CLL Cello Health Plc

RNS No 4935c
CASSELL PLC
17th October 1998


                       DEFENCE DOCUMENT POSTED

The Board of Cassell plc ("Cassell" or the Company") has today sent a document
to shareholders advising them not to accept the hostile offer from Macmillan
Publishers Limited ("Macmillan") of 100p per share (the "Offer"). The key points
in the Cassell response are set out below:

-         Macmillan directly controls only 14.9 per cent of Cassell.

-         The acquisition of Cassell would present significant rationalisation
          benefits to another publisher which are not reflected in the Offer
          price.

-         Macmillan proposes to acquire Cassell on a multiple of 0.31 times
          turnover compared with recent deals in the industry of 0.80 times to 
          2.42 times turnover.

-         Macmillan's offer takes no account of the likely benefit of the
          Group's tax losses.

-         The Board is having discussions with a number of interested parties
          with a view to eliciting a higher offer for the Company.

Commencing on the posting of the defence document, Philip Sturrock, Chairman and
Chief Executive of Cassell, said:

"The Offer from Macmillan is utterly derisory and does not reflect the
substantial synergy benefits which can be extracted in terms of overhead savings
when one publisher acquires another. The price offered to shareholders is well
below that of recent transactions in the industry and we are having discussions
with other interested parties in order that we can acheive maximum value for
shareholders."

"I urge shareholders to take no further action until the Board has had the
opportunity to report back on its discussions with various interested parties".

Further information:

Cassell plc
Philip Sturrock                         0171 420 5555

Charterhouse Tilney Securities Ltd
Peter May
Christopher Rothschild                  0171 248 4000

Biddick Associates
Zoe Biddick                             0171 377 6677

Charterhouse Tilney Securities Limited, which is a member of the London Stock
Exchange and is regulated in the United Kingdom by The Securities and Futures
Authority Limited, is acting exclusively for Cassell plc and no one else in
connection with the Offer and will not be responsible to anyone other than
Cassell plc for providing the protections afforded to customers of Charterhouse
Tilney Securities Limited, nor for providing advice in relation to the Offer.

The Directors of Cassell plc accept responsibility for the information contained
in this announcement.  To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Directors
of Cassell plc (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the
case)  the information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the
facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such
information.


END

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