Final Results

RM PLC
20 November 2001


                                                             20 November 2001


          Results for the Twelve Months Ended 30 September 2001

RM plc ('RM'), the leading supplier of IT software, services and systems to
UK education, announces results for the twelve months ended 30 September
2001.

 *  Turnover for the full year grew
    17% to £241.9m                       (2000: £207.6m)

 *  Profit before tax (before            (2000: £10.1m; pre-exceptional
    goodwill amortisation) £16.3m         cost  of sales £15.5m)

 *  Profit after tax up 42% at £10.7m    (2000: £7.5m)

 *  Diluted EPS (before goodwill
    amortisation) 12.3p                  (2000: 8.5p; pre-exceptional cost of
                                          sales 13p)

 *  Final dividend up 19% at 3.2p        (2000: 2.7p)

 *  Total dividend for year up
    19% at 4.2p                          (2000: 3.5p)

 *  Strong cash generation, net
    funds £27.1m                         (2000: £16.9m)


 *  Success of Learning School Programme

 *  58% increase in R&D, with strategically important new products to be
    launched at BETT in January 2002

 *  £4.9m acquisition of Softease in October 2001



Commenting today, Richard Girling, Chief Executive, said:

'2001 was another year of good progress for RM, and we are pleased to report
record levels of turnover and profit before tax. RM's focus is on offering
innovative products and services that deliver real value and educational
benefits to our customers, and the Group is well positioned to benefit from
the further continued growth in the educational ICT market.

'Investment in innovative new products, which genuinely improve educational
standards, has been a major priority in the year. Over the next few months
we've got major releases of our key schools products coming out. It's also
pleasing to be able to report our recent acquisition of Softease - a leading
educational publisher.

'RM is a seasonal business and, as usual at this stage in the year, it is too
early to give an indication of full-year performance. The key task for RM is
to develop and market compelling, educationally valuable products and
services to all education establishments. The new products scheduled for
release over the next few months are strategically important and we believe
that they will enable us to retain our pre-eminent position and make strong
progress in a growing market.'


Enquiries to:

Richard Girling          RM plc                     020 7404 5959 on 20/11/01
Mike Greig                                    and thereafter on 01235 826 000
Phil Hemmings


Andrew Fenwick           Brunswick                              020 7404 5959
Fiona Fong


         Results for the Twelve Months Ended 30 September 2001

Results

Turnover for the year was up 17% to £241.9 million (2000: £207.6 million).
Learning Schools Programme (LSP - the Group's partnership with the Open
University to provide ICT training for teachers) performed extremely well
and, as expected, made its peak contribution in 2001. Turnover excluding LSP
grew by 10%.

Turnover in the second half was affected to a greater than expected extent by
changes to the mechanism by which the government's Standards Fund for
educational ICT is distributed. Increased delegation of this funding to
individual schools, coupled with a longer period over which schools can spend
their allocation, led to extended sales cycles and also caused some schools
to decrease the amount of their core budgets that they spend on ICT.

RM's results for its prior financial year (to 30 September 2000) included a
£5.4 million exceptional cost of sales related to the Classroom 2000 project
in Northern Ireland. The comparatives shown below exclude the impact of this.

Gross profit increased by 18.9% to £62.1 million (2000: £52.2 million),
whilst the gross profit percentage was up at 25.7% (2000: 25.1%). Gross
profit percentage in the second half was 28.6% compared with 25.2% in the
second half of last year.

Operating expenses (excluding amortisation of goodwill) grew 24%, with much
of this increase attributable to the decision to accelerate R&D and business
development by retaining some of the additional resource that had been
recruited for the Classroom 2000 project. Tight control of operating expenses
during the year resulted in slightly lower operating expenses in the second
half than in the first half.

Profit before tax and goodwill amortisation was up 5% to £16.3 million (2000:
£15.5 million.) However, as a result of the tax charge increasing from 20% to
28%, EPS (before goodwill amortisation) fell 5% to 12.3p (2000: 13.0p). The
reason for the increased tax rate is that in previous years the Group has
benefited from, amongst other items, a tax deduction for contributions
arising in respect of share option arrangements. The fall in the share price
during the year has resulted in lower than expected share option gains and
therefore a reduction in the impact of this deduction.

