Interim Results - Part 1

Spirent PLC
30 August 2001

PART 1
                                                        791 - 30 August 2001

                INTERIM RESULTS FOR SIX MONTHS TO JUNE 2001

Spirent  plc, the international network technology company, today  announces
its Interim Results for the half year ended 30 June 2001.

Highlights
£ million                                  Half      Half          
                                           year      year    Change
                                           2001      2000         %
                                                                   
Turnover                                  458.9     316.4        45
Operating profit*                          79.4      59.6        33
Profit before taxation**                   73.6      52.8        39
Headline earnings per share (pence)+       4.38      5.38      (19)
Interim dividend per share (pence)+        1.35      1.35         -

Six Months Results
*  Communications group turnover up 124 per cent to £255 million (20 per
   cent organic increase) and operating profit before goodwill amortisation
   and exceptional items up 61 per cent at £63 million (11 per cent organic
   decrease).
*  Telecom Test turnover at same level as 2000 organically.
*  Initial six months trading for our Network Monitoring division exceeded
   expectations.
*  Other groups' performance impacted by the economic slowdown in North
   America.
*  New product development for future growth almost doubled from £26 million
   to £51 million.
*  Cash generated from operations compared to the first half of 2000
   increased by 11 per cent to £54 million.
Actions
*  Exceptional provisions for excess stocks and doubtful debts of £15
   million in Telecom Test.
*  Goodwill impairment recognised of £248 million on Zarak and Net-HOPPER.
*  Programme of cost savings underway to realise about £30 million annually,
   at a cost this year of £9 million.
Outlook
*  Group performance in second half will be depressed by difficult market
   conditions.

*  Before goodwill amortisation of £46.7 million (2000 £9.1 million) and
   exceptional items of £265.9 million (2000 nil) (including goodwill
   impairment of £247.6 million)
** Before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items as above and loss on
   disposal and closure of operations of £3.8 million (2000 £11.0 million)
+  Earnings and dividend per share have been restated for June 2000 to
   reflect the rights issue

Commenting on the results, Nicholas Brookes, chief executive, said:

'Against a background of deteriorating market conditions, the performance of
Spirent in the first six months of the year was creditable.

'However, our performance in the second half will be depressed by difficult
conditions in our major markets both in North America and, increasingly, in
Europe.  Conditions are, above all, impacting sales volumes in our
Communications group.

'In response to this depressed market we are taking aggressive actions to
protect profits and cashflows.  At the same time, we are continuing to
invest to enhance our product leadership and in sales and marketing to
extend our global reach and grow our market share.'



This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on
current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events.
You can identify these statements by their use of words such as 'will',
'anticipate', 'estimate', 'expect', 'project', 'intend', 'plan', 'should',
'may', 'assume' and other similar words. You should not place undue reliance
on our forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future
performance and are subject to factors that could cause our actual results
to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements.
Such factors include: aggressive competition; our ability to develop and
commercialise new products and services; risks relating to the acquisition
or sale of businesses; our reliance on third party manufacturers and
suppliers; our exposure to liabilities for product defects; our reliance on
proprietary technology; our ability to grow in e-commerce; our ability to
attract and retain qualified personnel; risks of doing business
internationally; and risks of downturns in the industries and markets in
which we participate; and other risks described from time to time in Spirent
plc's Securities and Exchange Commission periodic reports and filings. We
undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements, whether as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

A briefing for analysts and fund managers will be held today at 10.00 am at
the Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2.

A recording of this morning's results presentation will be available for
viewing on the Spirent plc website (www.spirent.com/investors) from 15.00
London time (10.00 EST) until 7 September.

Nicholas Brookes and Eric Hutchinson will today host a results conference
call at 16.00 London time (11.00 EST).  This may be accessed by dialling +44
(0) 20 8240 8242/3 and quoting 'Spirent Results'.  A recording of the call
will be available until 7 September by dialling [phone], access
code 628792.

Enquiries:

Nicholas Brookes, Chief Executive  Spirent plc      On 30/08/01
Eric Hutchinson, Finance Director                   [phone]
                                                    Thereafter
                                                    [phone]

Jon Coles/Rupert Young             Brunswick London [phone]
Sara Strong/Nina Pawlak            New York         [phone]


Background Note:

Spirent plc is an international network technology company providing state-
of-the-art solutions with a focus on high growth, high margin activities.
Our Communications group unites leading edge performance analysis technology
with network operations expertise, enabling customers to accelerate the
development, deployment and assurance of next generation network equipment
and services worldwide.  Further information about Spirent plc can be found
at www.spirent.com

Spirent plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT) and on the
New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209) with one
American Depositary Receipt representing four ordinary shares.

