Uniq plc Pre-Close Trading Update

INITIAL BENEFITS SEEN FROM RECOVERY INITIATIVES

Uniq plc, the European convenience food group, today issues the following trading update ahead of its half-year results for the 26 weeks to 30 Sept 2006.

Trading for the first five months of the financial year is in line with management expectations with sales up 2%. We remain confident of delivering a significant recovery based primarily on the UK performance year to date which we expect will gather momentum into the second half.

United Kingdom

In the first five months of the current financial year, UK sales were up 3% compared with last year. The actions we have taken to increase prices and reduce costs across the business have had a significant impact. Progress in the recovery at Minsterley remains behind plan. Further significant changes have therefore been made recently which are expected to improve performance in the second half.

Southern Europe

In France overall sales for the five months were down 2% however, the newly separated Spreads business continued to perform well with sales up 5%. The Marie Convenience business saw highly satisfactory growth in Chilled that was offset by a continuing decline in Frozen. The management team under new managing director Giampaolo Schiratti is in the early phase of a comprehensive re-launch of the Marie Frozen business which is intended to address the decline in sales and is planning increased investment behind the Marie brand to benefit both the Chilled and Frozen business.

Northern Europe

In Northern Europe, sales were 4% ahead of last year in the first five months. This included encouraging performance in Netherlands, Belgium and Poland, although Germany continues to be challenging. The fish business in Germany has responded well to the new management focus however it will take longer to recover the margin and volume performance on salads in Germany.

Divestments

On 6 June 2006, the company announced it was exploring the divestment of its French Spreads and Belgian Salads businesses. These processes are well underway and we will update the market when appropriate.

Commenting on developments, Geoff Eaton, Chief Executive of Uniq plc, said;

"12 months into our turnaround programme, I am pleased with overall progress in our recovery initiatives in the UK and Northern Europe. The recent changes at Minsterley are showing early promise, but the German Salads market remains challenging. In France the Marie Convenience business is getting sharper management focus to improve its long term competitiveness as we separate out the profitable Spreads business. We are confident the divestment programme will transform our balance sheet and generate cash to support our recovery."

For further information:

UNIQ plc
Martin Beer	Finance Director	01753 276011
Gainsborough
Julian Walker		020 7190 1705