Re Contract

Worthington Nicholls Group plc
19 December 2006



RNS Release

19 December 2006

           Five new hotel group contracts secured worth c. £2,300,000
                   ('Worthington Nicholls' or 'the Company')

Worthington Nicholls Group plc (AIM:WNG), installers of air conditioning,
heating, ventilation and chilled water systems, has secured contracts to provide
installation and maintenance for new and replacement air conditioning systems
with five new hotel group clients, in line with the Group budget for new
business in the hotel sector in 2007.

The largest contract is a full mechanical services installation at the 49
bedroom Hotel du Vin in Cheltenham, and is valued at £860,000. Work has already
commenced and is expected to be completed at the end of May 2007. Hotel du Vin
was acquired by Marylebone Warwick Balfour ('MWB') in October 2005. MWB is a
public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange and also owns the Malmaison
Group of hotels.

The contract secured with Paramount Group (Dawnay Day Hotels) is valued at
£530,000. Worthington Nicholls will install new air conditioning units at the
Walton Hall Hotel, a prestigious business and leisure hotel located between
Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick. Installation work commences in January 2007 and
is expected to be completed by late Spring 2007. Dawnay Day currently has 20
hotels in its estate.

Worthington Nicholls has also been appointed by the Q Hotels Group to fit air
conditioning units into their Ashford International Hotel in Kent. The contract
is valued at approximately £440,000 and work is scheduled to start in the New
Year. The Q Hotels Group currently own eight hotels in England and one in
Scotland, and have recently acquired 12 sites from Marston Hotels Group,
bringing their total number of hotels in the UK to 21.

A fourth contract is with Oxford Hotels for the refurbishment of a Holiday Inn
Express hotel in Bristol. The contract is worth approximately £250,000 with work
starting in January 2007.

Worthington Nicholls' first major install for the Malmaison chain will take
place in Reading, this is a hotel conversion which will feature 75 rooms and
additional public areas, supplied by 92 air conditioning units. Work has
commenced on site and is expected to be completed by summer 2007 at a value of
£236,000.

Following these new contract wins, Worthington Nicholls will be the retained
contractor to 15 hotel groups, and 16 retail chains.

Mark Worthington, Chief Executive of Worthington Nicholls, said:

'Our goal is to win more work from each new hotel group based on providing
excellent service. What's particularly encouraging is that each new client win
increases both our market share and limits our dependence on any single client.
We are delighted that Paramount, Q Hotels, Oxford Hotels, Malmaison and Hotel du
Vin have chosen Worthington Nicholls, and hopefully we can look forward to
further contracts from these new clients in due course.'

Enquiries:

Worthington Nicholls                     0870 609 1829
Mark Worthington, Chief Executive
David Levis, Corporate Director

Gresham PR Ltd                           020 7404 9000
Neil Boom

Corporate Synergy                        020 7448 4400
Rhod Cruwys/Romil Patel

Information on Worthington Nicholls can be accessed via the Group's website:
www.worthington-nicholls.co.uk

About Worthington Nicholls Group plc

Worthington Nicholls operates as principal contractor for delivery of end to end
solutions in the air conditioning market.

Its blue-chip clients operate in a number of different market sectors and
include Hilton Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels, Debenhams, Boots the Chemist, Arcadia
and McDonald's.

The business was established in 1973 by Peter Worthington and has grown to be
one of the dominant players in the UK Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
('HVAC') market, which is currently estimated to be worth approximately £2
billion per annum.

Led by Mark Worthington, the Company repositioned itself in 2003 as a support
services group, moving away from the  subcontractor business model common across
the HVAC industry.  The Company now offers a full project management 
capability, which includes survey, design and specification, through
installation, commissioning and ongoing service  and maintenance.

Worthington Nicholls operates from its head office in Manchester and regional
offices in Bedford, Swindon and  Edinburgh, and employs approximately 130
people.

In June 2006, the Company acquired the entire issued equity of Project Air
Limited, a specialist installer of air conditioning systems to the retail
sector. Its customers include well-known high street retailers, such as Phones 4
U, Hamleys, The Bear Factory, and TM Lewin. Project Air is based in Rugeley,
Staffordshire. The business was established in 1992 and today has a total of 23
staff including 13 engineers.

Worthington Nicholls floated on AIM on 12 June 2006 with a placing price of 50
pence per share, at the time of writing  the share price is 115 pence, with a
market capitalization of £83 million.


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