Acquisition - Lind Automotive

Inchcape PLC
04 May 2006

4 May 2006

             ACQUISITION OF LIND AUTOMOTIVE GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED

                MAJOR EXPANSION IN INCHCAPE'S UK RETAIL BUSINESS

Inchcape plc ('Inchcape' or the 'Group'), the international automotive retail
group, today announces that it has agreed to acquire Lind Automotive Group
Holdings Limited ('Lind') and selected properties held outside Lind from G. M.
Dacre and Attly Investments Inc.

Lind is one of the largest independent automotive retailers in the UK with
twenty-one retail centres representing BMW, MINI, Volkswagen, Audi, Honda, Land
Rover and Mitsubishi in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent.

This sizeable acquisition enhances our geographic coverage in the South and East
of England and further develops our existing partnerships with BMW, MINI,
Volkswagen and Land Rover.

Following the acquisition Inchcape will operate the largest number of BMW and
MINI retail centres in the UK. The acquisition also renews our partnership in
the UK with Audi and establishes an important new partnership with Honda. Both
are brands that have demonstrated strong market share growth over the last ten
years.

The acquisition of Lind follows an excellent performance from Inchcape Retail in
2005 where operating profits grew by 41.9%. The Inchcape Retail management team
have a strong track record in driving synergies and performance improvements
from recent acquisitions.

The acquisition of 100.0% of the equity of Lind is for a cash consideration of
£71.4m, plus the assumption of debt of £12.7m, together with a cash
consideration of £24.5m for selected properties held outside Lind. The value of
the gross assets acquired is £108.6m. These are subject to the finalisation of
completion accounts.

Turnover for the business acquired for the year ended 31 December 2005 was
£395.6m. The operating profit was £7.1m1.

Completion of this acquisition is subject to certain regulatory approvals
including the European Commission under the EC Merger Regulation.

Andre Lacroix, Group Chief Executive of Inchcape, said:

'The purchase of Lind is an excellent strategic acquisition for Inchcape. It
increases the scale of our UK retail activity both geographically and in terms
of brand partners, bringing UK Retail revenues close to £2bn. Through Lind, we
will further develop our partnerships with BMW, MINI, Volkswagen, Land Rover,
renew our relationship with Audi in the UK, and will create our first
partnership with Honda. I am confident that our strong management will
successfully leverage the synergies and performance improvement opportunities
from this acquisition.'

Note 1 - Operating profit for the business for the year ended 31 December 2005
is after adjusting for £0.7m of property rental payments on properties held
outside Lind, but which are included in the transaction. It is before stock
holding interest of £1.9m.

For further information, please contact:

Group Communications, Inchcape plc

020 7546 0022

Hogarth Partnership Limited (John Olsen/Barnaby Fry)

020 7357 9477


Notes to editors

Inchcape plc

Inchcape is a scale automotive retail group operating in Australia, Belgium,
Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK. The Group also has operations in a
number of other global markets. In addition to growing our core businesses, we
are looking to develop scale operations in new and emerging regions. We
represent leading automotive brands and operate either a retail, or a vertically
integrated retail model (i.e. exclusive distribution and retail), depending on
the market. Our current key manufacturer partners are Toyota/Lexus, Subaru, BMW,
the Premier Automotive Group of Ford, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

For further information, visit us at www.inchcape.com.

Lind

Lind's portfolio of retail centres is as follows:

Brand partner No. of sites  Locations

BMW                5        Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, Maidstone

MINI               3        Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich

Volkswagen         4        Chelmsford, Colchester, Harold Wood, Southend on Sea

Audi               4        Canterbury, Crawley, Maidstone, Tonbridge

Honda              3        Chelmsford, Colchester, Southend

Land Rover         1        Ipswich

Mitsubishi         1        Colchester


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange