Pre close Trading Update

16 December 2013

Berendsen plc

Pre close Trading Update

The Board of Berendsen plc ("the Group'') today issues the following statement before entering its close period for the year ending 31 December 2013. The Group will announce its full year results on 28 February 2014.

Since our Interim Management Statement (''IMS'') of 1 November 2013, the Group has traded in line with our expectations. For the 11 months ended 30 November 2013 (''the period'') reported revenue for the Group was up 7% compared to the equivalent period last year. Excluding the benefit of foreign currency exchange translation and the acquisitions we made last year, underlying revenue for the Group was ahead by 3% with trading stronger in the second half of the year consistent with the trends we reported in the IMS. In our Core Growth businesses, underlying revenue increased by 3.5% in the 11 month period.

We delivered an improvement in the Group's operating margin and with lower interest costs due to our strong cash flow, our reported profit before tax in the period was well ahead of last year.

Our free cash flow remained strong in the period, maintaining conversion of our profit after tax at well over 100%. As a result, net debt is substantially lower than at the start of the year.

We performed well in the period and the Board expects to achieve a year of good progress for the full year 2013.

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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.