Final Results

Clarke(T.) PLC
12 March 2004


            Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003

     T. CLARKE ANNOUNCES STRONG PEFORMANCE AS ACQUISITIONS STRENGTHEN GROUP

T. Clarke plc, the electrical engineering and contracting company, has announced
its preliminary results for the year to 31 December 2003.

   •Profit before amortisation of goodwill £9.54M (2002: £11.29M)
   •Profit Before Tax £8.94M (2002: £10.79M)
   •Turnover £143.3M (2002: £144M)
   •EPS 46.8p (2002: 56p)
   •Final Dividend up to 19p (2002: 18p)
   •Special Dividend of 10p per share paid in September
   •Total Dividend for the year 27p (2002: 25p) - Excluding Special Dividend
   •Acquisition announced of Mitchell and Hewitt, based in Derby for £5.9m
   •Aylward Electrical acquired in July for £3.4M

Major completions include:    - Imperial College of Science, London
                              - Paternoster Square, St Paul's
                              - BBC White City, London
                              - BBC Mailbox, Birmingham
                              - Times Square, EC2
                              - More London, SE1

Major projects won include:   - Bishop's Square, Bishopsgate, London
                              - Cardinal Place, Victoria
                              - BBC West One, London

Russell Race, Chairman commented:

' Given the difficult trading conditions during the year, especially in our core
markets of London and the South East, these results are a credit to the entire
Group. Turnover has remained robust, but as we anticipated, margins have
tightened. We are delighted that we have won an encouraging number of new
contracts, which improves our visible earnings stream into 2005 and 2006.

' We have continued to broaden the base of the business in the regions and our
acquisitions are performing well. I am delighted to announce today that we have
agreed to buy Mitchell & Hewitt, an electrical contractor based in Derby. We are
confident that this will complement our existing Midlands operations.

' Looking forward, whilst our markets remain challenging, we are confident that
the long-term prospects for our markets looks more promising. There are positive
signs of renewed activity in our core markets and this bodes well for the
Group.'

                                     -ends-

Date: 12 March 2004
For further information contact:

T. Clarke plc                                 City Profile Group
Pat Stanborough, Chief Executive              Simon Courtenay
John Daly, Finance Director                   Tel: [phone]
Tel: [phone]
web: www.tclarke.co.uk


Chairman's Statement

Results for 2003

Early in the year we warned of potentially difficult trading conditions, the
main impact of which fell on our core London & South East activities during the
second half. Despite this, I am pleased to report that Group turnover decreased
by less than 1% to £ 143.3m ( 3% excluding the acquisition made during the year),
however profit before tax was down by 17% to £ 8.94m ( 20% before acquisition),
reflecting the anticipated tightening of margins.

Earnings per share fell from 56.0p to 46.8p but, given the Board's confidence in
the medium term outlook for the Group, a final dividend of 19p per share ( 2002:
18p ) is being recommended, which together with the interim payment would bring
the total for the year to 27p per share ( 2002: 25p ) excluding the special
dividend of 10p per share paid at the interim stage.

The combined effects of acquisitions ( including the GDI loan notes paid during
the year ), property purchases and in particular the fall off in volume of major
contracts in the London area, together with the special dividend, resulted in a
fall in cash balances at the year end to £ 14m ( December 2002: £22m ).

Operational Review

We anticipated at the interim stage that, despite the slowdown in new orders
being received in the Home Counties, we would achieve market expectations for
the year and that proved to be the case. In the London area, major completions
during the year included Imperial College, Paternoster Square, BBC White City,
BBC Mailbox Birmingham, Times Square and More London. Current major projects in
the Capital include The Treasury East Whitehall, Bank of America Canary Wharf
and the New London Stock Exchange.

In the longer term, recently won London contracts which will be started during
this year and carry forward to 2005 and 2006 include Bishop's Square
Bishopsgate, Cardinal Place Victoria, Romford & Havering Hospital, Hammersmith
Hospital Renal Unit, Imperial College Framework Agreement along with BBC West
One.

It is worth highlighting the success during the year of many of our regional
operations, with several of the businesses achieving outstanding results. While
the average size of regional contracts is smaller than those secured in London,
there were some notable contract wins in 2003 including Albion Tower Leeds,
Horizon West Business Park Newbury for Vodafone, HMP Prison Preston Daycare
Centre along with the completion of five stores for Waitrose Supermarkets.

There was also a significant increase in the volume of profitable smaller
contracts executed in the regions during the year.

