AGM Statement

Gleeson(M J)Group PLC
08 January 2003

                              MJ GLEESON GROUP plc

                            CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT


At the AGM at 12:00 noon today of MJ Gleeson, the construction services, homes
and property group, Dermot Gleeson, Executive Chairman, will say:

2001/02

'A detailed review of the Group's financial performance in the year ended 30
June 2002 appears in the Financial Review on page 21 of the Annual Report.
However, there are a few points I would like to highlight and I will also
comment briefly on our prospects for the current year and beyond.

In 2001/02, turnover increased by 35.6% to £572.8m - a figure 131% higher than
the Group's turnover just five years ago.  However, despite record operating
profits from both our construction operations and Gleeson Properties, pre-tax
profits fell by 20.1% to £15.1m, mainly as a result of the extremely
disappointing performance of Gleeson Homes, to which I first alluded here a year
ago and which has since been addressed by a very strong new management team.

At the year end, net assets had increased to £150.0m - equivalent to £14.43 per
share - providing substantial backing to the recent share price.

Subject to shareholders' approval at this meeting, total dividends for the year
will be raised by 4.8% to 32.5p per share, which is covered 3.1 times by
earnings per share.  It is perhaps worth mentioning that the Company has thus
maintained its record of never having reduced its dividend in 42 years as a
listed company.

2002/03

Turning to the current year, prospects are substantially as indicated in my
Statement in the Report and Accounts:  a much improved performance by Gleeson
Homes and buoyant trading by the Building Divisions are likely to be
significantly offset by the softening of the commercial property market, by
temporary difficulties in  the Engineering Division and by the impact of higher
insurance costs.

Construction Services

In the building sector, both the Southern and the Northern Construction
Divisions are expected to increase their turnover substantially in the current
year and have excellent order books in terms of length and quality.  A downturn
in enquiries from the private commercial market - particularly in the South -
has been more than counterbalanced by strong growth in demand from the public
sector, especially for hospitals, schools and prisons, many of which are being
procured through the Private Finance Initiative.

The Engineering Division maintains its leading presence in the water industry
and has recently won the first phase, worth £10m, of a new  partnering scheme
for Yorkshire Water.  This brings the divisional order book at 1 January 2003 to
£430m.  However, the slower than anticipated release of projects by some of our
partnering clients in the water sector, to which I referred in my Statement, has
depressed the Division's short term profit prospects.

Amongst our specialist construction subsidiaries, Gleeson MCL, the railway
contractor, has a record level of work in hand, including a seven year
partnering agreement, worth over £100m, with the Tubelines Consortium for the
modernisation of 36 stations on London Underground's Piccadilly Line.

The combined construction business' forward order book at 1 January 2003 exceeds
£700m, of which £440m relates to relatively low risk partnering agreements.

Gleeson Homes

The management problems which blighted Gleeson Homes' performance last year have
now been addressed and the new management team headed by Terry Massingham is
confident that the Division's budgeted profit will be achieved in the current
year.

The Division has no significant exposure to central London and is experiencing
price rises for new homes in the range of 5% to 10% per annum.

Unit sales are expected to increase from 477 to more than 500 in the current
year, with average selling prices in excess of £200,000 compared with £181,000
in 2001/02.

Gleeson Properties

Following the completion and sale of four developments in 2001/02, a relatively
quiet year is in prospect for Gleeson Properties.  As I stressed at the time of
the Preliminary Announcement, the short term outlook for speculative commercial
property developments is not encouraging and it has been decided to progress
such schemes only on a very selective basis pending an upturn in the market.

As is indicated in the Financial Review, income from the Group's investment
property portfolio in 2001/02 was enhanced by the 'one off' receipt of a £2m
premium on the surrender of a commercial lease.  This apart, net rental income
is likely to remain broadly unchanged in the current year.

The Board is currently at an early stage of examining the possibility of
transferring the Group's property investment portfolio, together with the
related debt, into a non-recourse vehicle, in conjunction with a financial
partner.  The new entity, which would be managed by Gleeson Properties, would
raise additional funding in order to take advantage of the attractive long term
investment opportunities that are likely to become available as a result of
changed conditions in the property market.

Gleeson Regeneration

A new Division - Gleeson Regeneration -  was formed in February 2002 to enable
the Group to focus more closely on social housing and urban regeneration.  Good
progress is being made in identifying and securing opportunities which will come
on stream in 2003/04.

Share buy-back

Finally, I should mention that on 17 December 2002, the Board decided to
purchase for cancellation 200,000 of the Company's shares at a price of £7.80
each - a discount to historic net asset value of nearly 46%.  The acquisition
represented 1.92% of the allotted shares and the effect of this action is to
increase both net assets per share and prospective earnings per share, while
having an only marginally adverse effect on the Group's gearing.

Subject to the renewal of the appropriate authority by today's meeting, further
buy-backs during the next 12 months remain a possibility'.


Enquiries:
M J Gleeson Group plc                                              020-8644 4321
  Dermot Gleeson (Executive Chairman)
  David Eyre (Group Managing Director)
  Colin McLellan (Finance Director)

Bankside Consultants Limited
  Charles Ponsonby                                 020-7444 4166 / 07789-202 312



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