NLG.L Regulatory News (NLG)

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").  

8 August 2016

 Arria NLG plc

("Arria NLG" or the "Company")

Board changes

Arria NLG (AIM: NLG.L), a technology leader in Natural Language Generation ("NLG"), today announces changes to the board of directors of the Company (the "Board").

On 4 July 2016 Arria outlined its preparations for transitioning its primary listing to the New Zealand Stock Exchange main board ("NZSX") with secondary listings on the Australian Securities Exchange main board ("ASX") and the main market (standard segment) of the London Stock Exchange (together, the "Listings").

To facilitate the transition for the Listings, Arria NLG has decided to implement certain Board changes, as detailed below.

Ms. Sharon Daniels, formerly a non-executive director of the Company, has been appointed, with immediate effect, as Chairperson of the Board and, until the Listings, CEO of Arria NLG. It is anticipated that on the Listings being effected Matthew Gould will be appointed CEO with Ms Daniels continuing as Chairperson.

The Board believes that Ms. Daniels is highly regarded in the New Zealand market and has the unique experience of having transitioned Diligent Corporation, a foreign company, to the NZSX market in an executive director role. Diligent is a technology company that Ms. Daniels co-founded (together with other Arria NLG co-founders) which grew to become a member of the S&P/NZSX 50 composite index before recently being acquired by Insight Venture Partners for NZ$943 million in cash.

The Board is pleased to welcome as a proposed new independent non-executive director, Mr Falcon Robert Storer Clouston. Mr Falcon Clouston, aged 68, will be Deputy Chairman of the Board and head of the audit committee for Arria NLG. Mr Clouston brings with him thirty years of extensive New Zealand capital markets experience. Mr. Clouston is a New Zealand based professional director with a wealth of governance experience having served as a director and chairman of a number of public and private companies. Mr Clouston has also served on a number of regulatory boards including as a member of the New Zealand Markets Disciplinary Tribunal, on the appeal board of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and as a member of the New Zealand Securities Commission.

Mr Clouston's appointment to the Board is subject to certain regulatory approvals which the Company aims to complete as soon as possible. Upon Mr Clouston's appointment taking effect, Mr. Michael Higgins, currently a non-executive director of Arria NLG, will step down from the Board and Arria NLG has received appropriate notice from Mr Higgins to this effect.

The Board would like to thank outgoing directors, Mr Stuart Rogers, who has stepped down as Chairman and CEO, and Mr Michael Higgins, who has served notice, for their assistance in facilitating the Listings. Mr Rogers has served as CEO of Arria NLG since April 2012 and Chairman and CEO of Arria NLG since December 2013. Mr Higgins has served as Arria NLG's UK based non-executive director since its admission to AIM. Both Mr Rogers and Mr Higgins have provided invaluable leadership and guidance to the Company and helped lay the foundation for the commercial success of Arria NLG in the future.

For further information, please visit www.arria.com or contact:

Arria NLG

Arria NLG's core product is known as the Arria NLG Platform, a form of artificial intelligence software specialised in extracting information from complex data sources and communicating that information in natural language (i.e. as if written by a human). The scientific foundation for the Arria NLG Platform is based on more than 30 years of research and development by the founders of Arria Data2Text Limited at the University of Aberdeen. For additional information, visit www.arria.com. Follow Arria NLG on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.