Stvg Regulatory News (STVG)

20 Aug 2007 07:01

SMG PLC20 August 2007 20 August 2007 Board of Virgin Radio Holdings Limited Unveiled - appointment of Chairman, Senior Independent Director and Chief Financial Officer SMG plc is pleased to announce the following key appointments to the Board ofVirgin Radio Holdings Limited. Richard Huntingford has been appointed asNon-Executive Chairman and Rosemary Thorne appointed as Senior IndependentDirector to the Virgin Radio Holdings Limited Board from 1 September 2007. SMGis also pleased to confirm that David Palmer has been appointed Chief FinancialOfficer of Virgin Radio, having started on 3 July 2007. Richard Huntingford, Chairman, Virgin Radio Holdings Limited Richard, 51, is one of the most respected figures in commercial radio havingmasterminded the development of Chrysalis into one of the UK's leading radiogroups prior to its recent sale to Global Radio. Richard joined Chrysalis in1987 as Corporate Development Director and was responsible for the company'sinitial investment in the radio sector in 1992 becoming CEO of Chrysalis Radioin 1994. In this role, he successfully expanded the division through a brand-ledstrategy that saw Heart and Galaxy become major new forces in UK commercialradio. In December 2000, he was promoted to Group CEO. Previously, Richardworked for 12 years as a Chartered Accountant for KPMG. In 2005, Richard becamea non-executive director at Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc until itsacquisition by NTL in July 2006. Rosemary P Thorne, Senior Independent Director, Virgin Radio Holdings Limited Rosemary, 55, is an extremely successful businesswoman with a distinguished PLCcareer as Group Finance Director of Ladbrokes plc (2006-2007), Bradford andBingley plc (1999-2005), and J Sainsbury plc (1992-1999). She was anon-executive director of Royal Mail plc (1998 - 2004) and has been anon-executive director of Cadbury Schweppes plc since 2004 and Abbey Nationalplc since 2006. Rosemary was a member of the Financial Reporting Council fornine years until May 2007, and a member of the Financial Reporting Review Paneluntil October 2006. She was also a member of the Hundred Group of FinanceDirectors, one of the most influential industry bodies, until April 2007. David Palmer, Chief Financial Officer, Virgin Radio Holdings Limited David, 53, is a highly experienced Finance Director with board level experiencein large company divisions, venture capital backed private and quoted companies.Since 1999, David has been involved in many growth and restructuring assignmentsincluding: British Mediterranean Airways Limited the mid-haul airline operatingBA franchise; Local Press Limited a venture capital backed MBO of regionalnewspaper publishing group; Global Direct Dealing Limited and Swiss subsidiaryGDD AG an internet futures broker. Commenting on the appointments, Rob Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of SMG plcsaid: "Virgin Radio now has a high quality Board which, along with the provenmanagement team led by Chief Executive Paul Jackson, will oversee the flotationof Virgin Radio. I am delighted that we have secured individuals of suchquality. Richard, Rosemary and David will be instrumental in the growth ofVirgin Radio over the coming years." Commenting on the announcement, Paul Jackson, CEO of Virgin Radio, said: "I am delighted to welcome Richard, Rosemary and David to guide us through theflotation and beyond. Virgin Radio is one of the great brand names in media withan attractive national audience, strong relationships with advertisers and aclear growth strategy. We look forward to their wise counsel and support." Further enquiries: SMG plc Rob Woodward, Chief Executive Tel: 020 7882 1199George Watt, Chief Financial OfficerDebbie Johnston, Head of Communications Brunswick Group LLPJames Hogan / Simon Sporborg / Ash Spiegelberg Tel: 020 7404 5959 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange