Regulatory News Announcement - Update to shareholders

14 July 2010

Minerva plc

The Board of Minerva plc ("Minerva" or the "Company") wishes to update shareholders on discussions between Minerva and its largest shareholder, KiFin Limited ("KiFin").

At a meeting between the Chairman and a representative of KiFin on 7 July 2010 the Company was informed that KiFin wished to implement a number of changes to the Board of Minerva. Specifically, these changes included:

§ the removal of the Chief Executive, Salmaan Hasan;

§ the agreement of the Chairman, Oliver Whitehead, to vacate his position on a timetable to be agreed with KiFin;

§ the appointment of Philip Lewis, a representative of the Kirsh Family Office, as interim Chief Executive to oversee the appointment of a new Chief Executive for the Company;

§ the subsequent appointment of Philip Lewis as a Non-Executive Director of Minerva following the appointment of a new Chief Executive; and

§ the appointment of a further Non-Executive Director by KiFin.

The Board has considered the requests of KiFin and has unanimously voted to reject them.  The impact of these proposed changes, if implemented, would be to deliver effective operational control of the Company to KiFin. The Board considers that these proposals from Kifin represent a continuation of its attempts to gain control of the Company without paying a premium to shareholders for that control. The Board considers this to be wholly inappropriate and not in the interests of shareholders as a whole.

Enquiries:

Minerva plc                                                     020 7535 1000

Oliver Whitehead, Chairman

Greenhill & Co. International LLP                  020 7198 7400

Brian Cassin

Brunswick Group                                            020 7404 5959

Jonathan Glass