Newham LEA PFI Contract

RM PLC
06 May 2004

                                                                      6 May 2004



          RM confirms £20 million Newham LEA educational PFI contract



RM plc, the UK's leading supplier of information and communications technology
(ICT) and other services to education, confirms that it has signed an
educational ICT PFI project worth approximately £20 million with Newham LEA
(local education authority).  The Group announced on the 13th April 2004 that it
had been appointed preferred bidder for the contract.

Under the eight-year contract, RM will provide 30 primary schools in Newham with
innovative ICT-based teaching environments.

Commenting on the contract, Tim Pearson, CEO of RM, said:

'We're delighted to be working with Newham LEA to provide a service that is both
educationally and technologically innovative. The ICT-based teaching and
learning environments we are providing will place technology at the heart of
learning and in the centre of the classroom.'

                                    - Ends -



For further information, please contact:
Mike Greig/Phil Hemmings, RM plc                              08709 200200
Fiona Laffan/Mark Antelme, Brunswick                          020 7404 5959



Notes to Editors:

1.      The Newham PFI project is one of four Department for Education and
Skills (DfES) pathfinder projects designed to raise educational standards
through the innovative application of information and communications technology.

2.      RM will equip 146 classrooms with interactive whole-class teaching
environments comprising interactive whiteboards, the Kaleidos VTLE (virtual
teaching and learning environment) and a range of interactive learning content
from RM and other educational software publishers.  Teachers will be provided
with Tablet PCs for planning and lesson delivery, with teaching assistants and
more than 4,000 pupils receiving notebook computers.  Underpinning the
whole-class teaching environments will be Community Connect 3 networks with
wireless capabilities in each school, combined with an authority-wide portal
based on Microsoft SharePoint Portal server.

3.      Financing for the PFI element of the project will be provided for from
RM's cash resources.  The peak financing requirement is expected to be £6
million in 2005.  After an initial start-up phase, revenue from annual turnover
for the eight-year contract is expected to be broadly flat.

4.      Interactive whiteboards combine digital projection and a wall-mounted,
interactive surface, allowing computer-generated content to be displayed on and
controlled from a classroom wall.  Community Connect 3 is RM's market-leading
school networking product family.  Kaleidos is an innovative software
environment that allows teachers to plan, prepare, deliver and assess programmes
of learning using digital learning content.


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