Spirent and the Spirent logo are trademarks of Spirent plc. All rights
reserved.


                           2001 INTERIM REPORT
Overview

Operating profit as referred to in the text is before goodwill amortisation
and exceptional items.

The results for the first six months of 2001 were influenced by the
difficult market conditions experienced in North America particularly
affecting the telecommunications market.  Given the downturn, we are
required by accounting standards to reduce the carrying value of goodwill on
Zarak and Net-HOPPER, acquisitions made in 2000.  Strategic value of these
businesses remains with Voice over IP testing and optical access to networks
having long term growth prospects.  We have also put in place cost reduction
actions, the benefit of which will be reflected in future results.

During the first half of 2001 Spirent derived 78 per cent of operating
profit from its Communications group (2000 66 per cent).  The Network
Monitoring division within Spirent Communications, formed through
acquisitions in the second half of 2000, contributed 47 per cent, with
Telecom Test providing 53 per cent.

Our Network Monitoring division performed well, supplying to network service
providers who continued to invest to gain operational cost efficiencies and
to improve the quality and speed of service given to their customers.
Growth has been driven primarily by the participation of our major customers
in the growing roll out of DSL services within North America and the
extension of our service assurance solutions into their networks.  This
improved performance has occurred against a background of deferred capital
expenditure within the industry overall.

Our Network Monitoring division achieved organic growth of 60 per cent in
turnover and 56 per cent in operating profit exceeding expectations.
Qwest's selection of our systems for its DSL service assurance adds the
third key ILEC to deploy our solution for this technology. SBC and Verizon
continued to deploy various components of our solutions to meet the
increasing demand for reliable network operations and high speed broadband
data services.

Our Telecom Test division's major group of customers, the equipment
manufacturers, have reduced  their demand for our products as they reassess
their levels of spend on capital items.  Our Telecom Test division saw
revenues at the same level as the first half of 2000 on an organic basis.
In the current market conditions this was a sound performance.  We have
continued to invest in technology, our people and market presence.  This has
resulted in profits reducing by 15 per cent and organically by 34 per cent.

Our other groups have also been impacted by other areas of the slowdown in
North America, such as the automotive market.  All groups continue to be
profitable, with Systems in particular, making further progress.

All our groups are cash generative despite high levels of investment in
capital equipment and product development for the future.

We continue to focus our activities on leading edge technology for analysing
and assuring next generation telecommunications activities and remain
committed to our strategy of divesting non-core operations.  We believe that
over the long term this will enhance shareholder value by enabling Spirent
to participate in attractive market growth rates.


Financial Review

All comparative figures are for the first six months of 2000 unless
otherwise stated.

Turnover increased by 45 per cent from £316.4 million to £458.9 million,
reflecting the full year benefit of our acquisitions made in the second half
of 2000.  Organic growth was 10 per cent.  North America now accounts for 72
per cent of our turnover by source (2000 65 per cent) enhanced by the
acquisitions in this region in the second half of 2000.

Our return on sales before exceptional items of 17.3 per cent for the period
decreased by 1.5 percentage points compared to the first half of 2000, as a
result of the slowdown in the telecommunications industry and increased
investment in new product development.

Operating profit before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items
increased by 33 per cent to £79.4 million (2000 £59.6 million), an organic
decrease of 14 per cent.  The effects of currency translation benefited
turnover by £27.4 million and profit before taxation by £3.6 million.
Goodwill amortisation of £46.7 million (2000 £9.1 million) reflects the full
six months charge on the acquisitions of Zarak, Net-HOPPER and Hekimian.
Reported loss before taxation was £242.8 million (2000 profit £32.7
million).

Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation and
exceptional items (EBITDA before exceptional items) increased by 36 per cent
to £96.6 million (2000 £70.9 million).

In response to the slowdown in the global technology industry, we are
undertaking a reorganisation of our activities, which will cost £9.0
million, of which £0.5 million has been charged in the first six months. We
expect to generate annual savings of £30 million going forward.

In accordance with accounting standards, we have written down the carrying
value of goodwill for Zarak Systems and Net-HOPPER, both of which were
acquired in the second half of last year. This reflects the rapid
deterioration in market conditions with the resultant impact on expected
future cashflows.  This is reported as a £247.6 million charge for
impairment.  We continue to expect the Voice over IP and optical test access
markets to be a source of growth and accordingly the long term prospects for
both businesses remain good.

