CMM Commoditrade

RNS Number:5602P
Cammell Laird Holdings PLC
16 August 2000


                                 AGM Statement

At today's annual general meeting Juan Kelly, Chairman of Cammell Laird,
commented:

"I am pleased to report another year of strong growth by the Group.

As reported in the annual results statement, profits increased by 54% and
earnings per share by 31%. This has enabled your Board to propose an overall
25% increase in dividend for the year, whilst pursuing our reinvestment growth
strategy.

It is too early in the financial year to comment on our immediate prospects in
detail. The summer is naturally the busiest time for many of our customers and
consequently the quietest time for us. However enquiry levels for work
commencing in the Autumn/Winter are significantly higher than last year,
particularly in the recovering offshore oil markets, and our capacity to
undertake such projects is also greater.

Looking forward in terms of our medium and long term prospects, two major
steps were announced last month. First, we completed a deal with the state-
owned Port of Marseille to acquire a concession on the principal shipyard
facilities at the Port, and second we announced the impending acquisition of a
49% stake in Cascade General, the largest commercial repair company on the
West Coast of the United States.

It is hard to overstate the importance of these deals to the medium and long-
term prospects of the Group.

The Marseille deal gives us a 20 year concession on three large dry-docks,
including one of the largest repair docks in the World. The combined daily
capacity of these three dry-docks is over 1 million tonnes and exceeds the
combined tonnage capacity of all the Group's seventeen UK docks. More
importantly, the facility enables us to undertake work on the largest vessels
afloat, and opens up possibilities in the West African deepwater oil fields
(the largest deepwater development area in the World) as well as in the cruise
and ferry sector. We must also not forget the local repair market. Marseille
is the largest port in France and as such has had a strong repair workload,
historically around #30 million per annum.

In addition to the three large dry-docks under our control, we also have
access to six smaller docks in the Port. These are ideal for repair and
maintenance work to smaller commercial vessels, and in the future, could form
an ideal base for Camper and Nicholsons' luxury yacht services.

We do not expect our Marseille operations to have a material impact in this
financial year. Until October we will only have access to one large dry-dock,
as the Port of Marseille undertake remedial and upgrade work (at their cost)
involving the other two docks. Beyond this there will be six to twelve months
of development in order to prepare the facility and the workforce for the step
change in size and complexity of projects undertaken.

The imminent acquisition of a 49% stake in Cascade General will provide the
Group with its first involvement in the United States, the World's largest
economy and consequently one of the most active marine markets. Situated in
Portland, Oregon, Cascade General operates the largest floating dry-dock in
the Americas and has historically turned over in excess of $100 million per
annum (more than our largest existing yard, Birkenhead). The Yard is in a
prime location for the Alaskan oil trade as well as for the growing interest
in cruising (Alaska is now the third most popular cruise market behind the
Caribbean and the Mediterranean). With its nearest competitor five hundred
miles south and with no major facilities available to the north, the Yard has
a robust repair market, which can be supplemented with larger conversion
projects in due course.

The Cascade deal is expected to complete within the next few weeks at a cost
of $9m and with a modestly priced option on the part of the Group to take a
controlling interest in due course. As with the Marseille deal, we view the
Cascade deal as a medium to long play, and do not anticipate that it will have
a material beneficial impact in this financial year."


For further information, please contact:

Steve Jacobs
Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113

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