Flotation of Beazley Group

Numis Corporation PLC
14 November 2002



                       ANNOUNCEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

          NUMIS CORPORATION PLC ('THE COMPANY'or 'NUMIS CORPORATION')


                   Flotation of Beazley Group plc ('Beazley')


On 12 November 2002 the whole of the issued share capital of Beazley Group plc
('Beazley'), was admitted to the Official List pursuant to a placing ('the
Placing') of ordinary shares at 73p per share. Numis Corporation's principal
operating subsidiary, Numis Securities Limited ('Numis') acted as sponsor, lead
manager, underwriter and joint financial adviser in relation to the Placing.

Beazley is a holding company of a group which includes Beazley Furlonge, a
Lloyd's managing agent, and Beazley Underwriting, a recently formed corporate
member of Lloyd's. Beazley Furlonge began trading in 1986 and since then has
managed Syndicate 623 ('the Syndicate'), which underwrites a broadly spread
account of both insurance and reinsurance business across its four divisions:
specialty lines, property, reinsurance and marine. The Syndicate is a frequent
lead underwriter in its main lines of business and has returned a profit to
members in every closed year of account since 1986. The Syndicate has a
syndicate rating from A.M. Best of A (Excellent). In its rating, A.M. Best cited
the Syndicate's excellent current and prospective operating performance and
business position. It also described the Syndicate as having an excellent market
profile as a specialist underwriter.

Beazley has raised capital under the Placing in order to take advantage of the
current favourable underwriting conditions in the global insurance and
reinsurance markets and to reposition Beazley as an independent, integrated
Lloyd's vehicle.


Beazley benefits from the following key strengths:


-    an established portfolio of specialist business that is diverse in terms
     of geography, broker and risk profile;

-    a superior track record demonstrated by the Syndicate having outperformed 
     significantly the Lloyd's market as a whole;

-    favourable underwriting conditions across all of the Syndicate's divisions;

-    opportunities for material growth in all of the Syndicate's divisions;

-    limited exposure to prior year losses; and

-    an experienced management team.

The net proceeds of the Placing are to be used predominantly to enable Beazley
to support its underwriting activities with permanent equity capital and
increase significantly its participation in the business of Syndicate 623.

At the Placing price, Beazley has a market capitalisation of £167.5 million.
For the year ended 30 June 2002, Beazley reported profits before tax of
£861,000.

One of the placees under the Placing is INVESCO Asset Management Limited ('
INVESCO').  In the prospectus relating to the Placing ('the Prospectus'),
INVESCO, as agent for its clients, was disclosed as the holder of 38,938,356
shares, or 16.97% of the ordinary share capital of Beazley, pursuant to the
Placing.  It was explained in the Prospectus that this holding would mean that
INVESCO would be considered a controller of Beazley Furlonge and of Beazley's
corporate members for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act
2000 and Lloyd's regulations.  It is a requirement that such a holding, to the
extent that it is 10% or more, be given prior approval by both the Financial
Services Authority  and Lloyd's, for which applications have been made.  The
approvals have not yet been received but are expected shortly.  Accordingly, as
envisaged by the Prospectus, Numis has subscribed under the Placing for the
excess above 10%, being 16,219,891 ordinary shares or 7.07% of the ordinary
share capital of Beazley, representing an investment of £11.8 million in cash.
Numis and INVESCO expect that, in the absence of exceptional unforeseen
circumstances and on receipt of the approvals of the controller applications
referred to above, INVESCO will purchase the Beazley shares concerned from Numis
as agent for INVESCO's clients.


14 November 2002


END

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