Results to 1 April 2000

600 Group PLC
19 June 2000

                                                                  

                               THE 600 GROUP PLC
                                       
              PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD TO 1 APRIL 2000

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

During the year, increased international market penetration and tight
financial control generated a profitable performance and strengthened our net
funds position, despite the current cyclical downturn in the international
machine tool industry.

Results
As anticipated in my interim statement, the UK and North American markets
showed limited signs of recovery towards the end of the year, following a very
depressed first half. However, strong growth in our laser and UK factored
businesses, together with full year results from our recent French and German
acquisitions, only partially offset the reductions in activity in our North
American and UK lathe based operations, where the effect of reduced market
demand was compounded by substantial supply chain destocking and the weak
euro. Australia and South Africa continued to struggle against very difficult
market conditions. The resulting turnover from continuing operations reduced
from £111m to £97m.

Further action was taken during the year to reduce costs in response to these
market conditions, including redundancies costing £0.6m (1999: £0.5m).

As indicated in our trading update of 2 June 2000, the Group generated a
profit before tax of £6.2m (1999: £4.1m), including a pension credit of £5.1m
(1999: £0.5m).

Earnings per share were 9.7p (1999: 5.8p) and net funds increased to £15.5m
(1999: £7.3m).

Dividend
The board recommends a final dividend of 4.0 pence per share, giving a
maintained full year dividend of 5.5 pence per share. The board intends to
continue a progressive but prudent distribution policy, having due regard to
the Group's long-term earnings trend, strategic development and availability
of cash resources.

Strategy
The Group has continued to focus on its core metal cutting and laser machine
tool businesses. All companies introduced new products, coupled with
additional programmes aimed at increasing market share. Our financial
resources and increased international selling organisation are allowing us to
pursue acquisition and partnership opportunities to improve our market
penetration and accelerate our product development programmes.

People
Both Chris Schauer and Brian Knightley will retire from the board after the
Annual General Meeting. Their contribution to the Group has been significant
over many years and I should like to record the thanks of the board and our
very best wishes for their future endeavours.

On behalf of the board, I should like to record our appreciation of the
continued efforts of all our employees, which have resulted in the further
development of the Group in a difficult trading environment.

Outlook
The UK and USA markets are unlikely to experience significant recoveries until
well into the coming year, whilst the principal continental European markets
are expected to continue to show a slow but erratic growth trend. With the
resources currently devoted to our extensive product and market share
development programmes, I am confident that we shall continue to maximise the
opportunities that will arise as the major international markets consolidate
and recover.

Michael Wright
Chairman
19 June 2000


Enquiries:   Tony Sweeten, Group Chief Executive
             John Fussey, Group Finance Director

Telephone:   [phone] on Monday 19 June 2000
             Thereafter on 0113 277 6100

GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

Last year we faced an exceptional coincidence of difficulties in all our major
international markets. Our response to this was positive. We strengthened our
competitive position through continued investment in new higher-technology
products and by further reductions in operating costs, headcount and
inventory. We also realised our strategic goal of becoming a focused machine
tool group through further rationalisation of our operations in the UK and
overseas.

Market trends

The breadth of our product range and our international marketing network
normally afford us some protection from machine tool business cycles. Last
year we faced an exceptional set of circumstances in all our major markets. In
the US, demand for metal cutting machine tools fell by some 40% over the year
as a whole, with a sharp downturn in the first half only partially offset by
recovery in the latter part of the year. UK demand fell by 30%, with the weak
euro creating much uncertainty in the manufacturing sector and restraining
capital investment. The markets of continental Europe were more resilient,
showing only a marginal decline year-on-year, though the progressive weakening
of the euro against sterling presented a considerable challenge to our UK
exporting companies.

Strategic development

We continued to pursue the clear strategy outlined in previous years:

1.   Increasing our focus on our core machine tool activities, with the
     closure of our Leeds steel stockholding business and the rationalisation 
     of our international businesses.

2.   Maintaining our market leadership through innovation, with major product
     introductions during the year in our lathes and laser businesses.

