New Royston Facility

Johnson,Matthey PLC
14 March 2001


Johnson Matthey opens Major New European Autocatalyst Manufacturing Facility
in the UK

Johnson Matthey has today officially opened its new £10 million European
autocatalyst manufacturing facility in Royston, UK.  The 6,000 square metre
plant uses state of the art manufacturing technology to produce innovative
emission control catalysts to the higher specifications required for today's
and future generations of clean cars.  The opening ceremony was performed by
Alan Johnson MP, Minister for Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and
Industry.

Johnson Matthey is a world leader in the production of autocatalysts for cars,
trucks and motorcycles, with manufacturing plants in Europe, the United
States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, India and shortly China.  Global
demand for autocatalyst volumes is growing fast, driven by continuously
tightening emission standards in particular led by regulators in Europe and
the United States.  Other administrations around the world are also now
adopting more stringent pollution controls.  These tightening standards are
resulting in the use of more catalysts per vehicle resulting in strong growth
in demand for more technologically sophisticated catalyst systems.

The new Royston plant, which has created around 70 new jobs and has initial
capacity to produce 3.5 million units a year, is part of a major programme of
investment in Johnson Matthey's global autocatalyst business where its market
for higher technology product is growing significantly.  New facilities are
being commissioned as less advanced markets open up; and, Johnson Matthey is
updating its existing plants with the advanced manufacturing technology
utilised at the new Royston factory.

Chris Clark, Chief Executive of Johnson Matthey, commented:

'The new Royston facility is a major step in our strategy for the growth of
our global autocatalyst business.  We are committed to investment in new
technology across all our business and the new facility is a prime example of
this.'

Neil Carson, Executive Director, Catalysts & Chemicals Division said:

'Today we have unveiled our first factory based entirely on our new
autocatalyst manufacturing technology.  This plant will help us to deliver a
new generation of high performance and cost effective autocatalysts to meet
our customers needs.'

Enquiries:

Neil Carson       Executive Director                             020 7269 8449
Ian Godwin       Group Corporate Communications Manager          020 7269 8410