4th Aug 2006 11:52
4 August 2006Notification of Share Interest - Sections 198-203 of the Companies Act 19851. We have received a notice dated 03 August 2006 from an official of TheGoldman Sachs Group Inc., the extract of which is as follows:-"We hereby notify you that as at close of business on 01 August 2006, TheGoldman Sachs Group Inc ("GS Inc") of 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004, USA,was interested, by attribution only, in a total of 6,187,311 shares.Of these 6,187,311 shares: * The interest in 3,472,709 shares arose from the interest held by Goldman Sachs & Co., a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of GS Inc., acting as custodian for its customers. These shares are, or will be, registered in the name of Goldman Sachs Securities (Nominees) Limited. * The interest in 2,714,602 shares arose from a beneficial interest held by Goldman Sachs International, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of GS Inc., these shares are, or will be, registered at CREST in account CREPTEMP". They have decreased their shareholding from 8,438,825 shares in Countrywide plcreported on 26 July 2006 to 6,187,311 shares. This equates to 3.53% of thetotal issued share capital of 175,441,639 shares.DirectorCountrywide plcENDCOUNTRYWIDE PLCRelated Shares:
CWD.L