Purchase of Shares by Employee Benefit Trust
Basingstoke, UK and Philadelphia, US – May 28, 2008 – Shire Limited (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that 925,925 Shire plc American Depositary Receipts, each representing 3 ordinary shares, were purchased over the period 2 May 2008 to 22 May 2008 by the Shire plc Employee Benefit Trust (the "Trust"). The purchases were made via a rolling, on-market programme at a cost of approximately $48 million.
The Trust has regularly undertaken share purchases in connection with Shire’s management of its various employee share schemes and Shire anticipates that the Trust will continue its share purchase programme in the future.
For further information please contact:
| Investor Relations | Cléa Rosenfeld (Rest of the World) | +44 1256 894 160 |
| | Eric Rojas (North America) | +1 484 595 8252 |
Notes to editors
SHIRE LIMITED
Shire’s strategic goal is to become the leading specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses on meeting the needs of the specialist physician. Shire focuses its business on attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), human genetic therapies (HGT), gastrointestinal (GI) and renal diseases. The structure is sufficiently flexible to allow Shire to target new therapeutic areas to the extent opportunities arise through acquisitions. Shire’s in-licensing, merger and acquisition efforts are focused on products in niche markets with strong intellectual property protection either in the US or Europe. Shire believes that a carefully selected portfolio of products with strategically aligned and relatively small-scale sales forces will deliver strong results.
For further information on Shire, please visit the Company’s website: www.shire.com.
