Mapfre Middlesea plc - Interim Directors’ Statement

Middlesea Insurance plc issued its Interim Directors’ Statement on 5 November. The Directors explained that the volatility of the international and local capital markets will continue to present challenges to the Group and unless there is a material change in market sentiment, the Group’s positive technical performance will be outweighed by the negative return from its investments.

During the first half of 2008 the Middlesea Group generated a pre-tax loss of €2.1 million arising from the very significant negative fair value movements experienced in the investment portfolio despite the fact that the insurance business and technical business continued to register positive results. The 2008 full-year financial statements are expected to be issued in April 2009.