Hays plc

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Purchase of own shares

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Hays plc announces that it has purchased the following number of its ordinary shares of £0.01 each on the London Stock Exchange via UBS Investment Bank.

Ordinary shares:                                

Date of purchase:                                                  15 July 2008

Number of ordinary shares purchased:               109,909    

Highest price paid per share:                               70.25p

Lowest price paid per share:                                67.5p

Volume weighted average price per share:        68.4073p

Hays intends to hold the purchased shares in treasury.

Following the purchase of these shares, Hays holds 87,477,299 of its ordinary shares in treasury and has 1,376,619,267 ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares).

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