Holding(s) in Company

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:

Provident Financial plc

2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights

 X

An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached

An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights

Other (please specify):

3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation:

 Marathon Asset Management LLP

4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.):

BNP Paribas Securities Services - 93,044

Citibank - 62,089

Credit Suisse - 51,165

Danske Bank - 87,526

JP Morgan Chase - 269,283

Mellon Trust - 1,005,178

National Australia Bank Limited - 39,940

Northern Trust - 582,632

RBC Dexia - 120,494

State Street Bank & Trust Company 4,496,173

5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached:

 09 December 2010

6. Date on which issuer notified:

 10 December 2010

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:

 5%

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type ofshares

if possible usingthe ISIN CODE

Situation previousto the triggeringtransaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

NumberofShares

NumberofVotingRights

Numberof shares

Number of votingrights

% of voting rights

Direct

Direct

Indirect

Direct

Indirect

 Ordinary shares

of 20 8/11p

ISIN:

GB00B1Z4ST84

 8,496,532

6,750,404

 8,524,860

6,807,524

 5.02%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Expirationdate

Exercise/ConversionPeriod

Number of votingrights that may beacquired if theinstrument isexercised/ converted.

% of votingrights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Exerciseprice

Expirationdate

Exercise/Conversionperiod

Number of votingrights instrumentrefers to

% of voting rights

Nominal

Delta

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

 6,807,524

5.02%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or thefinancial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:

13. Additional information:

14. Contact name:

Emma G Versluys

Deputy Company Secretary

15. Contact telephone number:

 01274 351034