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This interview is a small excerpt from a comprehensive interview published in The Wall Street Transcript as part of the Technology Sector, available at (001-212-952-7433) or http://www.twst.com/sectors/techno.html

TWST: Can you give us a brief overview of GUS including the company’s history, products and services for those not familiar?

Mr. Tyler: GUS was a conglomerate until the late 1990s and over the last three or four years we have been changing the business to focus on three main activities. The first is Argos Retail Group which is a retail business mainly in the UK. Secondly we run Experian which is a global information services business with two thirds of its activity in the United States. Our third operation is Burberry which is an international luxury goods company. We now own 77 percent of Burberry given that 23 percent was floated in an IPO last July. So those are the key businesses in GUS today. The other activities are relatively small and are being reduced in size.

TWST: I know on your website you have some financial results, would you like to briefly talk about those?

Mr. Tyler: Sure. In the last full year, to March 2002 we made 552 million pounds before tax which was a 13% growth against the previous year’s 487 million pounds. In the first half of this year which is the last time we announced profit figures, we showed a 20 percent growth in profit from £206 million last year to £247 million in the first six months of this year. So things are going well and each of our main activities, Experian, Argos Retail Group and Burberry all showed good profit increases in the period.

TWST: What about the Homebase acquisition?

Mr. Tyler: Well, we announced the Homebase acquisition in November and completed on the deal just before Christmas in December. So it is very new in the family. We are very pleased with it. It cost us 900 million pounds. We expect to achieve EBIT of around 100 million pounds in the year to February 2003 and we anticipate we will be able to improve on that as we move forward for all sorts of reasons. So it provides a good return straight away - one that matches our cost of capital - and we anticipate in future years being able to increase that profit significantly.

TWST: How many stores was that?

Mr. Tyler: It has 273 stores around the UK and Ireland. Those stores predominantly stock do-it-yourself (DIY) items, gardening items, home furnishings, furniture and decorative products.