RM continues to be strongly cash generative with net funds at year-end up
£10.2 million at £27.1 million.

The Board is recommending a final dividend of 3.2p per share (2000: 2.7p)
payable on 30 January 2002 to shareholders on the register at 4 January 2002.
Full year dividend will increase 19% to 4.15p (2000: 3.5p).

Funding in our core schools market

ICT expenditure in schools comes from two separate sources: firstly, a
school's core budget, which it receives from its local education authority
(LEA) and which is predominantly allocated in line with pupil numbers; and
secondly, additional dedicated funding from central government, the most
significant element of which is Standards Fund made available to English
schools by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES.)

For the last decade DfES policy has been that LEAs should delegate core
budgets to schools. In contrast, LEAs have historically had direct control of
Standards Fund and have typically tightly managed how and when it has been
spent. RM's sales and marketing operation, which employs 350 people, has been
developed over the decade to effectively address both individual
establishments and LEAs.

This year, the DfES stated that Standards Fund should be delegated to
individual schools. It also gave schools a 17 month period (April 2001 to
August 2002) in which to spend it. There have been two consequences of these
changes. Firstly, sales cycles have extended causing some spend to be
deferred out of RM's financial year. Secondly, the delegation of Standards
Fund into individual school budgets has, in some cases, caused a reduction of
the amount of a school's core budget spent on ICT.

RM Schools

The RM Schools division provides complete managed and integrated ICT
solutions to UK schools. It also acts as the principal channel to market for
the educational software and content services developed by RM Learning. UK
Secondary and Primary schools continue to be RM's core marketplace and RM
Schools has a strong leadership position in these sectors.

Integrated Solutions

RM Window Box and RM Community Connect, the Group's flagship integrated
solutions product families, continue to be the standard-setting products in
the schools marketplace. Significant R&D investment was made during the year
to ensure that these products continue to lead the competition. The latest
versions - RM Community Connect 3 and RM Window Box XP - are major revisions
and, in prototype, have been enthusiastically received by customers. They
will be launched in January 2002 at BETT, the annual educational ICT
showcase.

The year saw a substantial increase in the number of RM Window Box desktops
shipped. Importantly, this growth includes the first significant shipments of
the RM Window Box Companion, which is a 'software-only' version of RM Window
Box intended to be installed on other manufacturers' hardware.

RM Community Connect also saw year-on-year growth, with a significant
increase in the number of desktops shipped. Whilst the majority of RM
Community Connect customers choose to buy hardware from RM, the number of
customers adding 3rd party PC hardware to their networks grew during the
year. These customers continue to buy desktop licences and other software
from RM demonstrating the Group's ability to retain its position as a
school's strategic ICT partner, despite growing competitive pressures in the
PC hardware market.

Internet Connectivity and Broadband

The first of the directly government-funded Broadband consortia, which are
intended to provide broadband connectivity for at least 20% of all schools,
came on stream during the year. RM Schools is the lead partner in two of
these consortia - the South East Grid for Learning and South West Grid for
Learning. The Group is also active in providing value-added services to other
consortia, offering filtering, email and secure data transfer.

The rollout of broadband has been slower than previously expected and, as a
consequence, RM's ISDN connectivity business performed better than had been
anticipated. The combination of RM's strong position in the ISDN market, and
the Group's emerging position as a broadband provider, contributed to a rapid
growth in this area of business, with revenues increasing by 58%.

Managed Support Services

Customer support has been a key focus and investment area for the year. RM is
now experiencing higher levels of customer satisfaction than ever before, and
is delivering them more cost-effectively. The Group has chargeable support
relationships with over 3,000 educational establishments and the renewal rate
for these services during the year exceeded 85%.

Managed services, which continue to offer a significant growth opportunity
for RM, expanded during the year with the number of desktops under active
management increasing to 26,000 (2000: 20,000). Many customers want to choose
from a broad and flexible range of support options, rather than committing
themselves to a single product line.

