Gusbourne Regulatory News (GUS)

23 Aug 2006 12:00

GUS PLC23 August 2006 23 August 2006 GUS plc ARG joint venture with Barclays GUS plc, the retail and business services group, today announces that ArgosLimited, part of ARG, and Barclays Bank PLC have signed a Shareholders'Agreement in relation to a 50:50 joint venture company. The joint venture willdevelop an Argos credit card proposition and new personal loan products forArgos and Homebase. ARG's existing Argos and Homebase store card operations arenot impacted by this arrangement. Commenting on the joint venture, Terry Duddy, Chief Executive of Argos RetailGroup, said: "This joint venture will enable the future development of new additional lendingproducts that will continue to enhance the choice, value and convenience that weoffer our customers. We are pleased to be working in partnership with Barclays,one of the largest financial services companies in the world." Additional information Each party has made a de minimis capital contribution to the joint venture. AServices Agreement will be entered into between Argos Limited, Barclays Bank PLCand the joint venture company (ARG Personal Finance Limited) later this yearwhen the business of the joint venture company will become fully operational. Ifthe Services Agreement is not signed by 31 December 2006, the Shareholders'Agreement will terminate without prejudice to Argos Limited or Barclays BankPLC. Enquiries GUS Richard Ashton Finance Director, ARG 020 7495 0070Stuart Ford Head of Investor Relations, ARG FinsburyRollo Head 020 7251 3801 GUS announcements are available on its website, www.gusplc.com. About ARGARG is the UK's leading home and general merchandise retailer with sales of over£5.5 billion in the year ended 31 March 2006. It sells products under twodistinctive and complementary retail brands, Argos and Homebase. Argos is a unique retailer recognised for choice, value and convenience. Itsells over 17,000 general merchandise products for the home through its networkof more than 650 stores, online and over the phone. Argos' Internet site,www.argos.co.uk, is the second most popular Internet retail site in the UK. Homebase is the UK's second largest home improvement retailer and is recognisedfor choice, style and customer service across the wider home enhancement market.It has more than 300 large, out of town stores, which sell over 30,000 products,as well as a growing Internet offering at www.homebase.co.uk. Argos and Homebase are supported by an in-house financial services business, ARGFinancial Services, which provides a range of credit and insurance products totheir customers through all customer-facing channels of stores, online and overthe phone. ARG Financial Services is one of the largest store card providers inthe UK, having over one million active store card customers. About Barclays Bank PLCBarclays Bank PLC is a major global financial services provider engaged inretail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealthmanagement and investment management services. We are one of the largestfinancial services companies in the world by market capitalisation. Operating inover 60 countries and employing over 118,000 people, we move, lend, invest andprotect money for over 25 million customers and clients worldwide. With over 300years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays Bank PLC has six majorbusinesses including Barclaycard. Barclaycard is one of the leading credit card businesses in Europe and has 11.2million UK customers and 5.3 million international cards in issue. Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking statements.Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number ofrisks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differmaterially from any expected future events or results referred to in theseforward-looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange