Final Results

Athelney Trust PLC
9 April 2002



                              ATHELNEY TRUST PLC:

                              PRELIMINARY RESULTS



Athelney Trust Plc ('Athelney'), the AIM-listed imvestor in small companies and
junior markets, announces its audited results for the year ended 31 December
2001. The main points are:

  • Net Asset Value ('NAV') 103.9p per share (2000: 104.6p)
  • Gross Revenue rose 45 per cent to £86,424 (2000: £59,604)
  • Revenue return per ordinary share up 65 per cent at 2.8p (2000: 1.7p)
  • Recommend dividend for the year 1.7p per share (2000: 1.6p)

Athelney Chairman, Hugo Deschampsneufs, said: 'Hardly had the ink dried on my
optimistic assessment of smaller companies in general and Athelney in
particular, than those two airliners crashed into the World Trade Center.
Markets immediately tumbled and, although a convincing recovery has taken place
since then, sentiment is still very fragile. In the circumstances, the fall of
only 0.7 per cent in Athleney's NAV is considered a satisfactory result by the
Board.

'In these difficult times stock selection will continue to be of the utmost
importance. Whatever the state of the economy, there are always companies
reinventing themselves, developing new products and outperforming their
competitors through better management.

'Smaller companies have more room to manoeuvre and greater flexibility in their
response to changing market conditions and, therefore, remain an attractive
investment. I retain my strong belief in Athelney's resilience and ability to
grow assets and dividends in the future'.

                                     -ends-


For further information:

Robin Boyle, Managing Director

Athelney Trust Plc                              020 7630 0036

Paul Quade

CityRoad Communications                         020 7334 0243





                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

                    AUDITED RESULTS AND CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

                      FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2001


I have pleasure in presenting the results for the 12 months to 31 December 2001.
The salient points are:


      • Net Asset Value is now 103.9p per share (2000: 104.6p)

      • Gross Revenue rose by 45 per cent to £86,424

      • Revenue return per ordinary share was 2.8p, an increase of 65 per cent

      • Recommended dividend for the year 1.7p per share (2000: 1.6p)


Results

Hardly had the ink dried on my optimistic assessment of smaller companies in
general and Athelney in particular in early September than those two airliners
crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Markets immediately
tumbled and, although a convincing recovery has taken place since then,
sentiment is still very fragile. In the circumstances, the fall of only 0.7 per
cent in Athelney's Net Asset Value in the year 2001 is considered a satisfactory
result by the Board. This is the second year that Athelney's Net Asset Value has
remained virtually unchanged whereas stock market prices generally have fallen
sharply.


It has been another busy year for the portfolio, with bids being accepted for
BLP Group, Brook Service Group, Nightfreight, Cakebread Robey, DBS Management,
Time Products and Relyon. Shares in the following have been sold: Comprehensive
Business Services, European Colour, Isotron, Jennings Brothers, Microgen
Holdings, Orbis, William Nash whilst we have reduced our holdings in SFI Group,
WSP Group and Wyevale Garden Centres.


New purchases were made of Alphameric, Compel Group, T Clarke, Clarkson, James
Cropper, Dicom Group, James Fisher, Galliford Try, ICM Computer Group, Intelek,
MTL Instruments, Plasmon, Radstone Technology, CA Coutts Holdings,
Communite.com, CRC Group, Delcam, Genus, Mettoni Group, Personal Group Holdings
and Private & Commercial Finance Corporation. Existing holdings were increased
in Gowrings, Seascope Shipping and the NWF Group.




Dividend

The receipt of a large special dividend from William Nash resulted in headline
gross revenue rising by 45 per cent to £86,424. The underlying position is that
total revenue has actually fallen slightly this year, influenced partly by the
move to invest a portion of the portfolio (around 11 per cent) in low yield
growth / recovery stocks in the technology, media and telecoms sector and partly
by the willingness of incumbent management to cut dividends in difficult times,
yet only marginally increase payments in a good year. All things considered, the
Board believes that it is right to recommend a modest increase of 6.3 per cent
to 1.7p per share, even though, on projections for dividend income in 2002, the
proposed dividend may not be covered by earnings in the current year.





Financial Reporting Standard 19 ('FRS 19')

The Accounting Standards Board has issued FRS19 which deals with the way
companies account for deferred tax, with the main aim of achieving consistency
nationally and internationally in this complex area of accounting. For companies
such as Athelney, a provision for deferred tax would arise under FRS 19 mainly
because investments are required to be brought into the accounts at market value
which may be higher or lower than that allowed for Capital Gains Tax purposes.
If all these gains were realised on the balance sheet date a tax liability would
arise and this is the main element of the potential deferred tax liability.




Financial Reporting Standard 19 ('FRS 19') - continued

Athelney has always shown Net Asset Value before allowing for a provision for
the tax which would become payable if the entire investment portfolio was sold
at its stated market value on the balance sheet date, and has appended a note
showing the full potential amount of such tax.