RM Learning

RM Learning is the Group's education software and content development
division. It was created at the beginning of the year to bring a strong focus
to the development of RM's curriculum-related intellectual property.

Maths Alive

Maths Alive, the Key Stage 3 (secondary school) whole-class teaching pilot
the Group has developed under contract to the DfES has been extremely
successful. The service was extremely well received by both teachers and
pupils in the controlled trial that has been running for the last twelve
months, and an independent research programme is demonstrating that the
product can add significant educational value.

A key element of the Maths Alive philosophy is that it exploits the potential
of ICT to enhance whole-class teaching. The approach is to combine
presentation technology with online and offline learning resources into a
single managed service covering the entire KS3 mathematics syllabus. This is
a significant development in the educational use of ICT and will form a key
part of RM Learning's future product strategy. The Board has chosen to invest
in taking the Maths Alive pilot forward and is creating a product that will
be fully launched at BETT 2002. The Group also has a number of other 'Alive'
products in conceptual development.

Learning Solutions

RM Learning's learning systems portfolio was strengthened during the year
with the introduction of RM Maths Quest and further development of the
Destinations product range. Whilst these products are still in the early
stage of adoption they have significant potential and, in particular,
Destinations gives the Group access to the post-16 basic skills market. There
was also good progress in building a market for SuccessMaker in primary
schools.

RM's primary mathematics products had an extremely successful year with
revenue increasing by 100%. This product set (RM Maths Learning System,
Snapshot and Easiteach) has been combined into Primary Portfolio, a single
annually contracted service. This gives a lower entry cost to the customer,
whilst also providing a secure long-term revenue stream for RM. Initial
customer response has been positive and the Group expects to see significant
growth in this business area.

3T Productions

3T Productions, the interactive design company that RM acquired in 2000, has
performed extremely well. Turnover at 3T increased to £2.4 million (37%
like-for-like increase.) and the division has continued to expand its strong
education customer base. 3T's excellent education understanding and creative
and multimedia skills have been complemented during the year by a stronger
commercial focus.

Softease

After the close of the year, in October, the Group completed the acquisition
of Softease for a consideration of up to £4.9 million (in loan notes.)
Softease brings with it a highly regarded education brand, and a strong and
developing set of products (Textease.) The Textease products are already used
in the RM Window Box and the development plan agreed with the senior
management of Softease is intended to add significant value to RM's future
products.

RM Lifelong Learning & Higher Education

RM Lifelong Learning & Higher Education (RM LLHE) provides ICT solutions to
FE Colleges, Universities and increasingly the lifelong learning market. RM
has always had a presence in both Further and Higher Education markets and
the RM LLHE division was set up at the beginning of the year to enhance RM's
position in these markets.

The key priorities for RM LLHE during the year were to identify strategies
for future business growth and to improve its contribution to Group profit.
Both of these were achieved and there was a small increase in revenue on the
previous year.

Prospects

The overall level of funding in RM's marketplace is well defined and
education spend is continuing to grow year-on-year.

As with previous modifications to funding policy, the changes to Standards
Fund have made it difficult to predict short-term market size. However, in
the medium-term, the increased delegation of funding to individual schools is
a positive move - individual schools' experiences of successfully deploying
ICT to raise educational standards are the key driver of long-term growth in
educational ICT spend.

RM's business has a pronounced seasonal pattern. Significant extra Standards
Fund funding will become available in the next government year (2002/03) and,
in addition, the main impact of the Group's new product introductions will
come in the second half.

As expected and has been planned for, turnover and contribution from LSP will
decline this year. There will also be further moves from one-off licence
sales to annual subscriptions for the Group's software products - whilst this
will reduce profit in the short term, it will lead to a greater contribution
from and improved visibility of software revenues.

As usual at this stage in the year it is too early to give an indication of
full-year performance. The key task for RM is to develop and market
compelling, educationally valuable products and services to all education
establishments. The new products scheduled for release over the next few
months are strategically important and the Board believes that they will
enable the Group to retain its pre-eminent position and make strong progress
in a growing market.