The deterioration in markets has also led us to take provisions of £14.9
million in the period against stocks in excess of 12 months usage and
doubtful debts in Telecom Test.

Product development is crucial to our future success and remains a key
priority for us.  For the period ended 30 June 2001 we invested £50.9
million - 11.1 per cent of sales (2000 £25.7 million - 8.1 per cent of
sales).  In the Communications group product development spend totalled
£38.2 million - 15.0 per cent of sales (2000 £13.5 million - 11.8 per cent).

Capital expenditure at £30.1 million (2000 £13.6 million) increased
substantially due to our continued investment in new facilities and software
systems.  The Communications group's share of this capital expenditure
amounted to £17.3 million (2000 £3.6 million).  We expect capital
expenditure to be at a similar level for the second half year.

As we anticipated in the 2000 Annual Report and Accounts, the effective rate
of taxation decreased to 31.1 per cent (2000 32.8 per cent).  We expect this
rate to be sustainable for the full year.  Financial Reporting Standard FRS
19 'Deferred Tax' has been implemented.  No prior year adjustment has been
made as the prior year impact is immaterial.

Headline earnings per share decreased by 19 per cent to 4.38 pence (2000
5.38 pence).  The weighted average number of shares outstanding at 30 June
2001 was 913.7 million (2000 655.6 million).  After charging goodwill
amortisation and exceptional items including goodwill impairment of £247.6
million, basic loss per share was 28.47 pence (2000 earnings 2.32 pence).

Operating cash inflow of £53.9 million was 11 per cent higher than for the
same period in 2000.  Deferred income of £18.8 million has been released for
monies received in advance in 2000 relating to major contracts with
customers primarily for Hekimian.  The overall increase of £6.2 million in
working capital was due to a reduction in creditors.  The reduction is
partially due to our purchasing levels of materials and services falling in
recognition of the slowdown in trading but also to the payment in 2001 of
incentives to staff for their performance in 2000.

Net interest payments increased by £5.8 million, primarily as a result of
the due date for interest payments on a tranche of the senior unsecured loan
notes falling in May rather than July.  Tax payments rose by £7.5 million,
however the first half of 2000 benefited from a one-off tax deduction of
£6.4 million in respect of a payment related to a prior acquisition.  The
final 2000 dividend paid in June 2001 was £8.4 million higher than in the
previous year, as a result of increased shares in issue following the
acquisitions made using equity in the second half of 2000.

The cash inflow for acquisitions and disposals of £23.9 million includes
£1.6 million from the divestment of businesses and £22.3 million from Axel
Johnson Inc under the terms of the Hekimian acquisition agreement. In July
2001 we made the deferred cash payment of $20 million in respect of the
acquisition of Netcom.

Net borrowings at 30 June 2001 were £346.9 million compared to £326.4
million at 31 December 2000.  The retranslation of US dollar denominated
debt had the effect of increasing borrowings by £15.4 million.

The interim dividend for 2001 will be maintained at 1.35 pence per share.
This is payable on 5 November 2001 to Ordinary shareholders (15 November
2001 for ADR holders) on the register at the close of business on 12
October.

NYSE Listing

On 10 July 2001, we listed our shares on the New York Stock Exchange, in the
form of American Depositary Receipts, under the ticker symbol SPM with one
ADR representing four ordinary shares.  This represents an important
development for our company and our employees.  Spirent's US operations
contribute over 70 per cent of group revenues and are key to our strategy
and ongoing success.  The listing underscores our commitment to the US
market and we look forward to building even stronger links with the US
investment community.


Board and Management

In May, we were pleased to welcome My Chung to the Board as an executive
director.  As Communications group president, My has played a key role in
the development of Spirent Communications.  He has driven the strategic
development of the Communications group and overseen the internal
development of a range of award-winning systems and solutions.  We are
pleased to benefit from his valued contribution to the broader strategic
development of our business.

In July, Olivier Huon joined Spirent plc as director of business
development.  Olivier came from BT Wireless where he was vice president of
business development for Europe.  Previously he served as project director,
business development for BT's Worldwide Division, based in London.  His
earlier career was spent in investment banking with Hill Samuel and
Clinvest.  We are delighted to welcome him to Spirent.

Jim Schleckser was promoted to president of Hekimian in April 2001.  We
would like to thank Des Wilson for his efforts in integrating Hekimian so
successfully into Spirent and wish him well following his departure at the
end of July to pursue other interests.


