POST OFFICE IN £71 MILLION ACQUISITION DEAL

CITY Postoffice
From PRESS ASSOCIATION, May 9th, 2000

POST OFFICE IN £71 MILLION ACQUISITION DEAL

:: PR Newswire, London, May 9. This press release is transmitted on behalf
of The Post Office.

The Post Office announced today that it has bought Extand, one of France’s
leading operators for the express delivery of parcels and small packages, in a
deal with its parent company Geodis S.A., worth £71 million (800m FF).

This is the eleventh acquisition by The Post Office in the last 15 months,
demonstrating its determination to become a complete distribution company with
global reach.

Based in Toulouse, in the South of France, Extand is an independent
operator owned by Geodis, one of Europe’s largest transport companies with
activities in freight forwarding, road haulage and logistics. Extand has 14
depots, three national hubs and six regional hubs. It mainly delivers within
France but also has operations in Holland, Spain, Belgium, and a sales office
recently opened in Germany

Jerry Cope, The Post Office’s Group Managing Director of Strategy, said:

“Extand is a first class company and its acquisition reinforces our
position in Europe, where we are determined to build a parcels network that is
second-to-none in terms of value and service for all our customers. The
acquisition therefore is particularly good news for Extand’s customers and
employees, who will now be part of our fast-growing European parcels
business.”

Extand Managing Director Christian Mercier added: “We have forged a
strong local reputation as a parcel distributor of first choice in the French
business community and we are delighted with this association with The Post
Office, which we know shares our commitment to high quality, efficient
service.”

The Post Office’s Managing Director European Parcels, Rico Back, said:

“We are delighted to have concluded this deal, as Extand is a company
with an extremely high reputation for quality service and a top class
management team.”

Extand, which has more than 800 employees, distributes some 30 million
parcels a year. It specialises in business-to-business delivery of small
parcels. It was one of the first French express parcel delivery companies to
be granted the ISO 9002 accreditation in 1997.

Notes to Editors:

1. The Post Office has paid 800m French Francs to acquire Extand, but it
also intends to invest additional sums in the company. The purchase price and
the future investment will amount in total to around £97 million.

2. The Post Office is pleased that Government approval was given for the
acquisition, underlining the benefits of the strategic value and business case
behind the deal.

3. Since January 1999 The Post Office has acquired: German Parcel and Der
Kurier in Germany; the Williames Group in Ireland; the Citipost Group based in
New York; Pakke Trans in Denmark; the Crie Group in France; General Parcel
Austria (including General Parcel Slovenia) and Nederlandse Pakket Dienst (NPD) in the Netherlands. Last month The Post Office also acquired a 49 per cent stak
e
in Cashtec.

UNS
COMPANY:Post Office
TOPIC: CITY
Contact:Post Office, 020 7250 2468(24hours)
ends djs/rjlPRESS ASSOCIATION, 09th May 2000