ABM.L Regulatory News (ABM)

16 November 2012

Albemarle & Bond Holdings PLC

("Albemarle & Bond" or "the Group")

AGM Statement and Trading Update

At the Annual General Meeting ("AGM") of Albemarle & Bond being held at 11.00am today, the Chairman, Greville Nicholls, will make the following statement:

"The Group is pleased to report that, four months into its financial year, it is performing in line with full year market expectations.

Trading in the Group's Pawnbroking and Unsecured Lending products remains stable at the levels seen in Q4 FY 2012. The pledge book at the end of October 2012 was 5.3% higher than at October 2011.

As signalled in September 2012, Gold Buying profits are significantly below the exceptional levels seen in H1 FY 2012 which has set tough comparatives for overall Group profits in H1. However, volumes and margins seen in Q4 FY2012 have been maintained through the first four months of this financial year.

Since the start of the financial year, the group has implemented a new acquisition focused store expansion plan responding to both the uncertainty and reduced cash flow generation from Gold Buying. We are on track to open the planned five acquired stores in the current financial year, with three acquisitions completed in the year to date. Of the stores opened since 2009, over half have already made an operating profit contribution in the current financial year despite lower profits from Gold Buying and with the key Christmas retail trading period still to come.

The Company is operating from a stable financial platform. Costs continued to be tightly managed and are in line with H2 FY 2012 levels. We have ample headroom of £20m (£21m as at 30 June 2012) on facilities that run to November 2016.

As of today, the Group is trading from 233 outlets, up from 115 as at June 2009, providing an expanding range of products and services to match the demand for short term cash and credit."

-ENDS-

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