People

The performance that Spirent achieved in the first six months is a testament
to the drive and dedication of our outstanding workforce.  Our people have
worked hard to minimise the impact of weakened markets and, through a focus
on new technology and customer service, to lay the ground for our continued
growth.  We remain committed to maintaining Spirent as an environment in
which our people can excel and thank them for their considerable
achievements in the year to date.


Operating Review

Communications

£ million                              Half       Half            Organic
                                       year       year   Growth  change %
                                       2001       2000        %
 ________________________________________________________________________
Turnover                              255.2      114.0      124        20
Operating profit before goodwill       62.6       38.8       61      (11)
amortisation and exceptional items
Return on sales (per cent)             24.5       34.0                   

The Communications group is made up of two divisions.

Telecom Test Division

£ million                              Half       Half            Organic
                                       year       year   Change    change
                                       2001       2000        %         %
  _______________________________________________________________________
Turnover                              141.3      114.0       24         -
Operating profit before goodwill       33.0       38.8     (15)      (34)
amortisation and exceptional items
Return on sales (per cent)             23.4       34.0                   

In June, we reported a levelling off in order intake for Spirent
Communications' Telecom Test division, following the decline in business
experienced in April as a result of the well-publicised telecommunications
industry slowdown.  Business in July and August has seen a further
deterioration and has been running at some 10 per cent below our revised
expectations.

The impact of the industry slowdown on the Telecom Test business has been
felt principally in North America.  The conversion rate of the record level
of quotations into orders has been negatively impacted by financial
constraints imposed by our customers.  As expected we have also seen some
deterioration in the rate of growth in Europe although, to date, business
here has held up comparatively well.  Trading in Asia has remained strong,
during the first six months.

Operating profit and return on sales were significantly impacted in the
period.  We have increased our product development activities in order to be
in a strong position for future growth.  This resulted in expenditure for
the period increasing to £26.0 million, an increase of £12.5 million or 8.8
percentage points in terms of return on sales compared to 2000.

Our reputation for first-to-market innovation has been further underlined by
another wave of industry awards.  We received our third consecutive
Networld+Interop 'Best of Show' award in the test and measurement category
when our AX/4000 multifunctional 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN test solution was
honoured at the Las Vegas N+I trade fair in May.  Our Communications group
was the first company in our industry to ship 10 Gigabit Ethernet solutions
for both LAN and WAN.

We have undertaken a thorough review of the cost base to identify areas
where costs can be eliminated. Given the rapid increase in the scale of
operations during 2000 this provides an opportunity to reorganise so that
all activities are carried out as efficiently as possible.

We have worked to counter the present industry conditions by stepping up our
sales and marketing efforts and improving services to help our customers.
These capitalise upon areas of technological and operational advantage
focusing on many of the most promising areas of technology in which we have
recently launched systems.  These include core routers, optical bit error
rate testing, fibre channel systems for storage area networks, OC-192 Packet
over SONET, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, DSL and cable modem, metro network and
broadband access technologies, SS7 signalling, third generation wireless and
high density voice traffic generation.

In the same N+I awards category, our new SmartBits (registered) WebSuite
application was also successful.  This measures the performance of content
switching network devices by generating millions of user transactions to
simulate a mixture of Internet conditions.


Network Monitoring Division

£ million                             Half     Proforma            Organic
                                      year    Half year    Growth   growth
                                      2001        2000          %        %
  ________________________________________________________________________
Turnover                             113.9         65.4        74       60
Operating profit before goodwill      
amortisation and exceptional
items                                 29.6         17.0        74       56
Return on sales (per cent)            26.0         26.0                   

Our Network Monitoring division benefited from a high level of demand.  The
longer lead time for network monitoring services served to insulate the
business from the slowdown in the North America telecommunications sector
during the period.  The first half of the year exhibits stronger growth than
we expect for the second half year.

There was particular interest in our CenterOp Systems(trade mark) family of
operations support system (OSS) solutions and CopperMax (trade mark) family
of metallic access and test probes that together support next generation
network services such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).  After several years
of ramping up deployment, telecom carriers now are entering the mainstream
deployment phase of DSL technology which offers broadband access to
residential and small-business customers using the existing copper plant.
This rate of deployment is driving carriers to reduce related operating
costs and build distinctive service quality and speed advantages, thereby
creating demand for our products.

