RNS Number:1899U
Chaucer Holdings PLC
13 January 2004

For immediate release                                            13 January 2004

                              CHAUCER HOLDINGS PLC

                       All Employee Share Ownership Plan

Chaucer Holdings PLC ('Chaucer') announces that it was advised on 12 January
2004 that Hill Samuel ESOP Trustees Limited, the Trustees of the Chaucer All
Employee Share Ownership Plan (the 'Plan'), had purchased 66,702 Chaucer
ordinary shares of 25p each at 46.5p per share in respect of the January, 2004
allocation of shares under the terms of the Plan.

Of those shares, 22,734 were acquired as Partnership Shares (paid for by
participating employees) and the remainder of 45,468 of such shares were
allocated as Matching Shares. 43,968 of these Matching Shares were bought in the
market by Chaucer and 1,500 shares were previously held by the Trustees having
been forfeited by former employees.

The January, 2004 Plan allocation of shares and total current beneficial
shareholdings of directors as disclosed by virtue of the provisions of the
Companies Act 1985 are as follows:-


Director               Shares Allocated             Total Holding

E H Gilmour                         807                   527,223
M C Graham                          807                   144,319
H H Hayward                         645                 2,428,626
E N Noble                           807                    92,443
R A Stuchbery                       807                 1,315,527

Enquiries:

Philip Osman
Company Secretary
Chaucer Holdings PLC
Tel: 020 7397 9777


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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