Deletion Of BOC Group From The S&P ADR Indices

Standard & Poor’s will make the following changes in the S&P ADR Indices effective after the close of trading on Friday, September 1, 2006:

• BOC Group (ADR) (Great Britain, NYSE: BOX, CUSIP: 055617609, Sedol: 2256395) will be deleted from the S&P ADR Indices. Trading in the shares of the company on New York Stock Exchange will be suspended prior to the open on September 5, 2006 as a result of the cash takeover by Linde AG.

Following is a summary of the announced changes:

Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.

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