May 2006. The Second Half Trading Update will be on 12 April 2006.

Enquiries

GUS
David Tyler                 Group Finance Director                 020 7495 0070
Fay Dodds                   Director of Investor Relations

Finsbury
Rupert Younger                                                     020 7251 3801
Rollo Head

GUS announcements are available on its website, www.gusplc.com. There will be a
conference call to discuss this update at 3pm today, with a recording available
later on the GUS website.

Certain statements made in this Trading Update are forward-looking statements.
Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ
materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these
forward-looking statements.

1 Benchmark PBT is defined as profit before amortisation of acquisition
intangibles, exceptional items (i.e. gains or losses on disposal or closure of
businesses and goodwill impairment charges), financing fair value remeasurements
and taxation. It includes the Group's share of associates' pre-tax profit and
the profits or losses of discontinued operations up to the date of disposal or
closure.



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