Final Results

Athelney Trust PLC
06 April 2004


                       ATHELNEY TRUST PLC: FINAL RESULTS


Athelney Trust, the AIM-listed company which invests in junior markets and
smaller companies, announces its audited results for the 12 months ended
December 31 2003.

Highlights:

  • Net Asset value ('NAV') up by one third at 110.9p per share (2002: 83.2p
    per share)
  • Gross Revenue increased by 68 per cent to £101,345 (2002: £60,328)
  • On a like for like basis revenue up 10.4 per cent, dividend income up 10.6
    per cent
  • Revenue return per ordinary share soared 161.5 per cent at 3.4p (2002:
    1.3p)
  • Recommended annual dividend of 1.8p per share (2002: 1.7p per share)

Athelney Chairman, Hugo Deschampsneufs. said: 'By any standards 2003 was a good
year for Athelney. Some of the rise in NAV can be attributed to the so-called
Baghdad bounce. Elsewhere, interest rates remained low or very low by historical
standards as did inflation, yet, economic growth was very strong in the US
whereas the UK trundled along at just over 2 per cent and the eurozone
struggled.

'Over the last seven years public spending has increased by 25 per cent in real
terms and will do so by up to 40 per cent by 2009. That is a vast amount of
money, by any standards, and represents a huge gamble by the Labour Government.

'Yet the signs and portents are not good: a huge increase in public sector
employment without any improvement in productivity. Over the past five years
public sector employment has risen by almost 10 per cent to 5.2 million, public
sector pay is rising by eight per cent per annum and inflation is running six
times the level of the private sector.

'The Board believes strongly in the future of small, well-managed businesses,
such as are held in the Athelney portfolio, and that the shares of such
companies will provide a profitable return to their shareholders in the years
ahead'.

                                     -ends-

For further information:

Robin Boyle, Managing Director
Athelney Trust plc                                   020 7222 8989

Paul Quade
CityRoad Communications                              020 7334 0243



                              CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT


I have pleasure in enclosing the results for the twelve months to 31 December
2003. The key points are as follows:-

  • Audited Net Asset Value ('NAV') is 110.9p per share (31 December 2002:
    83.2p), a rise of 33.3 per cent.
  • Gross Revenue rose by 68.0 per cent to £101,345 (31 December 2002:
    £60,328).
  • On a like-for-1ike basis revenue was actually up by 10.4 per cent and
    dividend income rose by 10.6 per cent.
  • Revenue return per ordinary share was 3.4p, an increase of 161.5 per cent
    (31 December 2002: l.3p).
  • Recommended dividend for the year 1.8p per share (2002: 1. 7p).

The Market

By any standards, 2003 was a good year for Athelney - except, that is, for the
first 11 weeks or so. The NAV started the year at 83.2p, fell to 79.4p at 28
February but recovered strongly to 92.2p at 30 June and 110.9p at 31 December.

As I described in the Interim Report to 30 June, some of the rise can be
attributed to the so-called Baghdad Bounce, since, at that time, many investors
thought that the conflict would be short-lived - now, of course, we know better.
Elsewhere, interest rates remained low or very low by historical standards as
did inflation, yet economic growth was very strong in the U.S. whereas we
trundled along at just over 2% and the eurozone still struggled.

At home, there were no real surprises in the Pre-Budget Report with public
sector net borrowing requirement (PSNB) raised by £10 bn to £37 bn in 2003/4 and
£38 bn in 2004/5. Over the next five years, borrowing is now expected to be £152
bn because of lower Income Tax, NI and Corporation Tax receipts. Over the last
seven years public spending has increased by 25% in real terms and up to 40% by
2009. By any standards, that is a vast amount of money and represents a huge
gamble by the Labour Government.

Yet the signs and portents are not good: a huge increase in public sector
employment without any improvement in productivity. Over the past five years,
public sector employment has risen by almost 10% to 5.2 million, public sector
pay is rising by 8% per annum and inflation is running at six times the level of
the private sector. For how long can this extraordinary state of affairs be
allowed to continue?

Corporate activity has had a modestly beneficial effect on Athelney's NAV in
2003 with Reed Executive and Amalgamated Metal being taken over at a handsome
profit to book value, although in the case of the latter a substantial part of
the proceeds was received in the form of a special dividend.


Results

Gross revenue rose by 68% to £101,345 in 2003, which figure certainly overstates
the actual position in that special dividends were received from Gibbs & Dandy
(£3,000), Amalgamated Metal (£30,756 see above) and T Clarke (£1,000). Taking
all these factors into account gross revenue moved ahead by a satisfactory 10.4
% which, when coupled with the 33.3% rise in NAV, points to what the Board
believes is a highly positive overall outcome for the year.

The growth in dividend income is illustrated by the following table:-
                                                                    Number
Companies paying dividends                                              62
Companies sold (therefore no true comparison)                            8
Companies purchased (therefore no true comparison)                       5
Increased total dividend in the calendar year                           33
Reduced total dividend in the calendar year                              7
No change in dividend                                                    9


Portfolio Review

During 2003, new purchases were made of the following: James Beattie, Park
Group, Rok Property Solutions, Secure Banking Trust Group, Vp, Alliance Pharma,
Cardpoint, Cobra Bio-Manufacturing, Collins & Hayes, Ideal Shopping Direct,
Oasis Healthcare, Patientline and a further 11 existing holdings were increased
in size.

Plasmon, Radstone Technology, Intelek, NBA Quantum, Estates & Agency, CRC Group,
Alphameric, Gowrings, Delcam, MTL Instruments, Photo-scan, James Cropper,
Private & Commercial Finance, Springwood, Ideal Shopping Direct and Dicom Group
have all been sold. Several other shares were top-sliced.