                   CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
                   For the year ended 30th September 2001

                                                            2001         2000
                                                            £000         £000

  TURNOVER                                               241,916      207,560

  Cost of sales before exceptional items                (179,837)    (155,364)
  Exceptional cost of sales                                    -       (5,359)
______________________________________________________________________________
  Total cost of sales                                   (179,837)    (160,723)
______________________________________________________________________________
  GROSS PROFIT                                            62,079       46,837
______________________________________________________________________________
  Operating expenses:
  Selling & distribution                                 (26,906)     (23,377)
  Research & development                                 (11,646)      (7,365)
  Administration                                          (8,712)      (7,018)
______________________________________________________________________________
                                                         (47,264)     (37,760)
  OPERATING PROFIT                                        14,815        9,077

______________________________________________________________________________
  Operating profit analysed between:
  Ordinary activities before exceptional cost of
  sales                                                   15,860       15,046
  Exceptional cost of sales                                    -       (5,359)
                                                        ______________________
  Operating profit before amortisation of goodwill        15,860        9,687
  Amortisation of goodwill                                (1,045)        (610)
                                                        ______________________
  Operating profit                                        14,815        9,077
______________________________________________________________________________

  Net interest receivable                                    392          451
______________________________________________________________________________
  PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE TAXATION           15,207        9,528

______________________________________________________________________________
  Profit on ordinary activities before taxation
  analysed between:
  Profit on ordinary activities before taxation,
  amortisation of goodwill and exceptional
  cost of sales                                           16,252       15,497
  Exceptional cost of sales                                    -       (5,359)
                                                        ______________________
  Profit on ordinary activities before taxation and
  amortisation of goodwill                                16,252       10,138
  Amortisation of goodwill                                (1,045)        (610)
                                                        ______________________
                                                          15,207        9,528
______________________________________________________________________________
  Tax charge on profit on ordinary activities             (4,551)      (2,019)
______________________________________________________________________________
  PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES AFTER TAXATION            10,656        7,509

  Dividends paid and proposed                             (3,911)      (3,273)

______________________________________________________________________________
  RETAINED PROFIT FOR THE YEAR                             6,745        4,236
______________________________________________________________________________
  Earnings per ordinary share
  Basic                                                    11.4p         8.1p
  Diluted                                                  11.2p         7.9p
  Diluted - before amortisation of goodwill                12.3p         8.5p
  Diluted - before amortisation of goodwill and
  exceptional cost of sales                                             13.0p


                           CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
                            As at 30th September 2001


                                                          2001        2000
                                                          £000        £000

     FIXED ASSETS

     Intangible fixed assets                             9,430      11,465
     Tangible fixed assets                              25,299      26,093
___________________________________________________________________________
                                                        34,729      37,558

     CURRENT ASSETS

     Stocks                                             10,972      20,817
     Debtors                                            53,665      67,754
     Investments - short term cash deposits             8,095       12,201
     Cash at bank and in hand                           21,070       6,981
___________________________________________________________________________
                                                        93,802     107,753

     CREDITORS

     Amounts falling due within one year               (67,975)    (93,203)
___________________________________________________________________________
     NET CURRENT ASSETS                                 25,827      14,550
___________________________________________________________________________
     TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES              60,556      52,108

     CREDITORS

     Amounts falling due after more than one year       (6,506)     (5,375)

     PROVISION FOR LIABILITIES AND CHARGES              (1,026)     (1,601)
___________________________________________________________________________
     NET ASSETS                                         53,024      45,132
___________________________________________________________________________
     CAPITAL AND RESERVES

     Called-up share capital                             1,887       1,873
     Share premium account                              20,340      16,368
     Other reserve                                           -         500
     Profit and loss account                            30,797      26,391
___________________________________________________________________________
     EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS                         53,024      45,132
___________________________________________________________________________


                    CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT
                   For the year ended 30th September 2001

                                                            2001       2000
                                                            £000       £000

    NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES             20,913     13,778

    Returns on investments and servicing of finance          392        451
    Taxation                                              (1,545)    (1,742)
    Capital expenditure and financial investment          (7,272)    (9,591)
    Acquisition of subsidiary                                  -       (296)
    Equity dividends paid                                 (3,419)    (2,770)
____________________________________________________________________________
    NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) BEFORE USE OF
    LIQUID RESOURCES AND FINANCING                         9,069       (170)
____________________________________________________________________________
    Management of liquid resources                         4,106     (3,364)