Additional sales have arisen through newly developed capabilities for our
service assurance systems which enable telecom carriers to determine with a
high level of accuracy which lines in their existing network infrastructure
will support DSL deployment.  This allows carriers to realise considerable
cost and time savings in reduced field technician time.

During the first half the initial two components of the CenterOp Systems OSS
family reached the final stage of being ready for full production.  CenterOp
Sentry (trade mark) is an advanced fault and service management OSS, which
correlates network faults to the customer services affected by those faults.
CenterOp Flow (trade mark) is an automated-workflow OSS designed to test
automatically 'trouble tickets' generated by network faults; this automation
helps carriers dramatically improve the speed and accuracy with which
trouble tickets are handled, in turn reducing repair time and operating
costs.

A third notable introduction is CopperMax/icon (trade mark), a network
'probe' that enables carriers to validate whether a circuit is logically
capable of supporting Internet traffic before the circuit is turned over to
the customer.  This approach gives the carrier a single, easy-to-use method
for locating and resolving problems across a number of transport
technologies and providing additional validation that the network is running
correctly.

In June, we announced the addition of optical test capabilities to our
widely-deployed line of Hekimian-brand broadband remote test probes.
Through our new BRTU OC-12 module, an optical interface developed with the
Telecom Test division, carriers will be able to perform a wide range of
physical and logical broadband tests using the optical ports provided on
leading-edge digital and optical cross connect systems.

The largest part of Network Monitoring turnover has been in the US.  We made
rapid progress in laying the foundation for sales growth outside of the US,
with the establishment of an international sales, marketing and service
infrastructure and product trials in Europe, Asia and South America.  We
have appointed a vice president of business development to drive forward our
progress in the Far East.


Network Products

£ million                                Half      Half            
                                         year      year   Change  Organic
                                         2001      2000        %  change %
  ________________________________________________________________________
Turnover                                 91.2      90.2        1       (3)
Operating profit before goodwill          
amortisation and exceptional items        9.5      13.5     (30)      (32)
Return on sales (per cent)               10.4      15.0                   

The Network Products group was negatively impacted in the first half by a
slowdown in orders for higher margin products, such as telecom installation
products in the United States and United Kingdom and those for the US truck
manufacturing industry.  The generally depressed state of UK manufacturing
has also been detrimental.  Cost reduction measures have been undertaken in
response to these conditions, from which we expect to see an operating
benefit in the second half.

Results for the period mask the excellent progress that has been made in
extending our business in the higher margin local area network market.  We
have made substantial investments in product development and marketing to
expand this business internationally.  The January launch of our Gigaband
Category 6 product range in the United States proved a great success, with
the range named a winner in Communications News magazine's 'Editor's Choice
2001' awards and 'Product of the Month' in CEE News, a leading magazine for
electrical and datacom professionals.  This has been followed by strong
customer interest.

In the United Kingdom, we have made important inroads into the SoHo (Small
office, Home office) installation market by winning contracts with
organisations committed to leading the development of the fully networked
homes and offices of tomorrow.

Our product development programme has created a new broadband fibre
enclosure for telecom carriers, able to handle ribbon cable and offering
much greater flexibility, with a consequent competitive advantage in the
market.

We have enhanced marketing activities in the face of the present industry
slowdown, including award winning promotional activities for our Infostream
(trade mark) surface raceway product and the upgrading of our websites
internationally to enhance customer service and on-line transactions.

Overall automotive sales have continued to grow due to product introductions
for new vehicle platforms. We have also benefited from our investments in
automatic fixing application tools, achieving a record number of sales in
the period, which in turn will generate higher ongoing sales for compatible
fixings and components.  Several forthcoming new models are expected to
continue to drive upwards the proportion of sales generated by this popular
product range.


Systems

£ million                             Half       Half              Organic
                                      year       year     Growth    growth
                                      2001       2000          %         %
  ________________________________________________________________________
Turnover                              62.8        55.9       12          7
Operating profit before goodwill       
amortisation and exceptional
items                                  2.9         1.0      190        198
Return on sales (per cent)             4.6         1.8                    

Operating profit increased reflecting the conclusion of our major phase of
investment in aerospace software and continued robust performance within our
position controls and environmental businesses.

AuRATM, the civil aviation version of our maintenance repair and overhaul
(MRO) software, is being implemented successfully at Sun Country, Frontier
and USA 3000 airlines, providing important reference sites for this
technology.  GOLD, our original military specification software, continues
to be deployed within the NASA international space station project.

