ABF reaches agreement in principle with Ebro Puleva

Associated British Foods plc ("ABF"), the international food, ingredients and retail group, has today confirmed that it has been in discussions with Ebro Puleva S.A. ("Ebro Puleva") regarding the potential acquisition of its leading Spanish sugar business, Azucarera Ebro S.L.U. Whilst ABF has reached an "in principle" agreement with Ebro Puleva, there can be no certainty that a binding agreement will be concluded. A further announcement will be made in due course.

For further enquiries please contact:

Associated British Foods
John Bason, Finance Director
Geoff Lancaster, Head of External Affairs
Tel: 020 7399 6500

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Jonathan Clare, Chris Barrie, Hannah Seward
Tel: 020 7638 9571

Notes to editors

1. Associated British Foods (www.abf.co.uk) is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £8.2bn and 96,000 employees in 44 countries. Its aim is to achieve strong, sustainable leadership positions in markets that offer potential for profitable growth. The group looks to achieve this through a combination of growth of existing businesses, acquisition of complementary new businesses and achievement of high levels of operating efficiency. The group has established a track record of successful value-adding transactions.
2. British Sugar (www.britishsugar.co.uk) is the second largest sugar producer in the world producing 4 million tonnes of sugar annually and has sugar operations in the United Kingdom, Poland, China and in a number of countries in southern Africa. British Sugar’s revenue for the year ending 30 September 2008 was some £1.3bn.
3. Ebro Puleva S.A. (www.ebropuleva.com) is a leading Spanish food company manufacturing rice, pasta, sugar and dairy products under a number of well known brands.
4. Azucarera Ebro S.L.U. (www.azucarera.es) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ebro Puleva. It is the leading producer of sugar in Iberia where it supplies 50% of the sugar consumed. Azucarera Ebro offers a full range of products including industrial and retail products of various formats as well as speciality grades and liquid sugar. For the year ended 31 December 2007, Azucarera Ebro generated an operating profit of €48m on sales of €621m.