    Financing                                                919      1,558
____________________________________________________________________________
    INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH IN THE YEAR               14,094     (1,976)
____________________________________________________________________________





            RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN NET FUNDS
                    For the year ended 30th September 2001



                                                              2001       2000
                                                              £000       £000

  INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH IN THE YEAR                   14,094     (1,976)

  Capital element of finance lease payments                     21          6
  Cash (outflow)/inflow from change in liquid
  resources                                                 (4,106)     3,364
  Settlement of loan notes                                     212          -
______________________________________________________________________________
  Change in net cash resulting from cash flows              10,221      1,394
  New finance leases                                             -        (58)
  Issue of loan notes                                            -     (2,278)
  Exchange translation                                          (5)         -
______________________________________________________________________________
  MOVEMENT IN NET FUNDS IN THE YEAR                         10,216       (942)

  Net funds brought forward                                 16,852     17,794
______________________________________________________________________________
  NET FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD                                 27,068     16,852
______________________________________________________________________________


                      NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

1.     Report and Accounts 2001 & AGM 2002

The financial information set out in this preliminary results announcement,
which has been prepared using accounting policies consistent with those used
last year, does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the years
ended 30 September 2001 or 30 September 2000 but is derived from those
accounts. Statutory accounts for 1999/2000 contained an unqualified audit
report and have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies.

The Company will hold its Annual General Meeting on 23 January 2002, following
which the statutory accounts for 2000/2001 will be posted and delivered to the
Registrar of Companies. The Auditors have reported on these accounts and their
report was unqualified. One of the resolutions to be proposed at the Annual
General Meeting is to authorise the Company to make market purchases of up to
5% of its issued share capital. There is no present intention to exercise this
authority.

2.     Tax charge on profit on ordinary activities

The tax charge for the year represents a rate of 28% of profit before
amortisation of goodwill (2000: 20%). The Group has benefited from, amongst
other items, a deduction for contributions arising in respect of share option
arrangements. The fall in the share price during the year has resulted in
lower than expected share option gains and has consequently reduced the
impact of this deduction on the tax rate.

The tax charge of £4,551,000 (2000: £2,019,000) comprises current tax
£5,126,000 (2000: £1,548,000) and a deferred tax credit £575,000 (2000:
charge £471,000).

3.     Earnings per share

Basic earnings per ordinary share for the year ended 30 September 2001 is based
on 93,886,333 ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary
shares in issue during the year. The diluted earnings per ordinary share for
the year ended 30 September 2001 takes account of share options in issue and is
based on a weighted average number of 95,302,723 ordinary shares issued and
issuable. Adjusted diluted earnings per share figures, which exclude
amortisation of goodwill and exceptional cost of sales, have been included.

4.     Dividends per share

The Directors have recommended the payment of a final dividend of 3.2p per
share (2000: 2.7p) bringing the total dividend for the year to 4.15p per share
(2000: 3.5p). The final dividend is payable on 30 January 2002 to shareholders
on the register on 4 January 2002.

5.     Net cash flow from operating activities


                                                        2001        2000
                                                        £000        £000

       Operating profit                               14,815       9,077
       Depreciation charge                             8,127       6,788
       Amortisation of intangible fixed assets         2,035       1,600
       Profit on sale of fixed assets                    (61)       (156)
       Decrease/(increase) in stocks                   9,845     (10,646)
       Decrease/(increase) in debtors                 14,089     (31,381)
       (Decrease)/increase in creditors              (27,937)     38,496
                                                  _______________________
       Net cash inflow from operating activities      20,913      13,778

Copies of the Annual Report and Accounts may be obtained after the posting date
of 14 December 2001 from the registered office of the Company at: New Mill
House, 183 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4SE

A copy of this announcement is available at RM's internet site:
http://www.rm.com and a copy of the Annual Report and Accounts will be
available at the same site from 14 December 2001.