ARCOURT: FINANCING ACCELERATED REVENUE AND PROFIT GROWTH Crispin Davis, CEO Barcelona, 2 April 2001

STRONG PLATFORM FOR GROWTH Focus on four core businesses Attractive global growing markets Targeted at professional users Proprietary, must have content Annual subscription model Internet accelerating growth opportunities

KEY FOUNDATIONS OF GROWTH STRATEGY Upgrade Management Effectiveness Add Acquisitions/ Alliances Build Global Capability Substantial Investment Major Cost Savings Demonstrably Superior Products Upgrade Sales & Marketing

UPGRADED SCIENCEDIRECT PRODUCT INTERNET MIGRATION CUSTOMER PREFERENCE MODERATE PRICING POLICY AGGRESSIVE SALES AND MARKETING HIGHER PENETRATION HIGHER USAGE STRONGER RENEWALS ACCELERATED REVENUE GROWTH SCIENCE & MEDICAL: STRATEGY FOR GROWTH

NAVIGATION Abstracts & Indices (30m) Print Journals Full text searchable database ARCHIVE Growing electronic archive SUBJECT PORTALS Physics, Engineering, Chemistry etc. SCIRUS Linkage to web scientific data ACADEMIC WORKBENCH Authorship and pre- publication tools SCIENCE & MEDICAL: EXPANDED SCIENCEDIRECT OFFERING

% SCIENCEDIRECT: INCREASE IN PENETRATION

SCIENCEDIRECT: INCREASE IN USAGE

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: REACHING NEW USERS All 12 universities and national library Upsold from 450 to all 1,100 journals 5 year contract Potential for additional revenues - New customers (lower level colleges) - Upselling (backfiles, additional functionality, abstract databases) Example: Dutch Consortium

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: REACHING NEW USERS Ohio State University China Korea Australia Taiwan Brazil Canada Bavaria Vale (USA) Nord Rhein Westpahlia

SCIENCE & MEDICAL: 2001 PRIORITIES Further upgrade of ScienceDirect Broaden user base Successfully integrate Harcourt STM

LEGAL: US STRATEGY FOR GROWTH ACCELERATED REVENUE GROWTH US LAW SCHOOL PREFERENCE SMALL LAW PROGRAMME UPGRADED SALES AND MARKETING COMPETITIVE PRODUCT lexis.com nexis.com STRONGER RENEWALS HIGHER PENETRATION HIGHER USAGE INTERNET MIGRATION CUSTOMER PREFERENCE

LEGAL : PRODUCT UPGRADE PROGRAMME TAX CCH/Tax Analysts LEGAL Expanded E-treatises Improved Linkages CITATOR Functionality Upgrade CASE SUMMARIES Editors $19m Investment in 2001 WEB RELIABILITY Private Nodes EASE OF USE New lexis.com New WebSphere Platform NEWS & BUSINESS FT Profile/ Company Dossier PUBLIC RECORDS Riskwise/Corp America Acquisitions

LEGAL: MIGRATION TO ELECTRONIC INFORMATION % US: % Electronic Revenues

LEGAL: US LAW SCHOOL PREFERENCE PARITY % LEXIS Preference Overall

LEGAL: CUSTOMISED SOLUTIONS CUSTOMISED E-SOLUTIONS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PORTAL Specialised portal for law firms CUSTOM WEB PAGES Easy access to specific forms and sources INTRANET SOLUTIONS Customised legal intranets PRACTICE PAGES Customised approach to specific practice areas LEXIS - NEXIS DATABASE/CONTENT

LEGAL: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PORTAL One search technology for simultaneous search of legal resources, website, news feeds and internal documents Enhanced productivity Simplified navigation Improved client communication tools Proven software

Lawyer receives ContentSuggested Answer one Click away LEGAL: BUTTERWORTHS LEXIS DIRECT Pre-emptive Search Automatic alerting to highly relevant Butterworths Lexis direct content

LEGAL: BUTTERWORTHS LEXIS DIRECT 2000 revenues £4.5m, up 400% on ,800 current paying customers 1,000 new individual subscribers each week 1.25m page impressions per week

LEGAL: 2001 PRIORITIES Continued product upgrade Monetise increased usage Adopt Lexis Nexis as global brand and product platform Expand geographical presence in key markets

BUSINESS: STRATEGY FOR GROWTH ACCELERATED REVENUE GROWTH PRINT LAUNCH AND EXTENSION LEADING INTERNET PORTALS UPGRADED SALES AND MARKETING CONTENT AND DATA AQUISITION NEW REVENUE SOURCES STRONGER ADVERTISING PROPOSITION HIGHER VOLUMES EXPANSION OF SERVICES CUSTOMER PREFERENCE

BUSINESS: NEW AND UPGRADED PORTALS LAUNCHED

BUSINESS: INTERNET B2B REVENUE GROWTH Traffic and revenues building Size of market opportunity smaller Investment slightly reduced and reprioritised Organic Including Acquisitions

Performance Chemicals Europe European Chemical News Asian Chemical News Asia Pacific Chemical BUSINESS: BUILDING ON PRINT STRENGTHS CNI Real time news Data bases Magazine archives CNI Chemical News & Intelligence Global chemical business news, analysis and data 24 hours a day

BUSINESS: BUILDING ON PRINT STRENGTHS Vertical Portals - sector focused information HospitalityHospitality Horizontal Portals Tax, Finance, Legal, Marketing, HR Comprehensive business solutions AgricultureAgriculture HorticultureHorticulture FoodFood etc. ZIBB.NL

BUSINESS: ZIBB.NL WEEKLY PAGE VIEWS (000)

BUSINESS: PORTFOLIO REFOCUS AND EXPANSION +13% REVENUE; STRONG SHARE GROWTH FEWER, FASTER GROWING, HIGHER QUALITY SECTORS Construction Entertainment Global Chemicals European Exhibitions Travel US Auto, Metals, Food Processing Tuition Businesses Bowker Directories Non Core Titles, Exhibitions, Reference + - Electronics

Maintain print momentum Maximise revenues and returns from internet Drive global strategy Respond quickly to changing economic environment BUSINESS: 2001 PRIORITIES

PROGRESS ON HARCOURT ACQUISITION Results (year to October 2000) reaffirmed very positive momentum Meetings with management encouraging and confirmed opportunity Integration plans well advanced Strategies and programmes for growth developing well Regulatory process targeted for mid year completion

KEY OBJECTIVES FOR 2001 Drive benefits from strengthened management structure Continue to execute effectively against strategic milestones Accelerate revenue growth, exceeding market growth in 75% of businesses Grow operating margin through increased efficiency Accelerate profit growth strongly towards double digit Integrate Harcourt successfully

STRONG PLATFORM FOR GROWTH + Attractive global growing businesses Targeted at professional users Proprietary, must have content Annual subscription model Internet accelerating growth opportunities Clear strategy Management in place Resources applied Execution firmly on track