Introduction

Group financial highlights

for the years ended 31 March	2006	2005

Total sales	£7.9bn	£7.8bn
Profit before tax for continuing operations	£649m	£648m
Benchmark profit before tax*	£829m	£910m
Earnings per share	60.2p	59.6p
Benchmark earnings per share	62.3p	62.0p
Dividend per share	31.5p	29.5p

Benchmark profit before tax is defined as profit before amortisation of acquisition intangibles, store impairment charges, exceptional items (i.e. gains or losses on disposal, demerger or closure of businesses and goodwill impairment charges), financing fair value remeasurements and taxation. It includes the Group's share of associates' pre-tax profit and the profits or losses of discontinued operations up to the date of disposal or closure.

Sales from continuing operations up 9% to £7.3bn.
EBIT from continuing operations up 7% to £745m, reflecting both record profits at Experian and the impact of a difficult UK retail market on ARG.
Benchmark PBT down 9% to £829m (2005: £910m), reflecting the impact of the disposal of Lewis, Burberry and Wehkamp during the year.
An effective tax rate of 25.6% based on Benchmark PBT (2005: 26.3%).

Benchmark EPS up 0.3p to 62.3p (2005: 62.0p), reflecting the lower tax rate and the impact of the share consolidation accompanying the Burberry demerger in December 2005.
Net debt increased to £1.97bn at 31 March 2006, up from £1.43bn a year ago, reflecting the cost of acquisitions (about £820m) and a £100m special pension contribution, partly funded by strong operating cash flow.
Final dividend of 21.9p proposed, making 31.5p for the full year for each new consolidated GUS share (2005: 29.5p per old share). Dividend cover for GUS is 2.0 times on benchmark EPS of 62.3p.

1 The graphs show 2002-2004 as reported under UK GAAP. 2005 and 2006 are as reported under IFRS.

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