TELSTRA GROUP LIMITED — Capital/Financing Update 2004

Mar 23, 2004

ACN: 85 009 180 287

MEDIA/ASX RELEASE

24 March 2004

United Group builds recurring income with \$72 million in new long-term contracts

Diversified services company United Group Limited has secured \$72 million in new long-term service contracts through its facilities management, construction and industrial maintenance business United KG.

Telstra Corporation recently awarded a contract to United KG for the maintenance of its national network of payphones. The three-year contract, valued at up to \$52 million, includes the installation, inspection, maintenance and cleaning of over 32,000 Telstra payphones throughout Australia.

United KG recently won a four-year contract with the Sydney Water Corporation to provide comprehensive facility management services for its eight commercial sites within the Sydney CBD and metropolitan area. The contract value is estimated at \$2 million per annum for ad hoc and preventative maintenance services plus \$3 million per annum for capital works management.

United Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Richard Leupen said, "The Telstra contract is a significant addition to our growing long-term partnership with Telstra and gives us the opportunity to support Telstra's initiative in improving access to quality payphone services. Our ongoing and wide ranging work with Sydney Water is another example of United KG's growing facility management business," Mr Leupen said.

These contracts take United Group's order book to a total of \$2.3billion.

For further information, please contact:

Richard Leupen - Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer United Group Limited - Tel: (61 2) 9492 8803

Released through: Ben Jarvis, Financial & Corporate Relations - Ph:(61 2)92351666

United Group (ASX - UGL) is a diversified engineering and services group specialising in industrial maintenance, facilities management, commercial property management services, manufacturing, fabrication and construction. The group consists of five businesses:

United Goninan, a leader in railway manufacturing, maintenance and engineering;

United KFPW, a market leader in business process outsourcing services.

United KG, an integrated facilities management, industrial maintenance and engineering construction business:

United Gooder, a multi-disciplinary engineering construction and services business in New Zealand.

United Group has 5,000 employees, facilities in 25 locations and 60 site operations throughout Australia, New Zealand, UK and Southeast Asia. It partners with customers to deliver solutions in the following sectors: power supply and distribution; water and waste management processes; mining and mineral processing; oil, gas and LNG; telecommunications; commercial buildings; property management; heavy haulage railway and commuter transport equipment. www.unitedgroup.com.au