Pre Close Trading Update

19 December 2014

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 2014. The Group will announce its full year results on 27 February 2015.

Since our Interim Management Statement ("IMS'') of 31 October 2014, the Group has traded in line with our expectations. For the 11 months ended 30 November 2014 ("the period'') underlying revenue, at constant exchange rates, for both the Group and Core Growth businesses was up 3% compared to the equivalent period last year. Reported revenue for the Group, including the impact of currency translation, was 2% below the equivalent period last year. We made progress in our underlying operating profit with further year-on-year improvement in operating margin in our Core Growth businesses.

We delivered good free cash flow in the period, achieving close to our target for the year of converting 100% of our profit after tax into free cash flow. Our financial position remains strong. In December, we signed an agreement for £130 million equivalent of 10 year Euro and Danish Krone denominated private placement notes at an average coupon of 2.1%. While this will increase slightly our net interest cost next year, compared to our short term funding rates, we have taken the opportunity to pre-fund the maturity of our June and December 2016 US private placement notes, which carry an average fixed interest rate of 4.6%.

We have delivered a good operational performance in the period, which reflects continued momentum towards achieving our strategic objectives. In the year to date, our reported results have been impacted by currency translation and we expect this to continue for the remainder of this year and into 2015. The Board continues to expect to achieve a year of good underlying progress in line with its previous expectations.

The Board announces that HSBC plc has been appointed Joint Corporate Broker, alongside J.P.Morgan Cazenove, with immediate effect.

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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.