3.   Reducing our cost base across the Group, including a 23% reduction in
     total manpower over the past two years, despite our acquisitions of      
     Parat, Guitton and Metal Muncher.

Even under the difficult conditions we encountered last year, constant
innovation and cost reduction have enabled us to compete effectively and to
outperform our markets.

UNITED KINGDOM OPERATIONS

600 Lathes operates Europe's largest volume lathe factory, manufacturing
machines under the market leading Colchester and Harrison brands.

The business continued its impressive programme of new product launches.
Colchester introduced a new 'lights out' Tornado lathe, designed for unmanned
operation, and the new Combi K slant bed electronic lathe, an extremely
versatile machine making it ideal for our sub-contractor customers. The
Harrison Alpha Plus S range of computer-assisted lathes, launched last year,
has enjoyed excellent market reaction and has grown to be our most important
range of lathes. The range was expanded this year with the addition of the new
Alpha 800 model, which is generating additional sales in new markets.

600 Centre, our UK marketing operation for imported machine tools, achieved
increases in its share of all key product segments. The business benefited
from its specialist focus on high technology products in strongly growing
market sectors. In particular, it enjoyed good sales growth in wirecut
electro-discharge machines, CNC grinding machines and Fanuc Robodrills.

Crawford Collets, our manufacturer of high precision collets and work holding
systems, is a market leader in its field. New plant was installed this year to
enhance its established reputation for premium quality products and to
manufacture new lines that have been developed to meet the growing market for
computer-assisted lathes.

Gamet Bearings is our manufacturer of super high precision taper roller
bearings for machine tools and similar applications and has continued to
increase its market penetration, especially in the Far East. Gamet continues
to be at the forefront of product development, introducing a new range of high
speed coated bearings in response to customers' demands for ever increasing
speed.

Pratt Burnerd International has a worldwide reputation for its chucking
systems and advanced electric turrets. The company has embraced new technology
in its Radio Frequency Gripmeter, an important piece of modern safety
equipment to test the gripping force of a machine tool chuck while it is
rotating. Growth opportunities have been identified this year with the
introduction of a range of larger chucks for use in new market sectors.

Electrox is increasingly becoming a world force in the manufacture of laser
systems and laser markers, increasing its share of this growing market for
high technology products through a combination of innovative new product
development, strong marketing and strategic selling initiatives.

Sales to the Far East and North America have increased substantially and the
introduction during the year of new products, such as the economy Scriba E and
the ruggedised Scriba Duo II twin head marker, will provide further
opportunities for continued growth.

Profile 600 uses an Electrox laser in its Lazerblade profile cutting machine.
With its fully integrated design, the Lazerblade range offers the best value
for money of any machine in its class and it is already gaining an excellent
reputation in the field. Sales have been growing in the UK and the USA and
significant further growth is planned in all markets.

Product development has widened the appeal of the original machine with the
introduction of new higher power versions, together with new automation
systems and cutting technology developments that have considerably increased
its capability.

600 Machinery International is our international trading company that provides
the Group with a presence in the Middle East, China, Africa and South America.
The company had another good year with major shipments to Egypt and increased
sales of Group products into all its territories.

OVERSEAS OPERATIONS

Parat, our German distribution business, had a good year with sales of
Harrison Alpha machines holding up well, despite the weakness of the euro, and
specialist mould making machinery from Fidia in Italy selling exceptionally
well into the German automotive industry - a new market for the 600 Group.

600 France, our new subsidiary purchased as Guitton in February 1999, has been
restructured as planned to focus on growing machine tool sales in France. Our
first-ever stand at the French Machines Outils exhibition in Paris earlier
this year was a great success and gave us the opportunity to launch our new
company as well as the latest Harrison and Bridgeport machines.

Clausing Industrial is our North American operation with both manufacturing
and distribution activities. The company manufactures drilling and sawing
machines and our recent acquisition of Metal Muncher has strengthened this
activity. It also imports and distributes a wide range of machine tools from
around the world as well as our own Colchester lathes.

Sales held up well despite the difficult US market with some sectors, such as
conventional Colchester lathe sales, growing strongly. After an extensive
period of test marketing, we successfully introduced the Stingray range of
machining centres into the USA and, despite a weak market for CNC machines,
sales are starting to develop strongly.

Sales of our higher-technology products and value-added systems generated
another robust performance in Canada.

600 International is our Prague office with responsibility for co-ordinating
our sales activity in Central and Eastern Europe. This is a small but
important growth area for the 600 Group and one in which we have considerable
experience and connections. 600 International is continuing to develop our
distribution network in these markets.

600 Machine Tools is the new name for 600 Machinery Australia and reflects its
new strategy and business focus. It continues to do good business with the
Harrison Alpha range and is complementing this with steady progress with Fanuc
and Supermax machines imported from Japan and Taiwan respectively.

600SA, our operation in South Africa, had a difficult year against the
background of deep market recession and a substantial fall in the rand.
Despite retrenchments and a flexible marketing approach, sales of all products
have been depressed.

PROSPECTS

The second half of last year brought the expected improvement over the first
half, as we began to see the start of a cyclical upturn in both the USA and
UK. This upturn is widely expected to continue, although current general
economic uncertainties mean that the exact rates of recovery are difficult to
predict. We expect continued market growth in the Far East and in continental
Europe. Distributor de-stocking is now virtually complete and, therefore,
sales of lathes and associated accessories will soon start to revert to actual
end-user consumption rates.

Throughout the coming year, we anticipate further growth from our higher-
technology products and this growth will accelerate as the underlying markets
improve.

Our investment in product development during the last 12 months will start to
bring rewards during the second half of the year, as additional new products
are introduced. In many cases these products will be addressing new markets,
providing real incremental growth opportunities.

During the past year we have improved our market presence in continental
Europe and we now have several major initiatives to substantially increase our
presence in the USA over the next few months.

I believe that this co-ordinated programme of product development and
increased international market presence will ensure the continued profitable
development of the Group.

Tony Sweeten
Group Chief Executive
19 June 2000


AUDITED CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT

                                          Period           Period
                                           ended            ended
                                         1 April          3 April
                                            2000             1999
                                            £000             £000
Turnover                                                         
- Continuing operations                   97,176          110,994
- Discontinued operations                  1,507            5,854
                                         -------          -------
                                          98,683          116,848
Cost of sales                            (72,881)         (85,891)
                                         -------          -------
Gross profit                              25,802           30,957
Net operating expenses                   (19,598)         (25,547)
Operating profit                                                 
- Continuing operations                    6,039            6,052
- Discontinued operations                    165             (642)
                                         -------          -------
                                           6,204            5,410
Provision for loss on discontinued            
operations                                     -           (1,597)
                                         -------          -------
Profit on ordinary activities before       
interest                                   6,204            3,813
Net interest receivable and similar           
charges                                       21              249
                                         -------          -------
Profit on ordinary activities before       
taxation                                   6,225            4,062
- including pension credit of £5,097,000
   (1999: £466,000)
                                                                 
Taxation                                    (674)            (715)
                                         -------          -------             
              
Profit for the financial period            5,551            3,347
Dividends                                                        
     - Equity                             (3,083)          (3,084)
     - Non-equity                           (132)             (93)
                                         -------          -------
                                          (3,215)          (3,177)
                                         -------          -------
Retained profit for the financial          
period transferred to reserves             2,336              170
                                         =======          =======
Earnings per share - basic                  9.7p             5.8p
Earnings per share - diluted                9.7p             5.8p


AUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

                                                                 
                                           At 1              At 3
                                          April             April
                                           2000              1999
                                           £000              £000
Fixed assets                                                     
Intangible assets - goodwill              3,392             3,042
Tangible assets                          20,254            25,349
Investments                                  84                84
                                        -------           -------
                                         23,730            28,475
                                        -------           -------
Current assets                                                   
Stocks                                   27,154            31,564
Debtors:                                                         
     - falling due within one year       23,216            26,615
     - falling due after one year        19,703            14,690
                                        -------           -------
                                         42,919            41,305