Following the adoption of FRS19 a provision for the deferred tax arising on such
unrealised gains will become mandatory; in Athelney's case this will apply to
the year ending 31 December 2002. In order to inform shareholders of the likely
effect of this change of accounting policy, we have included an estimate of the
impact of this change in note 10 to the financial statements. Based on this
estimate, there would be a reduction of £143,000 in shareholders' funds and a
drop of 8p in Net Assets per share.



Prospects

In these difficult times, with visibility extremely limited for both the economy
and profits, stock selection will continue to be of the utmost importance.
Whatever the state of the economy, there are always companies reinventing
themselves, developing new products and outperforming their competitors through
better management. Smaller companies have more room to manoeuvre and greater
flexibility in their response to changing market conditions and therefore remain
an attractive investment. Although more difficult perhaps than in previous
years, worthwhile investment opportunities are still out there to be found. I
retain my strong belief in Athelney's resilience and ability to grow assets and
dividends in the future.



Hugo Deschampsneufs

Chairman

9 April 2002





                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

         STATEMENT OF TOTAL RETURN (incorporating the revenue account)

                      FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2001


Audited Results to 31 December 2001     Audited Results to 31 December 2000


                                 Revenue      Capital        Total        Revenue       Capital        Total
(Losses)/gains on
investments                      -             (9,071)      (9,071)       -             31,398        31,398

Income                           86,424        -            86,424        59,604        -             59,604

Investment management
expenses                         (9,071)       (9,070)      (18,141)      (7,445)       (7,445)       (14,890)

Other expenses                   (34,406)      -            (34,406)      (27,575)      -             (27,575)
                                 ________      _______      ________      ________      ________      ________

Return on ordinary
activities before taxation       42,947        (18,141)     24,806        24,584        23,953        48,537

Taxation                         7,342         (15,427)     (8,085)       5,948         (8,040)       (2,092)
                                 ________      ______       _______       ________      ______        _______

Return on ordinary
activities after taxation        50,289        (33,568)     16,721        30,532        15,913        46,445

Dividend                         (30,648)      -            (30,648)      (28,845)      -             (28,845)
                                 ________      ______       _______       ________      ______        _______

Transfer to reserves             19,641        (33,568)     (13,927)      1,687         15,913        17,600
                                 ________      ______       _______       ________      ______        _______

Return per ordinary
share                            2.8p          (1.9p)       0.9p          1.7p          0.9p          2.6p

Dividend per ordinary
share                            1.7p                                     1.6p




Continuing operations

No operations were acquired or discontinued during the above financial years.




                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

                      BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2001


                                     2001                   2000
                                     (audited)              (audited)

Fixed assets                         1,798,443              1,788,046
                                     _________              _________

Current assets
Debtors                              15,535                 34,448
Cash at bank and in hand             112,457                104,430
                                     _________              _________

                                     127,992                138,878

Creditors: amounts falling due       (54,067)               (40,629)
within one year
                                     _________              _________
Net current assets                   73,925                 98,249
                                     _________              _________

Net assets                           1,872,368              1,886,295
                                     _________              _________


Capital and reserves

Called up share capital              450,700                450,700

Share premium account                405,605                405,605

Other reserves - non distributable

Capital reserve - realised           204,361                133,789

Capital reserve - unrealised         783,669                887,809

Revenue reserve                      28,033                 8,392
                                     _________              _________

Shareholders' funds                  1,872,368              1,886,295
                                     _________              _________






                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

            CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2001

                                                        2001                                     2000
                                                        (audited)                            (audited)

Net cash inflow/(outflow) from
operating activities                                    38,369                                   (10,379)

Servicing of finance

Dividends paid                          (28,845)                                  (27,042)
                                        ________                                  ________

Net cash (outflow) from servicing
of finance                                              (28,845)                                 (27,042)

Taxation

Corporation tax paid                                    (51)                                     (3,160)

Investing activities

Purchases of investments                ( 554,529)                                ( 319,041)

Sales of investments                    553,083                                   398,697
                                        ________                                  ________

Net cash (outflow)/ inflow from
investing activities                                    ( 1,446)                                 79,656
                                                        ________                                 ________

Increase in cash in the year                            8,027                                    39,075
                                                        ________                                 ________



Notes:


    1. The figures included in the above statement are an abridged version of
    Athelney's audited results for the year ended 31 December 2001 and do not
    constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 240 of the
    Companies Act 1985, as amended. The figures for the year ended 31 December
    2000 are extracted from the statutory accounts filed with the Registrar of
    Companies and which contained an unqualified audit report.


 2. The calculation for the return per Ordinary Share is based on the return on
    ordinary activities after taxation of £50,289 (2000: £30,532) and on the
    average weighted number of shares in issue during the period of 1,802,802
    (2000: 1,802,802 ).


    3.      Copies of this announcement are available, free of charge, for a
    period of one month from Athelney's Nominated Adviser, Noble & Company
    Limited, 76 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3BU. Copies of the full financial
    statements will be posted to shareholders on 9 April 2002.


    9 April 2002

END



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