Result of Arbitration

1 Dec 2006 07:00

Ashley (Laura) Hldgs PLC30 November 2006 30 November 2006 LAURA ASHLEY HOLDINGS plc ("the Company") Result Of Arbitration Proceeding Concerning L'Oreal S.A Laura Ashley Holdings plc announces the result of the Final Arbitral Award inthe matter of an arbitration under the rules of the International Chamber ofCommerce between L'Oreal and two of the Company's subsidiaries. The dispute concerned a 20-year licence granted in 1996 by the Laura Ashleycompanies to L'Oreal, which was arbitrarily terminated by L'Oreal in 2002. On 19October 2004, the Company announced that after considering the parties'respective claims, the Tribunal had ruled in favour of the Laura Ashleycompanies on the issue of liability. L'Oreal's purported termination of thelicence was found by the Tribunal to be invalid. The questions of costs andcompensatory damages were left for the final phase of the proceedings. In the Final Arbitral Award, the Tribunal determined that the Laura Ashleycompanies should be awarded an amount of £2.9 million plus interest. Assumingthe award is paid by the end of December 2006, the amount of interest isexpected to be in the region of £0.6 million. In total, the Company has incurredlegal and other costs of £3.8 million which have been treated as a prepayment inthe balance sheet. In addition, the Company has a royalty debtor due fromL'Oreal in the amount of £0.7 million. Albeit with some important trading weeks still to come, the Company remainspleased with performance in the year to date. Enquiries: David Cook Finance Director & Company Secretary 020 7880 5100 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange