SIXH.L Regulatory News (SIXH)

2 Apr 2007 07:02

600 Group PLC02 April 2007 2 April 2007 The 600 Group PLC TRADING UPDATE, BOARD CHANGES AND DISPOSAL The Board of 600 Group is pleased to provide the following update on trading inadvance of its preliminary results for the 12 months to 31 March 2007. Trading Update Order intake activity across the Group is continuing at an encouraging level asthe benefits of the investment in sales and marketing start to be realised. Weanticipate full year results to be in line with market expectations. Board Changes The Board has appointed Mr. Martin Temple CBE as a non-executive director withimmediate effect. Mr Temple will succeed Professor Michael Wright asnon-executive Chairman of the Group when Professor Wright retires as a directorat the end of July. Tony Sweeten will also retire as a director at the sametime, but will continue to be available to assist the Board in a consultancycapacity until 31 December 2008. Mr. Temple is the Director General of the Engineering Employers Federation ("EEF"), a position he has held since 1999. Before joining the EEF, Mr. Temple had had a long experience of the international engineering industry and in senior management positions in British Steel. Andrew Dick, Chief Executive, says: "I am delighted that Martin Temple isjoining us; I am sure he will make a great contribution to the further progressof the Group. I am also very pleased that we will continue to have access for afurther period to Tony Sweeten's unrivalled knowledge of the internationalmachine tool industry. I would like to take this opportunity to express theappreciation of all his colleagues throughout the Group for the greatcontribution he has made to the 600 Group over so many years. Similarly, Iwould like to thank Michael Wright for his guidance and support as Chairmanthrough some very difficult times." Disposal In line with our strategy of focusing on the national distribution of machinetools across the whole of North America we have agreed to sell our regionaldistributor, Erickson Machine Tools, to its management for a consideration equalto the net assets of the business. At the same time, and in the best interestsof our customers, we have entered into an agreement with that business todistribute our full range of machine tools in the states of Iowa and Nebraska. The 600 Group will announce its preliminary results on 21 June 2007. Enquiries: The 600 Group PLCAndrew Dick, Group Chief ExecutiveMartyn Wakeman, Group Finance Director Telephone: 0113 277 6100 Hudson SandlerNick Lyon/Wendy Baker Telephone: 020 7796 4133 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange