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The Company has not adopted amendments to FRS 26 in relation to financial guarantee contracts which will apply for periods commencing on or after January 1, 2006.

Where the Company enters into financial guarantee contracts to guarantee the indebtedness of other companies within its group, the Company considers these to be insurance arrangements, and accounts for them as such. In this respect, the Company treats the guarantee contract as a contingent liability until such time as it becomes probable that the Company will be required to make a payment under the guarantee.

The Company does not expect the amendments to have any impact on the financial statements for the period commencing January 1, 2006. At December 31, 2005 these guarantees amounted to £1,344m (2004 £1,513m).