AGM Statement

PZ CUSSONS PLC
03 November 2003


Under embargo until 11.45am, Monday 3 November 2003



                                 PZ Cussons Plc
                                        
                    Chairman's Statement to Shareholders at
                             Annual General Meeting

Anthony Green, Chairman of PZ Cussons Plc, made the following statement to
shareholders at the Annual General Meeting.

'Before commencing our formal AGM, I want to continue my practice of the last
few years of taking the opportunity to update you on our business and touch on
how we see things going forward. 2003 has been another year of continuing
successful development of the PZ Cussons Group - let me comment on some of the
highlights.

As you know, the operating results for 2003 are the highest ever achieved by the
Group, exceeding £50m for the first time and showing a 16.9% increase on the
previous year. Our strategy of focusing on improving margins and specific
geographical markets with growth potential, particularly Nigeria, Indonesia and
the UK, has enabled our unit management teams to achieve these excellent
results.

In Africa, Nigeria has had a very successful year with profits up 18%. The
elections in the spring have seen President Obasanjo re-elected and this gives
us increased confidence in political stability that should lead to continuing
improvements in the economy. The Naira has remained fairly steady against the
Dollar since July last year.

In the last 2 years, more than 20 million dollars has been invested in the
Nigeria factories resulting in:

   •a considerable expansion of the capacities of both the detergent factory
    at Ikorodu and the soap factory at Aba


   •the completion of four new factories to:

(1) manufacture refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners with our Chinese
partner, Haier
(2) manufacture a new feminine hygiene range, with technical support from our
Greek partner, Mega
(3) manufacture a new white detergent powder, and,
(4) manufacture a key raw material in the detergent process, sodium silicate as
part of our margin improvement programme.

We have recently announced an exciting new 50/50 joint venture with an Irish
company, Glanbia, (which is quoted on the London Stock Exchange) to invest 20
million dollars in a milk factory in Nigeria. This should be fully operational
in 2005, with the capacity to produce approximately 35,000 tonnes of evaporated
and powder milks

per annum. We are planning for significant growth in our traditional and also
new sectors of the Nigerian market looking to capitalise on our unrivalled
countrywide distribution network.

We have always maintained our faith in the future of Nigeria in spite of some
difficult times there. There is no better way of reflecting our confidence, than
with these considerable investments.

If I can now turn to Asia and especially Indonesia, our businesses continue to
grow and investment in factory capacity is assisting us to achieve our ambitious
plans for the region. In Indonesia we have now completed the establishment of 30
depots which will ensure that we maximise our distribution potential throughout
that vast archipelago with a population of 200 million.

Moving on now to Europe, in the UK, the relaunch of the Imperial Leather brand,
emphasising lather delivery, has enabled us to increase sales by one third and
to improve profitability significantly. Over the last year the Imperial Leather
Bathtime range has been launched to target the large bath segment of the market
which is currently dominated by Radox. Last September the Original Source brand
was purchased and to date results have exceeded expectations. Plans are evolving
to expand the brand significantly over the next few years, to capitalise on its
rather quirky character and its distinctive use of natural oil fragrances.

Our focus on specific geographical markets, which we both understand and where
we have established efficient distribution networks, gives us a number of clear
opportunities to grow for the foreseeable future, assuming relative stability in
world economies.

Over the last few years we have more than doubled operating margins but we
continue to focus to make further improvement and are currently progressing our
factory efficiency programmes, our global sourcing plans and our supply chain
processes.

Operating results for the current year are to date on line with budget and the
equity investment performance has been excellent.

The Group maintains a strong net funds position which will enable us to progress
with our future plans for growth. We have also been able to progress our share
buy back programme with £17.6m being spent in the
year. We will be asking later for your approval to have the authority to
purchase up to a further 10% of the Ordinary and 'A' Ordinary Shares now in
issue, together with the non-equity preference share capital.

In view of last year's strong trading performance and our strong financial
position, we are recommending an increased final dividend of 21.5p per
share, which together with the interim dividend of 7.5p per share, will give an
increase of 10.5% on last year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the last few years have seen dramatic change in your Group
and have resulted in a new mood of confidence within the worldwide management
team which augers well for the future.'

For further information contact

Graham Calder, Finance Director                                  0161 491 8000
PZ Cussons Plc

Terry Garrett / Josh Royston                                     0207 067 0700
Weber Shandwick Square Mile




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