Re Agreement

Artisan (UK) PLC
14 August 2003



                                Artisan (UK) plc
                                 Announcement


             Artisan Investment in Stratus Services is Restructured


Stratus Services Group Inc, the -US employment services company listed on the
OTC Bulletin Board, have provided details in their latest SEC filing of an
agreement to restructure the investment held by Artisan (UK) plc.

The restructuring is principally contingent upon the success of Stratus in
raising a minimum of US$4,000,000 in a public offering of their securities.

In return for the redemption of the 1,458,933 units of Series 'A' preferred
stock held by Artisan, Artisan will receive:

   •US$500,000 cash
   •A further payment by the end of January 2005 of US$250,000 cash or common
    stock at the option of Stratus
   •Common stock equivalent to 5.5% of the adjusted enlarged share capital of
    Stratus
   •Certain lock up arrangements for subsequent disposal of common stock have
    been agreed.

The public offering by Stratus may take several months to achieve and it is not
certain that the minimum of US$4,000,000 will be achieved.

As previously advised Artisan has written down its entire investment in Stratus
to US$500,000, including 758,500 shares of common stock currently held and
therefore a further write down of the Stratus investment is not anticipated.



For further information, please contact:

Chris Musselle      Finance Director           01480 436 666
                    Artisan (UK) plc

Sarah Wharry        Seymour Pierce             020 7107 8000

Ben Simons          Hansard Communications     020 7245 1100





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