Investments                               3,197             3,586
Cash at bank and in hand                 24,897            19,158
                                        -------           -------
                                         98,167            95,613
Current liabilities                                              
Creditors:  amounts falling due                                  
 within one year:
     - short-term borrowings             (5,505)           (3,363)
     - other creditors                  (21,054)          (22,517)
                                        -------           -------
                                        (26,559)          (25,880)
                                        -------           -------
Net current assets                       71,608            69,733
                                        -------           -------
Total assets less current                95,338            98,208
 liabilities
Creditors:  amounts falling due                                  
 after more than one year:
     - loans and other borrowings        (7,133)          (12,068)
     - other creditors                     (750)             (670)
                                        -------           -------
                                         (7,883)          (12,738)
                                        -------           -------
Provisions for liabilities and charges     (403)             (676)
                                        -------           -------
Net assets                               87,052            84,794
                                        -------           -------             
Capital and reserves                                             
Called up share capital                  16,512            16,509
Share premium account                    13,510            13,505
Revaluation reserve                       2,385             2,885
Profit and loss account                  54,645            51,895
                                        -------           -------
Shareholders' funds (including non-      
 equity)                                 87,052            84,794
                                        -------           -------
                                                                 
AUDITED GROUP CASH FLOW STATEMENT

                                        Period ended       Period ended
                                        1 April 2000       3 April 1999
                                        £000      £000     £000      £000
Net cash inflow from operating                   
 activities                                      8,911             10,012     
                                
Returns on investments and                                  
 servicing of finance
Interest received                      1,209              1,520       
Interest paid                         (1,018)            (1,041)       
Interest element of finance                   
 lease rental payments                  (180)              (233) 
Preference dividends paid               (132)               (93)       
                                     -------            -------
Returns on investments and              
 servicing of finance                             (121)               153
Taxation paid                                   (1,439)            (2,480) 
Capital expenditure                                         
Purchase of tangible fixed assets     (1,034)            (2,943)       
                              
Net receipt from sale of tangible               
 fixed assets                          3,741                335
                                     -------            -------
Capital expenditure                              2,707             (2,608)
                                                          
Acquisitions and disposals                                  
Acquisitions                            (570)            (4,098)       
                                                    
Net overdraft acquired with               
 businesses                                -                (59) 
                                     -------            -------
Acquisitions and disposals                        (570)            (4,157)
                                                          
Equity dividends paid                           (1,401)            (4,762)
                                               -------            -------
Net cash inflow/(outflow)                                   
 before use of liquid resources                 
  and financing                                  8,087             (3,842)    
                        
Management of liquid resources                                    

Purchase of term deposits             (6,640)              (458)       
                                   
Reduction of current assets-                    
 investments                             389                199
                                     -------            -------
Management of liquid resources                  (6,251)              (259)
                                   
Financing                                                   
Issue of ordinary share capital            8                37       

New bank loans                             -             4,799       
Repayment of bank loans               (1,345)             (744)       
Capital element of finance            
 lease rental payments                  (813)             (815)
                                     -------           ------- 
Net cash (outflow)/inflow for          
 financing                                      (2,150)             3,277     
                   
(Decrease) in cash in the period                  (314)              (824)
                                               =======            =======     
                                    

Liquid resources are defined as term deposits and amounts held as current
assets-investments.


NOTES

1.   The financial information set out below does not constitute the company's
     statutory accounts for the period ended 1 April 2000 or the period  ended
     3 April 1999 but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 
     1999 have been delivered to the registrar of companies, whereas those for
     2000 will be delivered following the company's Annual General Meeting.
     The auditor has reported  on  the 1999 accounts; its report was          
   unqualified and did not contain a statement under section 237(2) or (3)
     of the Companies Act 1985.


2.   The annual report will be posted to all shareholders in due course  and
     will be available on request from the Secretary, The 600 Group PLC, 600  
     House, Landmark Court, Revie Road, Leeds LS11 8JT.

3.   The final dividend of 4.0p per share, if approved by shareholders at the
     Annual General Meeting, will be paid on 11 September 2000 to shareholders
     on the register at 11 August 2000.