Holding in Company

Smith WH PLC 19 December 2000 DEALINGS BY SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDERS 1) NAME OF COMPANY WH SMITH PLC 2) NAME OF SHAREHOLDER HAVING A MAJOR INTEREST PRUDENTIAL PLC 3) Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of holding of the Shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a non-beneficial interest or in the case of an individual holder if it is a holding of that person's spouse or children under the age of 18 SEE LETTER BELOW DATED 19 DECEMBER 2000 4) Name of the registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the number of shares held by each of them. SEE LETTER BELOW DATED 19 DECEMBER 2000 5) Number of shares/amount of stock acquired. 6) ( N/A %) of issued Class 7) Number of shares/amount of stock disposed N/A 8) ( N/A %) of issued Class 9) Class of security ORDINARY SHARES OF 55 5/9 PENCE EACH 10) Date of transaction N/A 11) Date company informed 19 DECEMBER 2000 12) Total holding following this notification 8,800,545 13) Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification 3.51% 14) Any additional information 15) Name of contact and telephone number for queries A LAM (01793) 562489 16) Name and signature of authorised company official responsible for making this notification I HOUGHTON Date of Notification ...19 DECEMBER 2000 LETTER TO WH SMITH GROUP PLC, DATED 19 DECEMBER, 2000 Companies Act 1985 - Disclosures of Interests in Voting Shares In compliance with Part VI of the above Act, as amended, I inform you that, as a result of recent sales, the notifiable interest of Prudential Plc in the following class of voting shares in your company, is now specified below: NOTIFIABLES - POSITION REPORT 19-DEC-2000 SEDOL: 0268530 CLIENT FUND REPORTING GROUP: PPMB Shares Registered Current Holding In Issue Holder Holding % SMITH WH 0268530 ORD GBPX55.555555 250,851,492 M&G (LOMBARD ST) 602,047 0.24 NOMS FPM PPMCLT HSBC GIS NOM (UK) SALL 130,000 0.05 PRUCLT HSBC GIS NOM (UK) PAC AC 5,442,899 2.18 PRUCLT HSBC GIS NOM (UK) PHL AC 295,373 0.11 PRUCLT HSBC GIS NOM (UK) PPL AC 2,330,226 0.93 8,800,545 3.51% 250,851,492 FROM M&G INVESTMENT MANGEMENT LIMITED

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WH Smith (SMWH)
UK 100

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