1 DAIRY CREST GROUP PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS For the year ended 31 March 2006

2 Highlights Building value through brand development Group Revenue (including share of jvs) £1.42bn (2005: £1.35bn) Adjusted profit before tax* £67.7m (2005: £75.7m) Adjusted earnings per share* 40.3 pence (2005: 43.9 pence) Full year dividend up 6.4% to 21.5 pence (2005: 20.2 pence) Net debt £280.2m (2005: £227.5m) * Including share of joint ventures and before exceptional items and amortisation of acquired intangibles

3 Highlights Building value through brand development We continue to make good progress with our brand portfolio: -strong performances from Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life Spreadable and the Yoplait brands -active programme of new product launches with emphasis on functional foods -recent launch of Cathedral City Mild We have strengthened the Dairies division: -integration of Midlands Co-op Dairies and Foston completed on time and to plan -successful implementation of additional Morrisons fresh milk -better balance of industry supply and demand in fresh milk -good performance by household business

4 Financial Review Alastair Murray

5 Income Statement * All items include share of joint ventures **Before exceptional items and amortisation of acquired intangibles £’mYear March 06 Year March 05 Profit on operations** Net finance costs(14.3)(16.2) Profit after interest** Exceptional items(22.2)(4.4) Intangible amortisation(1.0)- Profit before tax Taxation(9.7)(19.7) Profit after tax

6 Exceptional Items £’mYear March 06 CashNon CashTotal Midlands Co-op Dairies(11.7)(1.0)(12.7) Arla London Foodservice(2.6)- Sale of Newport IOW Dairy1.4- Impairment of assets-(9.3) (12.9)(10.3)(23.2) Share of JV sale of Enfield*1.0- Total(11.9)(10.3)(22.2) * Profit on sale before tax

7 Earnings and Dividends Pence per shareYear March 06 Year March 05 Change % Adjusted EPS Basic EPS Dividend declared Shares in issue: m

8 Segmental Analysis * Including pre tax and interest share of jvs and before exceptional items £’mYear March 06 Year March 05 Revenue Foods excl jvs Joint ventures6988 Foods Dairies Total1,4241,349 Profit on operations * Foods excl jvs Joint ventures Foods Dairies Total

9 Operating Margin* * Including share of joint ventures and before exceptional items %Year March 06 Year March 05 Foods excl jvs Joint ventures Foods Dairies Total5.76.8

10 Balance Sheet £’mYear March 06 Year March 05 Net operating assets Tax(20.4)(18.3) Net debt(280.2)(227.5) Net assets employed Gearing109%103%

11 Operating Cash Flow * Including share of joint ventures and before exceptional items ** Net of grants £’mYear March 06 Year March 05 Adjusted profit on operations* Depreciation and amortisation** Exceptional items(14.3)(1.3) Pensions(1.3)7.4 Joint ventures and other(14.3)(10.5) Working capital(16.3)22.4 Operating cash flow

12 Cash Flow £’mYear March 06 Year March 05 Operating cash flow Capital expenditure (net of grants)(44.0)(37.7) Interest, tax and dividends(57.5)(54.2) Dividends received from jvs9.0- Acquisitions(43.7)(9.9) Disposals Other Movement in net debt(52.7)52.2 Net debt at 31 March Net debt at 31 March

13 Pensions Summary IAS19 gross deficit at 31 March 2006 of £62.0m (2005:£102.7m) -highly volatile measure -increased asset valuations and discount rate Scheme to close to new entrants from July 2006 Additional cash contribution of £6.0m in 2005/06 Employer contributions to increase by £11.0m to c.£28.3m from 2006/07 -additional cash contribution of £12.0m -basic contribution increased from £11.3m to c.£16.3m Committed to maintain additional cash contribution of £12.0m in 2007/08 Next full actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2007

14 Business Review Drummond Hall

15 Total Shareholder Return since IPO TSR = Share price + dividends Source: Datastream (May 2006)

16 Our brands are getting bigger Source: Dairy Crest Annual Sales Volumes (Country Life 100% since Sept 2004) – 1996/97 indexed to % 1996/ / / / % + 210% + 317%

17 £106m £41m £52m £66m Our brands are getting bigger Source: TNS / AC Nielsen / IRI 52 week ended March 2006 bigger than

