The Board of Antonov plc would like to reassure its shareholders that its business prospects will not be adversely impacted upon following the recently reported breakdown of discussions between PVH and SAIC.

It is our expectation that SAIC will seek to acquire parts of Powertrain Ltd (PTL), a separate subsidiary of PVH, as a stand alone business unit. This will enable the current product development plans to continue. If this is not achieved, we expect to reach agreement directly with SAIC (or its affiliated transmission manufacturer Shanghai Automotive Gear Works) to enable their automatic transmission plans to be maintained.

Antonov's investment in its AAD and DCA technologies for application by PTL for MG Rover and SAIC vehicles has been driven by strong commercial demand for innovative and versatile automatic transmission technology.

John Moore, CEO of Antonov plc commented:-

"We have recently demonstrated the technical viability of our 6 speed AAD technology to PTL following the completion of more than eighteen months of intensive development work at our R&D centre in Paris. The AAD is now ready for series production development, a process we expect to be undertaking together with Powertrain\SAIC and others. This process has already begun and while it will suffer some disruption as a result of today's events, we expect that it will be back on track shortly. Further announcements will be made as appropriate."