23rd Jan 2006 17:21
23 January 2006Notification of Share InterestPursuant to Sections 198-203 of the Companies Act 1985We have received a notice dated 20 January 2006 from an official of FidelityInternational Limited (FIL) that it has an aggregate notifiable interest in7,874,304 Ordinary Shares of 5p each in Countrywide plc. On the basis of anissued share capital of 177,434,369 this represents 4.44% of the Company'sshares in issue.FIL holds them for various direct and indirect subsidiaries, including FidelityInvestment Services Limited (FISL); Fidelity Gestion (FIGEST); FidelityInvestments Advisory (Korea) Limited (FIA[K]JL); Fidelity InvestmentsManagement (Hong Kong) Limited (FIMHK); Fidelity Pension Management (FPM) andFidelity Investments International (FII), investment managers for variousnon-US investment companies, institutional clients. (See Schedule A for listingof registered shareholders and their holdings).The notifiable interest also comprises the notifiable interest of Mr Edward CJohnson 3d, a principal shareholder of FIL.The notifiable interest includes interest held on behalf of authorised unittrust schemes in the UK notwithstanding the exemption from reporting pursuantto section 209(1) (h) of the Act.These notifications of disclosable interests constitute separate notificationsof interest in the shares and are combined solely for the purposes of clarity.Nothing herein should be taken to indicate that Fidelity International Limitedand its direct and indirect subsidiaries or Mr Edward C Johnson 3d act as agroup or in concert in respect of the disclosed interests, or that they arerequired to submit these notifications on a joint basis.The disclosable interests arise under section 208(4)(b) of the Act, namelywhere a person, not being the registered holder, is entitled to exercise aright conferred by the holding of the shares or to control the exercise of suchrights, or under section 204 of the Act respectively.They have decreased their holding from 10,630,065 shares reported on 19 January2006 to 7,874,304 shares, which equates to 4.44% of the issued share capital.Company Secretary/DirectorCountrywide plcSchedule ASecurity: Countrywide plcOrdinary Shares Held Management Nominee/Registered Name Company 523,400 FPM Northern Trust London 347,803 FPM Bank of New York Brussels 250,100 FPM State Str Bank and TR Co Ldn (S) 78,875 FPM Bank of New York Europe LDN 70,300 FPM Citibank London 66,400 FPM Mellon Bank 28,400 FPM Clydesdale Bank plc 5,825,664 FISL J P Morgan, Bournemouth 325,026 FIL Brown Bros Harrimn Ltd LUX 127,300 FIL J P Morgan, Bournemouth 231,036 FII J P Morgan, Bournemouth Total Ordinary Shares: 7,874,304Key:FISL = Fidelity Investment Services LimitedFPM = Fidelity Pension Management Investment Managers and various non-USinvestment companies and institutional clientsFIL = Fidelity International LimitedFII = Fidelity Investments InternationalENDCOUNTRYWIDE PLCRelated Shares:
CWD.L