Dividend

The Board has recommended an increased dividend of 1.8p (2002: 1.7p) for 2003,
which compares with the 1.0p paid for Athelney's first full year of 1995.

Newspapers

As from January 2004, the share price of Athelney has been listed daily in the
Financial Times and Times newspapers.


Update

The unaudited NAV at 29 February 2004 was 120.7p per share. Unfortunately, the
share price at the same date was 80.5p and thus the discount to NAV was an
unflattering 33.3 %.

Outlook

The Board believes strongly in the future of small, well-managed businesses such
as are held in the Athelney portfolio and that the shares of such companies will
provide a profitable return to their shareholders in the years ahead.
Nevertheless, it is true that blue-chips have substantially underperformed small
caps in the last twelve months or so. It seems likely, then, that we will
undergo a process of catching up whereby small companies' shares do little or
nothing and blue-chips perform the better. After this process is complete, then
the market looks likely to move ahead again on a broad front.


                              Hugo Deschampsneufs

                                    Chairman

                                  5 April 2004




                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

                           STATEMENT OF TOTAL RETURN
                      (incorporating the revenue account)

                      FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2003

Audited Results to 31 December 2003     Audited Results to 31 December 2002

                                       Revenue      Capital          Total  Revenue       Capital         Total
                                          £             £              £       £             £              £
Profits / (losses) on
Investments                                 -       584,517         584,517  -             (275,430)     (275,430)
Income                                101,345             -         101,345  60,328        -             60,328
Investment management
expenses                             (11,576)      (11,576)        (23,152)  (10,868)      (10,869)      (21,737)
Other expenses                       (38,003)             -        (38,003)  (33,532)      -             (33,532)
                                     ________     _________       _________  ________      ________      ________
Return on ordinary
Activities before taxation             51,766       572,941         624,707  15,928        (286,299)     (270,371)
Taxation                                8,855     (101,616)        (92,761)  8,179         63,485        71,664
                                     ________      ________       _________  ________      ________      _________
Return on ordinary                                                           
Activities after taxation              60,621       471,325         531,946  24,107        (222,814)     (198,707)
Dividend                             (32,450)             -        (32,450)  (30,648)      -             (30,648)
                                     ________      ________       _________  ________      ________      _________
Transfer to (from) reserves            28,171       471,325         499,496  (6,541)       (222,814)     (229,355)
                                     ________      ________       _________  ________      ________      _________
Return per ordinary
share                                   3.4p          26.1p           29.5p    1.3p          (12.3)p       (11.0)p
Dividend per ordinary
Share - Final dividend                  1.8p                                   1.7p


The revenue column of this statement is the profit and loss account for the 
Company.


Continuing operations
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing 
operations.

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

There have been no recognised gains or losses, other than the results for the 
financial years shown above.


                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

                                 BALANCE SHEET
                             AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2003

                                          2003                   2002
                                         (audited)              (audited)
                                               £                      £

Fixed assets                            2,048,785              1,497,461
                                        _________              _________

Current assets
Debtors                                    87,392                 54,241
Cash at bank and in hand                   74,593                 60,144
                                        _________              _________

                                          161,985                114,385

Creditors: amounts falling due           (47,461)               (40,833)
within one year
                                        _________              _________
Net current assets                        114,524                 73,552
                                        _________              _________
Total assets less current               2,163,309              1,571,013
liabilities

Provisions for liabilities and          (163,800)               (71,000)
charges
                                        _________              _________
Net assets                              1,999,509              1,500,013
                                        _________              _________


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                311,754                248,817
Capital reserve - unrealised              781,787                373,399
Revenue reserve                            49,663                 21,492
                                        _________              _________

Shareholders' funds - all equity        1,999,509              1,500,013
                                        _________              _________


Net Asset Value per share            110.9p                        83.2p



                               ATHELNEY TRUST PLC

                              CASH FLOW STATEMENT
                      FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2003

                                                                 2003                              2002
                                                                 (audited)                      (audited)
                                                   £                    £             £                £
Net cash inflow / (outflow) from
operating activities                                                 45,471                     (487)

Servicing of finance
Dividends paid                              (30,648)                            (30,648)
                                            ________                            ________
Net cash (outflow) from servicing
of finance                                                  (30,648)                            (30,648)

Taxation
Corporation tax paid                                        (373)                               (8,009)

Investing activities
Purchases of investments                    ( 385,319)                          ( 359,428)
Sales of investments                        385,318                             346,259
                                            ________                            ________
Net cash (outflow) from
investing activities                                                   ( 1)                     ( 13,169)
                                                                   ________                     ________

Increase / (decrease) in cash in the year                            14,449                     (52,313)
                                                                   ________                     _________


Notes:

 1. The figures included in the above statement are an abridged version of
    Athelney's audited results for the year ended 31 December 2003 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
    2002 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 /
    (loss) on ordinary activities after taxation shown below and on the average
    weighted number of shares in issue during the period of 1,802,802 (2002:
    1,802,802 ).

                            2003                                                        2002
      Revenue             Capital               Total             Revenue             Capital               Total
            £                   £                   £                   £                   £                   £
       60,621             471,325             531,946              24,107           (222,814)           (198,707)


 3. Dividend information:

    Ex dividend date                                              14 April 2004
    Dividend payable to shareholders registered on                16 April 2004
    Dividend payable on                                             17 May 2004


 4. Copies of this announcement are available, free of charge, for a period of
    one month from Athelney's Nominated Advisor: Noble & Company Limited, 76
    George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3BU

Copies of the full financial statements will be posted to shareholders on 6
April 2004.


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