PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

12 MONTHS 31 OCTOBER 2001*

HIGHLIGHTS

• Investment of €95.7 million during the year including m.v. "Ulysses", world's largest car ferry of its type.
  
  
• Adverse impact of Foot & Mouth Disease in mid-season abating by year end.
  
  
• EBITDA of €48.3 million, up from €47.8 million the previous year.
  
  
• Record Roll-on Roll-off freight carryings achieved (up by 11%) following introduction of m.v. "Ulysses".
  
  
• Adjusted earnings per share (before goodwill charges) of 55.4c.

* Unaudited interim results for the 12 months to 31 October 2001. As a result of the change in
year-end 14 month results to 31 December 2001 will be issued in March 2002.

PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS

12 MONTHS 31 OCTOBER 2001

RESULTS FOR YEAR

The Board of Irish Continental Group, plc ("ICG" or the "Group") announces profit before tax and exceptional item of €14.6 million for the year to 31 October 2001. This compares with €19.0 million the previous year. Adjusted earnings per share (before goodwill) was 55.4c. Turnover for the year was €311 million (2000: €314m). The exceptional write off of goodwill, incurred in 1999, amounted to €3.2m resulting in EPS after goodwill charges of 42c.

EBITDA for the year was €48.3 million, up from €47.8 million the previous year while operating profit for the year was €25.1 million compared with €26.4 million in 2000.

The interest charge was up from €7.4 million to €10.5 million, reflecting the delivery during the year of the m.v. "Ulysses" while there was a taxation charge of €0.3 million.

SECOND HALF RESULTS

In the seasonally more significant second half of the year, sales were €186.8 million (€191.0 million the previous year), operating profit was 2% higher (€27.6 million vs €27.1 million) and profit before tax and exceptional item was €21.8 million compared with €23.7 million last year. The stability of the second half performance indicates that the effects of Foot and Mouth disease had begun to abate as the second half progressed.

DIVIDEND

The final dividend will be declared when the results for the 14 months to 31 December 2001 are announced in March 2002. It is anticipated that the proposed final dividend will be 11.4c per share making a total dividend for the 14 months to 31 December 2001 of 17.1c.

FERRIES AND TRAVEL DIVISION

The Ferries and Travel division includes the activities of Irish Ferries, the ferry chartering business and the travel services activities. Profit before interest and exceptional charge in the division was €22.3 million (2000: €27 million) on turnover of €196.3 million (2000: €194.9 million). Passenger revenue was impacted in the Spring and Summer period by Foot & Mouth Disease. Freight revenue and chartering revenue showed no adverse impact from Foot & Mouth Disease.

It was a year of substantial change on our Irish sea routes. On the Dublin/Holyhead route, the prime sea route into the Republic of Ireland, we introduced m.v. "Ulysses" in March. The vessel won the award "Most Significant New Build Ferry" at the Cruise & Ferry awards in London in May of 2001. The 1997-built m.v. "Isle of Inishmore" was then transferred to Rosslare/Pembroke, resulting in a major upgrade in capacity and quality on that route.

Irish Ferries - Passenger Revenue

Despite the severe impact of Foot and Mouth disease on sea travel to Ireland from the UK, in the period from late February to early September, a recovery in carryings in the latter weeks of the year resulted in passenger carryings overall declining by only 4% to 1.73 million passengers. On the Dublin/Holyhead route, where our DublinSwift fast ferry continues to develop its market, passenger numbers were broadly unchanged at 1.14 million while on the Rosslare/Pembroke route, where the impact of Foot and Mouth Disease was more marked, there was an 16% decline to 0.38 million passengers. On the Ireland/France route, passenger numbers were unchanged at 0.21 million.

Overall passenger numbers in the second half was 1.18 million (1.20 million last year). Average passenger yields across all routes for the year as a whole were up by 10%.

Across our route network car carryings were 374,000 cars (2000: 400,000 cars). On the Dublin/Holyhead route, car carryings were down 3% while the Rosslare/Pembroke route saw a reduction of 13%. Car volumes on the Ireland/France route were unchanged on the previous year.

Irish Ferries Roll-on Roll-off Freight Revenue

It was a record year for Roll-on Roll-off freight on both corridors of the Irish Sea with our total carryings up by 11% to 182,000 trucks. With the introduction of substantial new capacity on our m.v. "Ulysses", a 13% increase in freight units to 119,000 was achieved on the Dublin/Holyhead route. On the Rosslare/Pembroke route there was a 9% increase in carryings to 60,000 units. On the Ireland/France route, 2,700 trucks were carried compared with 2,900 the previous year. In the second half of the year freight carryings were up 17%.

Chartering

Revenue from the charters of the m.v. "Pride of Bilbao" and the former m.v. "St. Patrick II" were in line with the previous year. Following the introduction of the m.v. "Isle of Inishmore" on the Rosslare / Pembroke route, the m.v. "Isle of Innisfree" was made available for charter. We are in discussion with a number of parties in relation to such a charter.

Travel Agencies/Travel Website

This was a challenging year for our travel division which includes Tara Travel, ICG Travel and wannabeinireland.com. The impact of Foot and Mouth disease on travel to Ireland, declining commission rates across the industry, and development costs associated with wannabeinireland.com affected profitability. This was exacerbated by the events of September 11th which impacted on air travel worldwide.

