Trading Statement

Millfield Group PLC
24 March 2003

Date:                  24th March, 2003
On behalf of:          Millfield Group plc ('Millfield')
                       For immediate release









Millfield Group plc
Trading Statement



Millfield Group plc, a leading independent financial services advisory group,
today announces an update on continuing progress and development of the Group's
distribution capability and on the Group's trading prior to its year-end of 31
March 2003.



At the half-year to 30 September 2002, we announced the growth of adviser
numbers from 362 to 422.  This resulted in turnover more than doubling to £14.2m
with the loss before goodwill amortisation and tax of £5.6m reflecting the
development phase of the business.  Since the interim announcement in December
2002, we have continued our recruitment programme.  This, together with a number
of acquisitions made during the second half of the year, has enabled us to
achieve our target number of advisers and professional staff which has now
increased to 505.



Millfield has continued its investment programme in building a robust scaleable
infrastructure and acquiring strategic businesses in line with its distribution
strategy. This programme, with the exception of two office moves in the North of
England, will be complete by 31 March 2003. In the last 18 months, Millfield has
grown from six offices to 35, including the relocation of 13 major offices and
has also established a business processing and call centre in Hull enabling
centralisation of processing and quality control.



Following on from the rapid growth of the Company, we have scaled the cost base
going forward for our core businesses Millfield Partnership Limited (MPL) and
Millfield Associate Partnership (MAP). We have already taken approximately 10%
of the costs out of these businesses and we will monitor the cost position
constantly in line with the performance and results of the businesses.



MPL, the regulated company, has continued to make progress in what have been
extremely difficult market conditions and we remain confident that our IFAs will
deliver their turnover targets for 2003/04. Similarly, with the implementation
of our stepped acquisition programme, MAP is now well positioned to deliver on
its turnover target for 2003/04.  Our key objective with these businesses is to
continue to recruit and attract high calibre advisers, reinforcing Millfield's
position as one of the leading financial services distribution groups in the UK.



Millfield has also implemented focused marketing strategies that have enabled
the Group to target specialist sectors such as care homes where we are now the
largest specialist financial advisory group in the UK. We have also commenced a
programme to work with professional connections such as solicitors, accountants
and corporate clients, and these initiatives will assist the Group in delivering
its turnover and profitability targets for 2003/04.



Millfield Private Clients, our high net worth Guernsey based business, has
developed new products to meet the changing requirements of its client base.
This has resulted in the establishment of Product Innovations Limited (PIL), an
offshore product design and consulting business.  At the turn of the year, PIL
delivered the first in a series of guaranteed investment products that include a
royalty payment.  Despite the closing date coinciding with what proved to be an
unprecedented run of daily stock market falls, we are pleased to report that it
achieved its minimum subscription levels.



Simply Millfield, our online term assurance company, has been successfully
restructured following its acquisition and commenced trading on 10 February 2003
from new offices in Altrincham. This business was established to take advantage
of the simple products that will enter the market as a result of the Sandler
review.  Simply Millfield's business model is scaleable and on track to deliver
its 2003/04 business plan.



We successfully put in place the stepped acquisition of the accountancy and
financial services companies in the RST Group on 5 February 2003.  Trading in
this business is in line with our expectations.



Lifetime, our online portfolio and wealth management services company, has made
significant progress during the period. It has reached agreement with DST, one
of the world's largest suppliers of systems, that will enable it to start
delivering services to IFAs and their clients from this autumn onwards.
Millfield intends to reduce its current 78.2% shareholding in order to expand
the shareholder base of this business.



Despite achieving our target number of advisers during the period and
restructuring our operations to achieve maximum efficiency, difficult trading
conditions have resulted in a decline in productivity per head during the second
half of the year. In addition, almost twenty per cent of our new recruits only
joined the Group during the last six months and have therefore not had time to
achieve their own target levels of productivity.  Further, the lower than
anticipated take-up of PIL's first product resulted in £1.5m of anticipated
profits not materialising.  Nevertheless we expect turnover and gross profit in
the second half of the year to be greater than in the first half. We expect
losses for the year to be in the region of £11.5m before goodwill amortisation
and after losses associated with the development of Lifetime and an exceptional
item of £150,000 for redundancy costs associated with the restructuring of the
Group's administrative functions.



Outlook



Since Millfield's flotation in March 2001, we have built a business from a small
base of 100 advisers to over 500 today which achieves the critical mass
necessary to deliver its business objectives.



The market's expectation is for the Group to reach profitability (before
goodwill amortisation) in 2003/04 and the Directors of Millfield retain their
determination to achieve this. The Group's plan assumes no further significant
deterioration in market conditions; nevertheless, the management team has
already taken action to reduce costs and will continue to keep Millfield's cost
base constantly under review.  The Company is exceptionally well positioned to
take advantage of consolidation in the financial services distribution market
place, and benefit from proposals that have been announced by the FSA regarding
depolarisation of the advisory industry and the issues surrounding professional
indemnity cover for small established IFA firms.



                                     -ends-





Enquiries to:



Millfield Group plc
Paul Tebbutt, CEO                         020 8604 2607
Harry Roome, Finance Director             020 8604 2623



Redleaf Communications (financial PR)
Emma Kane/Katharine Sharkey               020 7955 1410



Notes to Editors



About Millfield



•    Millfield Group plc was floated on the Alternative
     Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in March 2001;



•    Millfield is a national independent financial advisory company in the UK, 
     offering truly independent advice, primarily in the pensions,
     life insurance, investment and mortgage sectors, as well as long-term care
     provision, personal wealth management and the corporate financial planning
     arena.  Millfield also has specialist divisions dealing with offshore
     investment, insurance and employee benefits;



•    Further information is available on the Millfield website: 
     www.millfield-partnership.co.uk




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