Holding(s) in Company

RNS Number : 9682L

Provident Financial PLC

20 January 2009

TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:

Provident Financial plc

2. Reason for notification (yes/no)

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights

Yes

An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights

Other (please specify):______________

3. Full name of person(s) subject to notification obligation:	FIL Limited
4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3):	Bank of New York Brussels Brown Bros Harrimn Ltd Lux J P Morgan Bournemouth Northern Trust London
5. Date of transaction (and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached if different):	16 January 2009
6. Date on which issuer notified:	20 January 2009
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:	5%

8: Notified Details
A: Voting rights attached to shares
Class/type of shares If possible use ISIN code	Situation previous to the triggering transaction		Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
	Number of shares	Number of voting rights	Number of shares	Number of voting rights		Percentage of voting rights
				Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
ISIN GB00B1Z4ST84	6,579,823	6,579,823	6,567,732	6,567,732		4.99%

B: Financial Instruments
Resulting situation after the triggering transaction
Type of financial instrument	Expiration date	Exercise/ conversion period/date	No. of voting rights that may be acquired (if the instrument exercised/converted)	Percentage of voting rights

Total (A+B)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

6,567,732

4.99%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and /or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:

FIL Limited (FIL) is the parent holding company for various direct and indirect subsidiaries, including FIL Fund Management Limited (FFML), FIL Investment Services Ltd (FISL), FIL Gestion (FIGEST), FIL Asset Management (Korea) Limited (FIAKL), FIL Investments Management (Hong Kong) Limited (FIMHK), FIL Pension Management (FPM), Fidelity Investments Japan (FIJ) and FIL Investments International (FII), investment managers for various non-US investment companies and institutional clients.

Nominee	Shares held	Management Company
Bank of New York Brussels	55,300	FPM
Brown Bros Harrimn Ltd Lux	59,760	FIL
JP Morgan Bournemouth	687,622	FII
JP Morgan Bournemouth	1,750	FIL
J P Morgan Bournemouth	5,624,400	FISL
Northern Trust London	138,900	FPM