Trading update

2 July 2013

Berendsen plc

Trading update

The Board of Berendsen plc ("the Group") issues the following statement before entering its close period for the half year ended 30 June 2013 and prior to its Half Year Results announcement, which will be issued on 23 August 2013.

Trading in the first five months of the year has been in line with expectations. Reported year on year revenue growth was 7% for the Group, including a 3% benefit from foreign currency exchange and a 2% benefit from acquisitions. Our Core Growth businesses reported year on year revenue growth of 9% and underlying revenue growth of 3%.

We delivered an encouraging improvement in operating margin and, helped in part by lower interest costs due to our strong cash flow, our underlying profit before tax for the period was well ahead of last year before the positive impact of currency translation.

Our free cash flow remains strong, with conversion of our profit after tax into free cash flow at over 100%.

We will deliver a good result for the first half of the year and the Board continues to expect to achieve another year of good progress in 2013.

Conference Call

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 8.00am (UK time) today to discuss this statement.

Participant Details

Toll Number 02031394830

Toll-Free Number 08082370030

Participant PIN Code 51685266#

Playback Details

Playback Number 020 3426 2807

Playback Toll Free Number 0808 237 0026

Playback Pin Code 638720#

For further information contact:

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.