Trading Statement

Nichols PLC 4 December 2001 Date: Embargoed until 12.30 pm, Tuesday 4 December 2001 Contacts: John Nichols, Chairman Gary Unsworth, Chief Executive Simon Nichols, Finance Director Nichols plc Telephone: 01925 222222 Alistair Mackinnon-Musson Philip Dennis Hudson Sandler Telephone: 020 7796 4133 Email: nichols@hspr.co.uk Nichols plc Trading Update Nichols plc, the soft drinks, food and foodservice group, announces the following trading update. The group has three principal operations: Soft Drinks (primarily involved in the manufacture and sale of soft drinks, including Vimto, throughout the world and Sunkist in the UK), Food Products and Beverage Systems (including Nichols Foods, the manufacturer and supplier to the vending, foodservice and retail markets; Balmoral, supplier of hot beverage systems and Cabana, soft drinks on draught) and Co-packing (which includes Stockpack, the group's contract food packing operation). At the time of the announcement of the group's interim results in August, the Board said it was confident that profits in the current financial year to 31 December 2001 would be ahead of last year. Unfortunately, due to the economic slowdown and some customers delaying the delivery of certain orders, the Board no longer expects this to be the case, although profits are not expected to be below £6.0 million at the pre-tax level. - Ends -