Strategic Review

We welcomed into the Group in July the Aylward companies for a consideration of
£ 3.4m. I am pleased to announce the acquisition yesterday of Mitchell & Hewitt
Ltd. for £ 5.9m. This company, based in Derby, will complement our Midlands
activities and we welcome the directors and staff to the Clarke Group.

We will continue to consider further acquisitions where these would strengthen
our regional coverage.

Staff Development

Despite the slowdown the group has continued to keep up its numbers of
apprentices and other trainees as we acknowledge that our continued growth is
well served by a steady flow of trained and qualified new operatives. We are
also aware of the need to continue to encourage where possible the employment of
more women and members of the ethnic minorities in our workforce.

During 2003 we completed our training programme for the Construction Skills
Certification Scheme card as required by the Major Contractors Group across our
entire operations, which means that we have achieved this target about a year
ahead of the requirement. This highlights our drive for continuous improvement.

Corporate Governance

In response to the new requirements we have incorporated in our report those
disclosures that we already comply with. Special Resolution No. 1 is an
amendment to the Articles so that Executive Directors need to be re-elected
every three years to bring the articles in line with Corporate Governance
requirements and Messrs Stanborough, Fairman & DeFalco are being put up for
re-election in anticipation of the above amendment being approved.

Special Resolution No.2 will give the company the ability to entertain proxy
voting by electronic means. This will allow our Crest registered shareholders to
use proxy voting via Crest and we could consider other electronic methods of
voting for non Crest shareholders. The resolution also allows for the
communication with shareholders electronically but the company does not intend
to use this ability in the short term.

In anticipation of the requirement of the new Corporate Governance regulations
the company has commenced work on a Social Responsibility Policy and will
publish the same in due course along with its Heath & Safety and Risk Management
Policies.

Prospects

We continue to experience very different trading conditions across various parts
of the Group. Whilst the regional operations are in general enjoying
satisfactory levels of demand, London and Home Counties are still patchy, with
many large contracts taken to planning only to be still awaiting final approval.
Additionally, margin pressure continues unabated throughout the country and
particularly so on the larger, long-term contracts.

Overall, we anticipate that turnover for the year may approach last year's
level, but the achievement of profits in line with 2003 depends very much on the
timing of the upswing of demand in the London commercial market. The outlook for
2005 and beyond looks particularly bright, given the positive signs of renewed
demand for commercial properties in the City and West End.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff including my
executive colleagues for the hard work that they have put in during a difficult
year and commend them on the results that they have achieved in demanding
circumstances. In particular I would like to pay tribute to John Nixon who
retired on grounds of ill health last year and was a loyal servant to the T
Clarke Group for over forty years and also to wish Barry Buchanan a happy
retirement following his decision to take early retirement after just less than
forty years service with T Clarke.

11 March 2004
R.J.Race
Chairman


Group profit and loss account
For the year ended 31st December 2003
                                                      2003           2002
                                 Continuing              £              £
                Acquisitions     Operations          Total          Total

Turnover           3,867,421    139,397,875    143,265,296    143,990,323

Cost of            2,942,722    119,746,613    122,689,335    122,505,302
 sales
________________________________________________________________________________

Gross Profit         924,699     19,651,262     20,575,961     21,485,021

Administrative       748,430     11,542,575     12,291,005     11,303,387
 expenses
________________________________________________________________________________

Operating            176,269      8,108,687      8,284,956     10,181,634
 profit
________________________________________________________________________________            

Interest                                           655,569        614,806
 receivable
 (net)
________________________________________________________________________________

Profit on
 ordinary                                        8,940,525     10,796,440
 activities
 before
 taxation

Taxation on
 profit on                                       2,941,000      3,612,818
 ordinary
 activities
________________________________________________________________________________

Profit on
 ordinary                                        5,999,525      7,183,622
 activities
 after taxation

Dividends                                        4,743,007      3,204,745
________________________________________________________________________________

Profit for the
 financial                                       1,256,518      3,978,877
 year
________________________________________________________________________________
Earnings per                                          46.8 pence    56.04 pence
 share
________________________________________________________________________________
In 2002 and 2003 the group had no recognised gains or losses other than the
result for the financial year.