Within our aviation information solutions (AIS) range, we secured an
important sale of airborne file servers and associated equipment to FedEx,
further validating the quality of our products.  Hardware sales included a
major order of air data computers from Raytheon for military aircraft.  We
also launched AvVantage, a 'digital flight bag' that allows flight crews
instant access to electronic documentation such as approach and navigation
charts.

Profitability was enhanced by a good performance from our position controls
products, with significant sales to Embraer and Eurofighter.  We also saw a
strong increase in orders for airborne smoke detection systems in response
to the tightening regulations for cargo hold safety.

Growth was also achieved by the environmental business, which has
capitalised upon the present US programme of energy plant construction to
drive up sales of our pollution monitoring equipment.


Sensing Solutions

£ million                            Half        Half                    
                                     year        year    change   Organic
                                     2001        2000         %  change %
  _______________________________________________________________________
Turnover                             46.6        43.5        7          -
Operating profit before goodwill      
amortisation and exceptional
items                                 4.6         5.7     (19)       (30)
Return on sales (per cent)            9.9        13.1                    

The Sensing Solutions group was impacted by the US and Asian economic
slowdown, affecting demand for our temperature sensors particularly in the
telecom and automotive markets.  Partially offsetting these market declines,
we were able to grow our medical business.

We have taken measures to reduce our costs including merging two of our
temperature sensing businesses with significant reductions in administrative
expenses and consolidating production of our process and industrial sensors
onto one site.

Concern over the weak US economy impacted sales of our pharmaceutical
validation systems and high-end humidity instruments, as customers
constrained their capital expenditures.  By the end of the half year,
however, we had seen a recovery of the pharmaceutical business.
Profitability in both the pharmaceutical and humidity divisions was reduced
by increased investment to establish a direct European sales and
distribution infrastructure to support growth opportunities in this
important market.

In response to these challenging markets, we have worked to enter new
markets.  We secured from Delphi, Delco Division our first automotive order
for an infrared temperature sensor to be used in a climate control system.
We also began high-volume shipments of temperature sensors for
refrigerators, ice makers and other appliances to several customers as these
appliances convert from electromechanical to electronic controls.

In the pharmaceutical field, we made our first shipments of our new Valprobe
(trade mark) system, a wireless process validation system ideal for use in
hostile environments or difficult to reach applications.


Interconnection Joint Venture

Our share of turnover increased by 16 per cent to £41.7 million and our
share of operating profit was maintained at £6.6 million.

The slow down in the US economy has impacted the results for the first six
months of 2001, in particular domestic sales of the US business.

Good progress was made in Asia.  In China sales more than doubled as
Interconnection gained market share.

New products are being developed which will complete the range and increase
market share in the area of process automation.

A new range of patent approved products for the building installation market
has been launched in Germany and Switzerland.  The first sales of these
products have had a positive customer reaction.


Outlook

Against a background of deteriorating market conditions, the performance of
Spirent in the first six months of the year was creditable.

However, our performance in the second half of the year will be depressed by
difficult conditions in our major markets both in North America and,
increasingly, in Europe.  Conditions are, above all, impacting sales volumes
in our Communications group.

In the Network Monitoring division, Hekimian has performed ahead of our
expectations. Looking forward, we expect some slowing in rates of growth as
service providers continue to adjust their levels of capital expenditure.
In the medium to long term, however, we remain confident that this division
will continue to benefit from the roll out of Digital Subscriber Line
services and the deployment of service assurance monitoring systems both
within and outside North America, as carriers seek to reduce operating costs
and build distinctive quality of service for broadband data networks.

In the Telecom Test division, after a period of stable order intake in May
and June, business in July and August has seen a further deterioration and
has been running at some 10 per cent below our revised expectations.  A
programme of alleviating action is underway within the division.  This,
together with other actions elsewhere within Spirent, is expected to realise
about £30 million per annum of cost savings at a cost this year of £9
million.  We are not expecting market conditions to improve within Telecom
Test this year.

The other businesses continue to be affected in the second half year by the
economic slowdown.

In response to this depressed market we are taking aggressive actions to
protect profits and cashflows.  At the same time, we are continuing to
invest to enhance our product leadership and in sales and marketing to
extend our global reach and grow our market share.



