Trading Update

Tanfield Group PLC
17 July 2006


                              Tanfield Group plc                                    
                                    
                          ('Tanfield' or the 'Group')

                                 Trading Update


   The zero emission commercial vehicle and industrial products manufacturer

Highlights:


 1. Continued growth in sales and orders.
     a. Electric vehicles
     b. Service and maintenance
     c. Airport vehicles
     d. Powered platforms
 2. Integration of assembly operations.
 3. Launch of new vehicles.
 4. Integration of Upright and Aerial Access.
 5. Expansion of Upright


The Board of Directors is pleased to report that trading for the first six
months of 2006 evidenced the continued strong progress of the Group. The growth
in revenue and orders that was achieved during 2005 has continued, with all
divisions performing well. Trading for the first half of the year is in line
with expectations.


Trading update

Zero Emission Vehicles

      Smith Electric Vehicles ('Smith')

The level of interest in Smith's next generation electric vehicles remains high
and the order book is growing. Smith is continuing to adapt its zero emission
technology to produce more road-going commercial vehicles. Smith Electric
Vehicles officially launched its Faraday chilled food distribution vehicle for
Sainsbury's Online, at the Commercial Vehicle Show 2006. This is the biggest
industry event of the year and the vehicle was well received. The Faraday has
been ordered by a range of operators including BAA, Enterprise plc, Co-operative
Society and is proving popular in the traditional Dairy sector. Smith is
developing Newton, the first 7.5t goods vehicle in the world to incorporate zero
emission battery technology. The first Newton vehicles will be deployed in
London by TNT Express in September 2006. This vehicle has experienced a high
level of demand from home delivery operators. Smith has also launched Edison, a
smaller electric vehicle with a 3500kg payload to compete in the conventional
van market. This has been ordered by several parcel delivery companies.

      Service and Maintenance Division ('SEV')

SEV, the service and maintenance division of Smith, continues to win new
business and consolidate its position as market leader for maintaining
commercial fleets of battery powered vehicles. The division has doubled its
sales revenue in the past six months. SEV has implemented an extension to its
fleet maintenance contract with Dairy Crest, following Dairy Crest's acquisition
of Express Foodservice London and Midlands Co-op. This brings the total number
of Dairy Crest vehicles serviced by SEV to over 2,600 and the number of SEV
mobile service engineers to 150 operating out of 14 depots around the country
servicing a total of well over 4000 vehicles.

      Jumbotug and Norquip

Both these airport specialist vehicle divisions continue to enjoy increasing
sales and order books with particularly strong export growth following the
development of new zero emission vehicles. There is a growing demand in this
sector as the airport industry comes to terms with tackling environmental
issues. The Group spent last year engineering the product range and thus the
contribution to sales of these companies was relatively low. This year has seen
a significant growth in sales.

Powered Access Platforms

      UpRight Powered Access & Aerial Access

The Directors believe that the global powered access industry has reacted
favourably to Tanfield's acquisition of UpRight. This is evident in the fact
that the Group was successful in winning two large orders within three weeks of
completion of the acquisition. UpRight USA received an order from a major North
American rental company for 100 TM12 machines, worth in excess of USD1 million.
A large European retailer has also ordered over 60 UpRight machines, with a
total value of more than Euro1 million. Total new orders since the acquisition
now total in excess of GBP2 million which the Board believes demonstrates market
confidence in Tanfield's ability to deliver quality products and service in
UpRight.

      Upright Distribution

Sales channels have been significantly increased in two important territories,
with the appointment of exclusive master distributors for UpRight products in
the UK and Germany. International Parts and Service Ltd (IPS), Europe's leading
independent provider of spare parts and service for aerial lifts, is now
UpRight's exclusive distributor for the UK. IPS will build a network of
independent dealers across the UK and provide them with a comprehensive
after-sales support package, including spare parts and maintenance. As part of
the agreement, IPS will also undertake to buy all spare parts for UpRight
machines from Tanfield. Tanfield will retain direct control of all national
accounts, such as major rental companies.

Power-Lift GmbH, based near Dusseldorf, becomes Master Distributor for Germany,
in a similar agreement. These two distributors had been distributors for Upright
in the past had had generated significant sales before relationships broke down
with the previous management.

The Board believes that there remains a significant latent demand for UpRight
products and it anticipates winning further substantial orders in the near
future.

The Group is implementing a strategy of integrating its Aerial Access products
into the UpRight range. The Group's global network of independent dealers for
powered access products has risen from 15 at the start of 2005, to more than
130. This is due to organic growth in Aerial, plus the acquisition of UpRight
Powered Access. This offers the possibility in the medium term for more of the
Group's products being made available through this expanded distribution chain.

New Assembly Facility
We are making good progress with the consolidation of all product assembly
operations onto one site. The Tanfield Group has acquired a long term lease on a
flagship 250,000sq ft production facility in North East England. The factory, to
be named the Tanfield Centre, will house assembly lines for Smith Electric
Vehicles, UpRight Powered Access, Jumbotug and Norquip. This means that all
assembly operations will be consolidated from five buildings into one. This
offers the potential for cost savings and increased capacity to accommodate the
growth of the Group.

Comment:

Roy Stanley, Chairman and CEO, said: 'This has been an exciting six months for
The Tanfield Group. Our strategy to develop new products and sales channels for
zero emission vehicles and industrial equipment continues to generate solid
organic growth. The acquisition of UpRight Powered Access consolidates our
position as a leading global brand for aerial work platforms and has greatly
increased our distribution network. The agreement with IPS instantly doubles the
size of the sales force in the UK. Germany is a mature market for powered access
and we are confident that the appointment of Power-Lift will have a similar
impact as that of IPS.

The move to the Tanfield Centre will bring together all assembly operations to
one site and will give us the facility to significantly ramp up production. All
divisions continue to perform well and our progress continues.'

ENDS


Enquiries:

Roy Stanley, Group Executive
Tanfield Group plc                             Tel: [phone]

Marc Young
Daniel Stewart & Co plc                        Tel: [phone]



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