19th Sep 2005 15:45
19 September 2005Notification of Share InterestPursuant to Sections 198-203 of the Companies Act 1985We have received a notice dated 16 September 2005 from an official of FidelityInternational Limited (FIL) that it has an aggregate notifiable interest in17,695,728 Ordinary Shares of 5p each in Countrywide plc. On the basis of anissued share capital of 178,543,983 this represents 9.91% 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 18,232,473 shares reported on 13September 2005 to 17,695,728 shares, which equates to 9.91% of the issued sharecapital.Company Secretary/DirectorCountrywide plcSchedule ASecurity: Countrywide plcOrdinary Shares Management Company Nominee/Registered Name Held 78,875 EPM Bank of New York Europe LDN 650,744 FIL J P Morgan, Bournemouth 636,326 FIL Brown Bros Harriman Ltd LUX 14,588,980 FISL J P Morgan, Bournemouth 414,303 FPM Bank of New York Brussels 74,700 FPM Citibank London 35,200 FPM Clydesdale Bank plc 75,100 FPM Mellon Bank 878,900 FPM Northern Trust London 262,600 FPM State Str Bank and TR Co Ldn Total Ordinary Shares: 17,695,728Key: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