Consolidated Profit & Loss Account

                                                                      Year 31
£ million          Notes                Half year 30 June            December
                                            2001              2000       2000
                                                                              

                              Before Exceptional     Total    Total      Total
                         exceptional       items
                               items

Turnover: group                
and share of joint
venture                        500.6           -     500.6    352.3      772.7
Less: share of                
joint venture's
turnover                      (41.7)           -    (41.7)   (35.9)     (76.0)
                           _________   _________   _______   ______   ________
                                                                              
Turnover           1,2         458.9           -     458.9    316.4      696.7
                           _________   _________   _______   ______   ________
                                                                              
Operating                       
(loss)/profit      1,2          32.7     (265.9)   (233.2)     50.5      110.0
                                                                              
                                                                              
Exceptional items   4              -        18.3      18.3        -        2.2
Goodwill                           
impairment          5              -       247.6     247.6        -          -
Goodwill                        
amortisation                    46.7           -      46.7      9.1       25.7
Operating profit                
before goodwill
amortisation and
exceptional items               79.4           -      79.4     59.6      137.9
                                                                              
                                                                              
Income from                     
interest in joint
venture                          6.6           -       6.6      6.6       13.3
Income from                      
interests in
associates                       0.7           -       0.7      1.0        2.7
                           _________   _________   _______   ______   ________
                                                                              
Operating                       
(loss)/profit of
the Group, joint
venture and
associates                      40.0     (265.9)   (225.9)     58.1      126.0
                                                                              
Loss on disposal                  
and closure of
operations                         -       (3.8)     (3.8)   (11.0)     (18.1)
Profit on disposal                
of fixed assets                    -           -         -        -        3.2
                           _________   _________   _______   ______   ________
(Loss)/profit                  
before interest                 40.0     (269.7)   (229.7)     47.1      111.1
                           _________   _________                              
                                                                              
Net interest                                        
payable                                             (13.1)   (14.4)     (29.3)
                                                  ________   ______   ________
                                                                              
(Loss)/profit                                      
before taxation                                    (242.8)     32.7       81.8
                                                                              
Taxation            6                                 17.2     17.3       30.6
                                                  ________   ______   ________
                                                                              
(Loss)/profit                                      
after taxation                                     (260.0)     15.4       51.2
                                                                              
Minority                                               
shareholders'
interest                                               0.1      0.2        0.5
                                                  ________   ______   ________
                                                                              
(Loss)/profit                                      
attributable to
shareholders                                       (260.1)     15.2       50.7
                                                                              
Dividends                                             12.5      8.8       36.1
                                                  ________   ______   ________
                                                                              
(Loss)/profit for                                 
the year                                           (272.6)      6.4       14.6
                                                  ________   ______   ________
Basic                                            
(loss)/earnings
per share +                                       (28.47)p    2.32p      7.40p
Headline earnings                                    
per share +                                          4.38p    5.38p     12.61p
Diluted                                           
(loss)/earnings                                     
per share +                                       (28.47)p    2.22p      7.18p
Net dividend per                                    
share +                                              1.35p    1.35p      4.35p
+   Earnings and dividend per share for June 2000 have been restated to
    reflect the rights issue

Consolidated Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses
                                                                            
£ million                                                  Year
                              Half year 30 June     31 December
                             ___________________     __________
                              2001          2000           2000
                                                               
(Loss)/profit              
attributable to
shareholders               (260.1)          15.2           50.7
Exchange adjustment on       
subsidiaries, joint
venture and associates        10.4          11.8            8.8
Taxation on exchange         
effect                       (0.3)             -          (1.7)
                           _______        ______        _______
                                                               
Total recognised gains     
and losses                 (250.0)          27.0           57.8
                           _______        ______        _______
                                                   

The  interim dividend is payable on 5 November 2001 to Ordinary shareholders
(15  November 2001 for ADR holders) on the register at the close of business
on 12 October 2001.

Consolidated Balance Sheet
£ million                          30 June                      31 December
                      __________________________________          _________
                                2001              2000                 2000
Fixed assets                                                               
Intangible assets              1,544.8           366.3              1,816.8
Tangible assets                  151.0           113.9                136.2
Investment in                                                              
joint venture
share of gross                  
assets               68.4                61.1             64.5  
share of gross            
liabilities         (26.9)              (22.3)           (23.8)      
                   _______              ______           ______            
                                                                           
                      41.5                38.8             40.7            
Investment in                  
associates            12.7                13.1             12.9   
Other investments     35.3                31.9             33.4            
                   _______              ______           ______            
                                                                           
                                  89.5            83.8                 87.0
                               _______           _____              _______
                                                                           
                               1,785.3           564.0              2,040.0
Current Assets                 _______           _____              _______
Stocks               123.8                80.2            136.2            
Debtors              179.0               135.3            206.8            
Investments            0.6                21.6              3.9            
Cash at bank and                 
in hand               44.5                38.5             28.6 
                   _______              ______           ______            
                                                                           
