Close Period Trading Update

27 June 2014

Berendsen plc

 Close Period Trading Update

Berendsen plc ("the Group") issues the following statement before entering its close period for the half year ending 30 June 2014 and prior to its half year results announcement, which will be issued on 29 August 2014.

Trading in the first five months of the year was in line with management's expectations. Underlying revenue for the Group, at constant exchange rates, was up 3% compared to the equivalent period last year and in our Core Growth businesses, underlying revenue also increased 3%. Reported revenue for the Group, including the impact of currency translation, was 1% below last year.

We made further progress in our underlying operating profit with operating margins up in each of our Core Growth businesses. Workwear experienced little help from its markets in Continental Europe but has continued to make progress, including the conversion to CL2000 of plants in the UK. In Facility we are continuing to convert the good opportunities we have for higher levels of organic revenue. Our UK Flat Linen business increased revenues with continued momentum in underlying volumes in our hotel customer segment. In line with our strategy, we have continued to transfer operational best practice in all our business lines, capturing significant productivity improvements and, in the UK, allowing further consolidation of our plant network.

As expected, we have started to see the revenue benefits of the contract wins in Flat Linen outside the UK, and as previously indicated profits are lower as a result of the contract re-pricing in the second half of last year and start-up costs on these new contracts.

Interest costs were lower due to our strong cash flow and our reported profit before tax was ahead of last year for the first five months.

Whilst our reported results will be influenced by the impact of currency translation, on an underlying basis, we have made good progress for the first half of the year in line with management's expectations, and the Board continues to expect to achieve further good progress for the year as a whole.

Conference Call

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 8.00am (UK time) today to discuss this statement.

For further information contact:

Note:

1. Berendsen plc is a focused European textile maintenance business with leading positions in most of the countries in which it operates. As a focused business we are able to mobilise our resources to drive our strategies in our core area of expertise.

2. All financial information sourced from management accounts; operating profit and earnings per share stated before exceptional items and amortisation of customer contracts and intellectual property rights.

3. Statements made in this announcement that look forward in time or that express management's beliefs, expectations or estimates regarding future occurrences are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the Group's current expectations concerning future events and actual results may differ materially from current expectations or historical results.