18 We’ve been active with new product development

19 Spreads Spreads business continues to be biggest profit contributor Marketing continues to focus on four key brands - simplified portfolio with fewer brands and sku’s Good performance from Clover - sales value growth of 5% - lower proportion of sales on promotion - price increases achieved in Sept 2005 and Jan 2006 Utterly Butterly continues to make progress against competition -increased share of dairy spreads sector -sales up 7% by volume and down 2% by value

20 DC acquired UB Source: AC Nielsen (MAT) 26 March 2006 MAT Value: £000’s Clover and UB outperform ICBINB

21 Country Life Good growth in Country Life -packet sales up 9% by value -spreadable sales up 23% by value Successful marketing campaign launched in summer first national TV advertising for 20 years Lightly salted version of Country Life Spreadable launched in January 2006 New packaging for Country Life range introduced Opportunities to stretch the Country Life brand into new areas

22 St. Ivel Gold St. Ivel Gold volume and share under pressure - sales down 17% by value - strong competitor performance St. Ivel Gold relaunched in January new packaging -new television advertising campaign -new Omega-3 variant launched St. Ivel Gold will be the platform for functional spreads

23 Cathedral City Strong performance from Cathedral City - sales up 17% by value and 11% by volume - lower proportion of sales on promotion New packaging launched Successful TV advertising campaign Cathedral City Mild launched May 2006 Final phase of Davidstow redevelopment completed

24 Cathedral City Growth Source: TNS (MAT) 26 March 2006

25 Cheese Strong overall performance from our cheese business -Cathedral City growth -cost related price increases achieved in summer 2005 Davidstow brand performed strongly with sales up 19% Successful implementation of new own label supply arrangements with ASDA and Morrisons Stilton business continues to be challenging -impairment charge on value of assets of £9.3m -launch of new speciality cheese brand ‘Over the Moon’ Strong market for whey products Industry cheese stocks have risen in second half - pressure on pricing in commodity cheese in 2006/07

26 Cheese Stocks British Cheese Board cheddar stocks 12 month moving average K tonnes

27 Continued good growth in chilled yogurts and desserts market Brands continue to perform strongly with overall sales value up 11% -Petits Filous up 25% -Frubes up 34% -Wildlife up 6% -YOP up 13% Weight Watchers down 4% by value but held market share in ‘Light’ New product development in functional foods -Petits Filous Plus: probiotic yogurt drink for kids Closure of own label operations in June 2005 Yoplait Dairy Crest

28 Liquid Products Retail milk volumes down 17% year on year - Tesco volume ceased in April 2005 Morrisons additional volume successfully implemented at end of October 2005 Acquisitions of Midland Co-op Dairies and Foston dairy in May integration completed on schedule and to plan -MCD Birmingham dairy closed February Foston now fully operational Better balance of supply and demand in fresh milk industry Price increases achieved from March 2005 and further increases achieved in January 2006 to offset higher input costs

29 Other Liquid Products Strong growth in organic milk -own label milk sales up 49% by value -Rachel’s brand sales up 47% by value FRijj maintained market leading position -value down 5% due to lower promotional volumes -addressing capacity constraints for 2006/07 Potted cream sales up 15% by value - M&S sole supply position from August 2006 St. Ivel advance encouraging performance so far -good levels of trade distribution -annualised retail sales of approximately £13m

30 Household Overall household volumes up 31% year on year -volume gained in middle ground -Midlands Co-op Dairies acquisition May Arla’s London foodservice business October ongoing infill acquisitions Uplift in Midlands Co-op performance -Average milk per round: 322 to 450 gallons pw -Non-milk products per round: £55 to £206 pw Underlying doorstep decline maintained at around 8% - investment in canvassing - first class service initiatives Non-milk product sales up by 30% Doorstep price increase from September 2005 of 2 pence per pint

31 Milk Procurement Strong working relationship with Dairy Crest Direct -over 70% of raw milk sourced from Dairy Crest Direct Dairy Crest continues to pay market leading prices -Waitrose and Marks & Spencer -Davidstow Price reductions on cheese contracts following 0.8 ppl increase in summer 2005: -0.5ppl from March 2006 (excluding Davidstow) -Announced 0.5ppl from June 2006 (0.25ppl for Davidstow) Price reduction on liquids contracts of 0.5ppl from April 2006 reflecting lower commodity cream prices

32 Outlook Our brand portfolio continues to make good progress - further new product launches Markets for own label and commodity products continue to be challenging Improved performance from Dairies division Trading at the start of the new financial year is on track

33 DAIRY CREST GROUP PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS For the year ended 31 March 2006