                     347.9               275.6            375.5            
                   _______              ______           ______            
Current                                                                    
liabilities
Creditors due                 
within one year      146.8               112.0            199.6   
Loans and                      
overdrafts            20.7                54.5             19.8   
                   _______              ______           ______            
                                                                           
                     167.5               166.5            219.4            
                   _______              ______           ______            
                                                                           
Net current assets               180.4           109.1                156.1
                                ______           _____               ______
                                                                           
Assets less                    
current
liabilities                    1,965.7           673.1              2,196.1
Long term                                                                  
liabilities
Creditors due                  
after more than
one year                       (387.0)         (377.5)              (355.6)
Provisions for                   
liabilities and
charges                          (2.9)           (0.1)                (2.1)
                                ______           _____               ______
                                                                           
Assets less                    1,575.8           295.5              1,838.4
liabilities
                                ______           _____               ______
                                                                           
Shareholders'                  
funds - equity                 1,571.9           291.1              1,834.7
Minority interests                
- equity                           3.9             4.4                  3.7
                                ______           _____               ______
                                                                           
                               1,575.8           295.5              1,838.4
                                ______           _____               ______
                                                                           
The  Interim  financial information has been prepared on the  basis  of  the
accounting  policies set out in the Group's 2000 statutory  accounts,  other
than  in  respect of deferred taxation where FRS 19 'Deferred Tax' has  been
implemented.  No prior year adjustment has been made as the prior year
impact is immaterial.

The Interim financial information is unaudited but has been reviewed by the
auditors.

The comparative financial information is based on the statutory accounts for
the financial year ended 31 December 2000.  Those accounts, upon which the
auditors issued an unqualified opinion, have been delivered to the Registrar
of Companies.

The Interim Report for the six months ended 30 June 2001 was approved by the
Directors on 30 August 2001.

The above financial information does not constitute statutory accounts as
defined in Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985.

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

                                                                       Year
£ million                                 Half year 30 June     31 December
                                          _________________     ___________
                                             2001        2000          2000
                                                                           
Net cash inflow from operating               
activities                                   53.9        48.5         125.7
                                                                           
Dividends received from joint venture         1.7         0.9           1.1
Dividends received from associates            0.2         0.3           0.4
                                                                           
Returns on investments and servicing of    
finance                                    (15.6)       (9.8)        (22.7)
                                                                           
Taxation                                   (13.2)       (5.7)        (22.2)
                                                                           
Capital expenditure and financial          
investment                                 (30.2)      (33.6)        (59.5)
                                          _______      ______      ________
Cash (outflow)/inflow before                
acquisitions and financing                  (3.2)         0.6          22.8
                                                                           
Acquisitions and disposals                   23.9      (23.7)       (536.6)
                                                                           
Equity dividends paid                      (27.4)      (19.0)        (27.7)
                                                                           
Management of liquid resources                3.3        30.4          50.6
                                                                           
Financing                                    19.4        10.5         480.2
                                          _______      ______      ________
                                                                           
Net cash inflow/(outflow)                    16.0       (1.2)        (10.7)
                                          _______      ______      ________
                       
                   
Reconciliation of Net Cash Flow to Movement in Net Borrowings

Net cash inflow/(outflow)                    16.0       (1.2)        (10.7)
                                                                           
Cash (inflow)/outflow arising from the     
change in debt and lease financing         (17.8)       (7.9)          47.9
Cash (inflow) arising from the decrease     
in liquid resources                         (3.3)      (30.4)        (50.6)
                                          _______      ______      ________
                                                                           
Movement arising from cash flows            (5.1)      (39.5)        (13.4)
                                                                           
Loans and finance leases acquired with          
subsidiary                                      -           -         (2.3)
                                                                           
Loan to acquire subsidiary                      -      (14.2)        (13.9)
                                                                           
New finance leases                              -           -         (2.5)
                                                                           
Exchange adjustment                        (15.4)      (16.0)        (19.7)
                                          _______      ______      ________
                                                                           
Movement in net borrowings                 (20.5)      (69.7)        (51.8)
                                                                           
Net borrowings at 1 January               (326.4)     (274.6)       (274.6)
                                          _______      ______      ________
                                                                           
Net borrowings                            (346.9)     (344.3)       (326.4)
                                          _______      ______      ________
                                                                           
MORE TO FOLLOW