www.bootsphoto.com is a new service from Boots which offers traditional film developing and printing together with free image storing and sharing online. Boots is investing £9.5m in the current financial year.

The agreement with Yahoo! UK & Ireland will mean that more consumers will be able to access Boots photo services. Yahoo! UK & Ireland users will be offered Boots developing and printing (via mail order or by collecting at a nominated store). Boots customers will be offered an easy way to copy their favourite pictures from Boots to Yahoo! Photos (http://uk.photos.yahoo.com). The images can then be used around the Yahoo! network of popular products and services. The association between Boots and Yahoo! UK & Ireland will be supported by an instore and online co-marketing campaign.

Richard Holmes, managing director of Boots Internet Ventures said, "We intend to dominate this new multi-million pound e-photo market. The internet will fundamentally change the way we think about photos. Because Boots has already invested in its own in-store digital mini-labs, we are ideally positioned to launch a complete e-photo service. The partnership with Yahoo! UK & Ireland will catapult us into the market."

James Bilefield, head of business development for Yahoo! UK & Ireland, said, "Yahoo! Photos is a great service which allows people to do more with their pictures. Our association with the photos market leader in the UK creates an even better experience for our users by providing great new photo services on Yahoo! UK & Ireland, including photo printing through Boots."

Notes to Editors

Yahoo! UK & Ireland 1. About Yahoo! Photos - Yahoo! Photos is part of Yahoo!'s comprehensive suite of communications services available across Yahoo!'s global network of properties. From instant messaging, online greeting cards, free e-mail and voice chat to address books, calendars, and personal file storage, Yahoo!'s communications services aim to give users everything they need in a centralised online location to communicate and organise their lives via the Web.

2. About Yahoo! UK & Ireland - Yahoo! UK & Ireland provides commerce, communication and media services to meet the needs of local consumers. Yahoo! UK & Ireland is staffed by local nationals and is headquartered in central London. Yahoo! UK & Ireland is part of Yahoo! Inc, Yahoo! Inc. is a global Internet communications, commerce and media company that offers a comprehensive branded network of services to more than 156 million individuals each month worldwide. As the first online navigational guide to the Web, www.yahoo.com is the leading guide in terms of traffic, advertising, household and business user reach, and is one of the most recognised brands associated with the Internet. The company also provides online business services designed to enhance the Web presence of Yahoo!'s clients, including audio and video streaming, store hosting and management, and Web site tools and services. The company's global Web network includes 23 local World properties outside the United States. Yahoo! has offices in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Canada and the United States, and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Yahoo! is a trademark of Yahoo! Inc.

Copyright 1994-2000 Yahoo! All Rights Reserved.

bootsphoto.com

1 Customers who have their films processed at Boots will be offered the option of having their images uploaded to their own secure web space, accessed by password. Prints, enlargements and photographs ordered on-line can then be collected from any nominated Boots store, regardless of where the film was processed.

2 Bootsphoto.com has instantly created the largest memory storage capacity in the UK

3. The growth of e-photo is set to accelerate with internet access via mobile phones, digital TV and increased use of PCs in the home. The US e-photo market was worth over m in 1999 and is predicted to grow to more than .5bn in 2000. Revenues typically come from ordering additional prints and the sale of merchandise.

4. There are fibre optic pipes (2MB) in all Boots digital photo stores – the largest fibre optic network in the UK.

5. The new service will be available to digital, APS and 35mm camera users

Boots Background

1 Boots The Chemists is the UK market leader in photography with sales value twice as big as any other photo processor in the UK. Each year Boots sells over 15m rolls of film.

2 Boots became the first retailer to offer a national APS (Advanced Photo System) service in 1998 with a £27.5m investment in its mini-lab network.

3 Richard Holmes – managing director of Boots Internet Ventures is available for interview.

The bootsphoto.com logo is available from www.bootsmedia.com

For further information contact:

Francis Thomas
Group Media Relations Manager
The Boots Company PLC
Tel: 0115 968 7029
Mobile 0836 660 700