Capgemini Group sells equity stake in Vertex to United Utilities Plc

Paris, November 9, 2004

Capgemini Group ("Capgemini") has sold its 14.6 per cent equity stake in Vertex Data Science Limited ("Vertex") to United Utilities PLC for £47.5 million in cash. Following this transaction, United Utilities now owns 100 per cent of Vertex's share capital and Capgemini no longer has any representation on the Board of Vertex.

This acquisition does not alter the strategic alliance that exists between the two companies. This partnership, which is not an exclusive relationship, enables Capgemini and Vertex to focus on their core skills and, by pooling their complementary expertise, provide clients with a combined offering where appropriate.

Capgemini originally teamed up with Vertex in February 2001 when it was mainly an in-house service provider to United Utilities. As part of the deal, Vertex took on Capgemini's existing call centre business process outsourcing business and Vertex outsourced its existing IT infrastructure work to Capgemini. Capgemini also took a minority shareholding in Vertex.

Capgemini uses alliance partners to strengthen its proposition and global reach and it provides Capgemini with a competitive advantage. In the UK, Vertex is Capgemini’s CRM partner for call centers and several highly successful joint arrangements have been established as a result.

Chief Executive of United Utilities, John Roberts, said:

"The partnership has served us well and helped Vertex during its developmental stage. In conjunction with Capgemini we now operate substantial contracts with clients such as Hydro-One and Westminster City Council.

"Having developed its own transformational outsourcing capability, and won significant contracts independently of the partnership, Vertex has reached a new level of maturity. It is now a leading player in the business process outsourcing market in its own right. According to a recent market report, Vertex is now the fourth largest business process outsourcing company in the United Kingdom.

"With Capgemini wanting to crystallise their investment in Vertex, we welcome the opportunity to buy back their minority stake in the business. Vertex continues to have good growth prospects for the future, based on its ability to apply its expertise, gained through managing utility customer bases, to the rapidly growing business process outsourcing market, both in the UK and North America."

Capgemini is a global provider of financial and accounting (F&A) and large multiprocess services delivered through a network of onshore, near shore and far shore centres. It provides business process outsourcing (BPO) services to all major markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific from its three primary hubs in Toronto, Canada; Krakow, Poland and Guangzhou, China.

Paul Spence, Head of Outsourcing Services Europe - Capgemini concluded:

“Capgemini’s sale of its shares in Vertex will not impact the close working relationship we have with the company in the provision of call centre and customer management activities. Working together in this way makes us an extremely powerful force in the market across both our areas of expertise. Capgemini’s dominance in the BPO market, combined with Vertex’s leadership in CRM for call centers is a powerful proposition.”

About the Capgemini Group

Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing services, has a unique way of working with its clients, which it calls the Collaborative Business Experience. Through commitment to mutual success and the achievement of tangible value, the company helps businesses implement growth strategies, leverage technology, and thrive through the power of collaboration. Capgemini employs approximately 60,000 people and reported 2003 global revenues of 5.754 billion euros.

More information about individual service lines, offices and research is available at www.capgemini.com

About Vertex

Vertex provides business process outsourcing services to utilities, local and central government and the service segment of the private sector. Vertex specialises in transforming front and back-office processes and the management of customer relationships. This is particularly relevant to clients with large customer bases, such as in the utility and public sectors, who require customer management and transformational capability, and the associated cost savings, when outsourcing their business processes.

In the financial year ending 31 March 2004, Vertex generated £386.5 million of revenues and £25.1 million of operating profit (before goodwill). After goodwill Vertex's operating profit was £21.3 million. Vertex's net operating assets as at 31 March 2004 were £111.7 million.