As a result of the above we have decided to write off the goodwill incurred in the acquisition of Tara Travel in 1999. This non-cash charge amounts to €3.2 million and has been treated as an exceptional item. This will benefit earnings going forward by approximately €0.4 million per annum. We have also decided to terminate wannabeinireland.com due to the negative outlook for travel intermediaries, particularly post September 11th. All costs incurred in the development and operation of the site have been fully expensed in the financial years 2000 and 2001.

Irishferries.com however had an outstanding year with annual bookings of €8m in the last 12 months, compared with €3.4m in the same period in 2000.

CONTAINER AND TERMINAL DIVISION

It was a year of restructuring and recovery in the Container and Terminal Division. Turnover was €115.3million (€119.5 the previous year), while an operating profit of €2.8 million was recorded compared with an operating loss of €0.6 million in 2000.

Container Lift-on Lift-off Freight

During the year our focus has been on recovery in margins in Eucon's services between Ireland and the UK and the Continent, and our dedicated feeder services Eurofeeders and Feederlink. We are engaged in a programme to restore pricing to levels which will generate an appropriate return for the group.

Total container freight volumes carried on our own services fell 7% to 365,000 twenty-foot equivalent units as we eliminated a number of marginal routes and traffic flows to strengthen our focus on higher margin business and more balanced trade flows. We also implemented tariff increases to recover cost increases we had experienced in 2000. Overall yields rose by 3%.

Terminal

During the year we eliminated some unprofitable short-sea container handling to concentrate on Continental business, which is more suited to the Lo Lo mode. As a result units handled fell by 12% to 218,000 twenty-foot equivalent units although revenue and profits increased.

CORPORATE DEVELOPMENTS

In the light of the recent downturn in Ireland's tourism market we have made a case to Government that we are prepared to invest in new tonnage for our Continental ferry service if assistance from the state is granted. This could be structured as part of a public service obligation ("PSO"), similar to that employed in other European peripheral regions.

FINANCE

EBITDA amounted to €48.3 million for the year (2000: €47.8 million). Total investment in the year amounted to €95.7 million, comprising the final payments of €83.4 million on the m.v. "Ulysses" and other capital expenditure of €12.3 million. Year-end net debt amounted to €183.5 million giving a comfortable gearing level of 92% (62% in 2000). Interest cover was 2.4 times (2000: 3.6 times). Year-end cash balances amounted to €25.1 million. Shareholders' funds at year-end amounted to €199.2 million.

Our taxation charge was €0.3 million due to capital allowances arising from our investment programme. The recently announced introduction of tonnage tax in the Republic of Ireland is a welcome development and, subject to the detailed provision of the legislation, which will not be available until the Finance Bill is published, will assist in mitigating the effects of FRS19 when it is introduced in 2002. As shipowners we welcome its introduction, which will enable us to compete with other EU competitors who avail of tonnage tax in their own tax jurisdictions.

CHANGE OF YEAR END

As previously announced the group is changing its year-end to 31 December with effect from 31 December 2001. The purpose of the change is to align the financial year with the marketing calendar of the business and also with the new tax year in the Republic of Ireland and with industry norms.

These results to 31 October 2001 have been issued in the interests of comparability with prior periods. The company's results for the 14 months to 31 December 2001 will be published in March 2002.

BOARD

Tony Kelly, Marketing Director, Irish Ferries was co-opted to the Board with effect from January this year. Tony has worked with the Group for over 25 years in both the freight and passenger areas. He is Chairman of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, a director of the all-Ireland tourism body, Tourism Ireland and a council member of Dublin Tourism.

OUTLOOK

The outlook for 2002 is promising. Fuel prices have stabilised at levels substantially below their peak. The impact of Foot & Mouth Disease is now behind us and we look forward to a resumption of more normal levels of passenger traffic into Ireland particularly from the UK.

Following our investment programme of €240 million in our fleet over the last 5 years we now have one of the most modern fleets in shipping. The introduction of m.v. "Ulysses" and the m.v. "Isle of Inishmore" on their respective routes gives us annualised additional freight capacity of approximately 60%, this in a market which has shown constant growth. Therefore we look forward to growth in 2002 in both our travel and trade routes linking Ireland with the UK and Continental Europe.

Thomas C. Toner
Chairman

16th January, 2002

Website: www.icg.ie
Email: info@icg.ie

IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP, PLC

CONSOLIDATED PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT

For the year ended 31 October 2001

IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP, PLC

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

As at 31 October 2001

IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP, PLC

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

For the year ended 31 October 2001

NOTES FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1 SEGMENTAL INFORMATION

The segmental results of the Group are set out below:

(i) Analysis by class of business

Costs previously shown as central costs have been apportioned by division in the current year. The prior year figures have been restated accordingly.

(ii) Analysis by Origin

2 Dividends

3 Earnings per share

The calculation of earnings per share is based on the weighted average number of shares in issue of 26.50 million (2000: 26.35 million) and profits attributable to shareholders of € 11.1 million (2000: €18.5 million).

Diluted earnings per share is computed in accordance with FRS14 and is based on diluted weighted
Average shares in issue, including options exercisable as of the date of this report, of 26.99 million shares (2000: 27.12 million shares).

Adjusted earnings per share is based on the weighted average number of shares in issue of 26.50 million and profit attributable to shareholders, before goodwill and exceptional item, of €14.7 million (2000: €19 million).



4 Financial Reporting Standards

The foregoing accounts are prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the 2000 Annual Report.

5. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt

6. Analysis of net debt