Group balance sheet
At 31st December 2003
                                                   2003           2002
                                                      £              £
Fixed assets

Goodwill                                      5,653,644      4,158,645

Tangible assets                               4,685,182      3,297,857
________________________________________________________________________________

                                             10,338,826      7,456,502
________________________________________________________________________________

Deferred taxation                                39,984         25,461
________________________________________________________________________________

Current assets

Work in progress                              4,617,142      4,594,849

Debtors                                      14,737,627     15,598,865

Cash at bank and in hand                     17,064,594     24,930,060
________________________________________________________________________________

                                             36,419,363     45,123,774

Creditors, amounts falling due within one   (28,452,194)   (35,601,036)
 year
________________________________________________________________________________

Net current assets                            7,967,169      9,522,738
________________________________________________________________________________

Total assets less current liabilities        18,345,979     17,004,701

Creditors, amounts falling due after more       (97,808)       (13,048) 
 than one year                                  

________________________________________________________________________________

                                             18,248,171     16,991,653
________________________________________________________________________________

Capital and reserves

Called up equity share capital                1,281,898      1,281,898

Share premium                                 1,046,602      1,046,602

Revaluation reserve                              35,971         37,303

Profit and loss account                      15,883,700     14,625,850
________________________________________________________________________________

Equity Shareholders' funds                   18,248,171     16,991,653
________________________________________________________________________________

These financial statements were approved by the board on 11th March 2004

                        P.E. STANBOROUGH  Director
                        R.J. RACE         Director


Group cash flow statement
For the year ended 31st December 2003

                               2003                          2002
                          £             £              £             £

Net cash                        4,740,693                   18,760,375
 inflow from
 operating
 activities

Returns on
 investments
 and servicing
 of finance

Interest            714,152                      611,279
 received
Interest            (58,583)                     (96,473)
 paid
________________________________________________________________________________

Net cash
 inflow from                      655,569                      614,806
 returns on
 investments
 and servicing
 of finance

Taxation

UK corporation                 (3,386,319)                  (3,464,994)
 tax paid

Capital
 expenditure
 and financial
 investment

Purchase of      (1,508,006)                    (892,594)
 tangible fixed
 assets
Sale of              41,567                       89,555
 tangible fixed
 assets
________________________________________________________________________________


Net cash
 outflow from                  (1,466,439)                    (803,039)
 capital
 expenditure
 and
 financial
 investment

Acquisitions
 and
 disposals

Purchase of      (3,287,931)                  (2,668,592)
 subsidiaries
Net cash            234,688                    1,178,615
 acquired with
 subsidiaries
________________________________________________________________________________


                               (3,053,243)                  (1,489,977)

Equity                         (4,614,832)                  (2,820,176)
 dividends paid
________________________________________________________________________________


Cash inflow                     7,124,569                   10,796,995
 before use of
 liquid
 resources

Management of
 liquid
 resources

Cash placed on  (13,500,000)                 (22,802,492)
 short term
 deposits
Cash received    22,802,492                   15,000,000
 from short
 term deposits
________________________________________________________________________________


Net cash
 inflow /                       9,302,492                   (7,802,492)
 outflow from
 management of
 liquid
 resources
________________________________________________________________________________

Increase/
 (decrease) in                   2,177,923                   (2,994,503)
 cash in the
 year before
 financing

Financing
Finance lease       (15,848)            -         (8,739)
 payments
Repayment of     (1,109,897)                  (1,478,500)
 loan notes
________________________________________________________________________________

                               (1,125,745)                  (1,478,239)
________________________________________________________________________________

Increase in                     1,052,178                    1,507,264
 cash in the
 year
________________________________________________________________________________

Notes :-

    1. The earnings per share represents the profit for the year on ordinary
    activities after taxation divided by the number of ordinary shares in issue.
    The numbers of ordinary shares, being a weighted average, for the purpose of
    this calculation, is 12,818,980 (2002: 12,818,980).

    2. The figures for the year ended 31 December 2003 have been extracted from
    the full audited accounts for the year, which have not yet been delivered to
    the Registrar of Companies. The figures have been prepared and compiled in
    accordance with applicable accounting standards under the historical cost
    convention. The comparative figures for the year ended 31 December 2002 have
    been taken from, but do not constitute, the group's statutory accounts for
    the year. Those statutory accounts have been reported on by the group's
    auditors and will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of
    the auditors was unqualified and did not contain a statement under section
    237 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 1985.

    3. Copies of the annual report and accounts will be posted to shareholders
    shortly. Further copies can be obtained from the Company's registered
    office; Stanhope House, 116-118 Walworth Road, London, SE17 1JY.

    4. The Company's Annual General Meeting will be held in the Bishops Room,
    Simpsons, The Strand, London WC2 on Friday 7 May 2004 at 12:00 noon.

    5. Subject to the approval of shareholders the final dividend of 19 pence per
    share will be paid on 10 May 2004. The shares will go ex-dividend on 14
    April 2004. The records will close on 16 April 2004.







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