Acquisition

Huveaux PLC
21 July 2005


21 July 2005

                             HUVEAUX SET TO ACQUIRE

                        LEADING FRENCH MEDICAL PUBLISHER

The Board of Huveaux PLC is pleased to announce that it has today made a formal
offer of €11.5 million (£7.9 million) in cash to acquire the entire issued share
capital and debt of COPEF S.A. which comprises the business of JB Bailliere
Sante ('JBB Sante'), a leading publisher in the French medical press sector. The
business, which was originally founded in 1818 and is based in Paris, is being
acquired from a private equity fund.

The principal publications of JBB Sante are Panorama du Medecin, La Revue du
Praticien and Le Concours Medical. These publications represent a leading
position in the medical press sector and are uniquely placed to address the
market for Continuing Medical Education ('CME') which is being introduced as a
compulsory requirement for all medical practitioners in line with recent French
legislation.

It is intended that JBB Sante would be managed together with Huveaux's fast
growing medical publication business, ATP- Egora, which is also based in Paris.
The enlarged operation would be led by Alain Trebucq, the Directeur General of
Huveaux's existing medical publishing business, who is highly experienced in the
sector and was formerly General Manager of Panorama du Medecin.

Huveaux's enlarged medical publishing business in France would form the Group's
new Professional Division which would run alongside Huveaux's other two existing
operations, namely the Political Division and the Learning Division (formerly
entitled the Education & Training Division).

The consideration payable for JBB Sante on completion will be €11.5 million
(£7.9 million) in cash which, together with integration costs, initial working
capital requirements and transaction fees, will be financed through a €15.0
million (£10.3 million) seven-year term loan from the Bank of Scotland. The net
assets of JBB Sante amounted to €1.2 million (£0.8 million) as at 31 December
2004 and the acquisition is to be made on an effective debt free and cash free
basis.

The transaction, which is subject to the satisfactory completion of certain
conditions and a mandatory Works Council consultation programme, is expected to
complete by mid-September 2005.

JBB Sante's statutory results for the three financial years ended 31 December
2004, adjusted for comparability purposes, were as follows:

€'000                      2002      2003      2004

Revenue                  19,991    18,635    18,930

EBITDA                    1,896     1,587     1,823

Upon completion, an integration programme would be proposed by Huveaux at an
estimated cash cost of €2.0 million (£1.4 million). This will be taken as an
exceptional charge in Huveaux's 2005 results. It is expected that this programme
would yield annual cost savings of approximately €1.0 million (£0.7 million)
commencing in 2006.

The Board of Huveaux expects the acquisition of JBB Sante to enhance
significantly Huveaux's EPS in 2005 and 2006*.

* This statement should not be taken to mean that the future EPS of Huveaux will
necessarily match or exceed the historical reported EPS of Huveaux and no
forecast is intended or implied.


For further information, please contact:

John van Kuffeler, executive Chairman, Huveaux PLC         020 7245 0270
Jean-Marie Simon, Directeur General, Huveaux EU        [phone]
James Leviton, Finsbury Limited                            020 7861 3801

An analysts presentation will be held at 9.30 am this morning at the offices of
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, 20 Fenchurch Street, London.

About Huveaux:

Huveaux is a publishing and media group which operates through its Political,
Learning and Professional Divisions. Since being admitted to AIM in December
2001, it has successfully completed the acquisition of seven complementary
businesses.

Huveaux was founded by John van Kuffeler, formerly Chief Executive and now
non-executive Chairman of Provident Financial plc.





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