AGM Statement

Leeds Group PLC
17 March 2003



Issued on behalf of Leeds Group plc
Date: Monday, 17 March 2003

                                                               Immediate Release


                                Leeds Group plc
                             Annual General Meeting


At today's Annual General Meeting, Bill Cran, Non-Executive Chairman, told
shareholders:


'As stated in the Annual Report & Accounts, the Board has been seeking to
dispose of Nemesis S.p.A, our Italian subsidiary, and we duly announced on 12
March 2003 that we had completed its sale to its Managing Director. As a result
of the sale, immediate prospects for Group profitability in the second half of
this year are improved, while Group debt has been reduced by approximately
£4.9m.


Our announcement reporting the disposal of Nemesis also indicated that Group
profit before tax and exceptional items amounted to £0.6m for the first four
months of the current financial year. I am pleased to report that the Group is
on track to record a significant improvement on the £0.2m reported for the first
six months of last year.


Our leasing operation, Leeds Leasing plc, has grown its finance lease book
considerably over the last three years, and although new business written so far
this year is a little below our internal budget, in the short term leasing
profits are driven more by the level of the outstanding book than by the monthly
levels of new business. We shall not relax our criteria on either underwriting
or yields in pursuit of volume.


The closure of Itex in Holland has been completed, and we have successfully
retained the Itex customer base, which we now supply from the re-named
Hemmers-Itex, in Germany. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our
staff there, who have handled much greater volumes than in the past without
increases in headcount, and who have enabled our anticipated synergistic savings
to be realised.


One consequence of the radical re-shaping of the Group over the past two years
has been the inability of the Company to pay dividends. With the sale of Nemesis
and our return to profitability, we have now begun to work on a capital
reconstruction, which should enable us to implement a progressive dividend
policy and to return surplus capital to shareholders, which the Board intends to
achieve during the second half of this financial year.'


All resolutions were duly passed.



Enquiries:

Malcolm Wilson, Group Managing Director
Dawn Bowler, Group Finance Director                     Fiona Tooley
Leeds Group plc                                         Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel: [phone]                                      Tel: [phone]
                                                        or 07785 703523


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