RNS Number : 2303H
Noventa Limited
16 February 2010
NOVENTA LIMITED
("Noventa" or the "Company")
[AIM: NVTA]
Directorate Change
16 February 2010
Noventa is pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick Lawless as Chief Operating Officer with effect from 19 April 2010. Mr. Lawless, 54, will become the Group Chief Executive Officer sometime before the end of June 2010, in succession to John Allan. Mr. Allan's expertise in project management and turnaround situations has been invaluable since his appointment in July 2009 following a substantial reorganisation of the Noventa board of directors ("Board")., Mr. Allan will remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director once he has stepped down as CEO.
Mr. Lawless will be based at the Company's operational headquarters in Maputo, Mozambique. Mr. Lawless speaks Portuguese (the language of Mozambique), holds a MBA from Manchester Business School and is a Chartered Director. Mr Lawless joins Noventa from ESR Technology Limited ("ESR"), a high-end engineering consultancy, where he has been CEO since March 2008. Prior to ESR, Mr. Lawless was CEO of Bureau Veritas UK & Ireland from December 2006 to March 2008, a near £100m turnover company with 1,850 employees, having joined the company in June 2004. Bureau Veritas is one of the world's leading providers of independent testing and certification services, with many clients in the natural resources and process industry sectors.
Raised and educated in Africa, Mr Lawless earlier career included service in the armed forces as an officer in the British Army, leaving after a distinguished career in 2000 in the rank of Brigadier - having been promoted to this rank at 43, the earliest possible age. Since leaving the armed forces, he has held a number of senior appointments at Thales, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Barclays, including the re-structuring of Barclays Africa, and while at PricewaterhouseCoopers' corporate turnaround practise, the lead advisory role on a significant number of turnaround and restructuring assignments covering a broad range of industrial sectors.
Commenting on the appointment, Eric Kohn, Chairman of Noventa said:
"We are delighted to welcome Patrick to the board of Noventa. With his broad experience of the extractive industry - most recently in Oil & Gas - we are confident that Patrick will make an excellent contribution to the Company and lead the next stage of its operational development. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank John Allan for his invaluable contribution to the turnaround of the Company to date. The role of CEO during the turnaround phase of a business is always both a difficult and crucial role and John has performed this role exceptionally well. Now that the turnaround is coming to an end, I look forward to John's continuing contribution as a non-executive director."
Patrick Lawless is currently, or has been in the last five years, a director of the following companies:
Current Directorships:
ESR Technology Limited
Mars Omega Partnership Limited
Noise Festival Limited
Directorships held in the last five years:
Veterans Aid
Bureau Veritas UK Limited
ATL Consulting Group Limited
ATL Group Holdings Limited
Bureau Veritas B&I Limited
Bureau Veritas Certification UK Limited
Bureau Veritas Consolting Limited
Bureau Veritas HS&R Limited
Bureau Veritas Inspection Limited
Bureau Veritas Laboratories Limited
Bureau Veritas UK Holdings Limited
Casella Analytic
Casella Consulting Limited
Casella Science and Environment Limited
Formatnumber Limited
L.J.Church (Laboratory services) Limited
Pavement Technology Limited
Tenplenth Limited
Weeks Technical Services Limited
Winton Environmental Management Limited
Winton Holdings Limited
Bureau Veritas EM&I Limited
Safety Assessment Federation Limited
There are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with rule 17 and or Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies of the London Stock Exchange in connection with Mr. Lawless' appointment.
Patrick Lawless holds 0 Noventa ordinary £0.0004 shares as at the date of this announcement.
For further information please contact:
Eric F. Kohn TD
Chairman
Noventa Limited
+41 22 8500560
+41 79 5030150
www.noventa.net
Nick Harriss/Emily Staples
Blomfield Corporate Finance Limited
+44 20 7444 0800
Daniel Briggs
Religare Hichens, Harrison plc
+44 20 7444 0500
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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