Re Agreement

Rowe Evans Investments PLC 18 March 2002 ROWE EVANS INVESTMENTS PLC OIL PALM AND RUBBER PLANTATIONS IN INDONESIA Associated companies with plantation and property-development interests in Malaysia and cotton farming in Australia Acquisition of 80% of PT Sembada Sennah Maju, owner of Sennah I Estate in North Sumatra, Indonesia The board of Rowe Evans Investments PLC ('REI' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce that an agreement has been exchanged for the acquisition by REI's 80%- owned subsidiary, PT Pangkatan Indonesia, of 80% of the issued share capital of PT Sembada Sennah Maju ('SSM'). The consideration for the acquisition is the sum of £2.29 million less the amount by which the total liabilities of SSM exceed its current assets. This results in a downward adjustment to the purchase price of £0.67 million, resulting in a final consideration of £1.62 million. The consideration will be satisfied in cash. SSM's principal liability is a bank loan of approximately £0.78 million and this loan will be discharged on completion through funds provided by the REI Group. SSM owns an oil palm and rubber plantation, Sennah I Estate, in North Sumatra, Indonesia extending to approximately 1,800 hectares and is located near to two of the Group's existing plantations, Pangkatan (2,586 hectares) and Bilah (2,961 hectares) Estates. The aggregation of these three estates will result in there being an area of oil palms of sufficient size to justify the construction of a factory to process into crude palm oil the fresh fruit bunches (' f.f.b.') produced from the estates. The f.f.b. from each of the three estates is currently processed under contract by outside factories. The board of REI is of the view that added value will be gained by processing the f.f.b. from Pangkatan, Bilah and Sennah I Estates and selling the resulting crude palm oil on either local or world markets. The board of REI has approved, in principle, the construction of a 30-tonne-per-hour palm oil mill which is likely to be located on Pangkatan Estate. The mill is expected to cost around £4.0 million and detailed costings will be undertaken as soon as the acquisition of SSM is completed. Sennah I Estate is currently planted as to approximately 500 hectares of rubber and 1,100 hectares of oil palms. It is the intention to replant the rubber into oil palms over the next two years and, depending upon the yields achieved in the existing oil palm areas, replant them with oil palms over the following five years. As at 31 December 2001, SSM had net liabilities of £0.43 million consisting of fixed assets of £0.53 million, current assets of £0.02 million and current and non-current liabilities of £0.98 million including the bank loan, referred to above. The fixed assets have not been revalued in SSM's books. For the year ended 31 December 2001, SSM recorded a loss after taxation of £0.41 million. Plantation land in Indonesia is held under HGU's, long leases of between 25 and 30 years. Sennah I Estate's HGU has recently been renewed and runs until 2032. By order of the board M.P. Evans (UK) Limited Secretaries 18 March 2002 Enquiries: Philip Fletcher Telephone: 01892 516333 Fax: 01892 518639 E-mail: philipf@mpevans.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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