Tanfield Regulatory News (TAN)

18 May 2007 07:01

Tanfield Group PLC18 May 2007 The Tanfield Group Plc 18 May 2007 Appointment of Non-Executive Director The Tanfield Group Plc ("Tanfield") is pleased to announce that it has appointedColin Thomas Billiet as an independent Non-Executive Director. Mr Billiet iscurrently the chief executive of Nano-Porous Solutions Limited. He has atechnical background and has held a number of relevant directorships in thepast. Darren Kell, Chief Executive said: "We are delighted to welcome Colin to our board. He has a terrific track recordmanaging sustained growth in a global manufacturing company. His additionalexperiences and expertise will be a strong complement to the skills which wealready have on the Tanfield board, and we look forward to his input into thenext stage of development for the business." Colin Billiet Colin, 59, is currently CEO of Nano-Porous Solutions Limited. He has a technicalbackground and many patents and technical papers to his name. He spent 34 yearsat Domnick Hunter Group plc, latterly as Group Chief Executive (1997-2006) andis also currently a non-executive director of Lontra Limited. He has experienceof identifying customer needs, developing solutions and taking them to marketthrough various channels which include: brand label, OEM, distribution anddirect to end users. Colin was also a director of the British Compressed AirSociety (1986-2006) and a former President. There are no other disclosures required in relation to Colin Billiet underSchedule 2 paragraph (g) of the AIM rules. For further information: Fishburn Hedges Tel: +44(0) 20 7839 4321 Morgan Bone Mob: +44(0) 7767 622 967 James Benjamin Mob: +44(0) 7747 113 930 tanfield@fishburn-hedges.co.uk website: www.tanfieldgroup.co.uk Notes to editorsThe Tanfield Group Plc is the world's leading developer and manufacturer ofroad-going commercial electric vehicles and aerial work platforms. Tanfield isheadquartered in Newcastle with operations in the USA and Japan. It has two maindivisions: Smith Electric Vehicles, was founded in 1920 and acquired by Tanfield in October2004. Since its acquisition, Smith is developing into a world leader in newtechnology electric vans and trucks with greatly enhanced performance, speed andrange capabilities. This makes them attractive for all fleet operators in largetowns, cities and closed industrial environment. For the first time, these fleetoperators have an economically viable, zero emission alternatives to usingdiesel vans and trucks. Smith has an unrivalled UK-wide service and supportnetwork, which already maintains over 5,000 vehicles for major fleet operators.This core element of the business is beginning to fulfil its potential in termsof addressing the requirements of large urban fleet operators, who want toreduce their operational costs and more importantly, greatly reduce their carbonfootprint. Smith's airport offering is complemented by two specialist airportvehicle sub-divisions; Jumbotugs and Norquip. www.smithelectricvehicles.com UpRight Powered Access, is firmly established as the UK's biggest manufacturerof self-propelled aerial work platforms (such as "cherry-pickers", "scissorlifts", "trailer mounts", etc) and UpRight is globally one of the industry'sstrongest aerial lift brands in what is a $7bn market. UpRight has assemblyfacilities in the UK and USA, plus a wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan. Productsare sold through a strong global network of over 150 independent, full-servicedistributors across Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.Tanfield has been successful in extending the UpRight product range andachieving significant increases in average weekly order intake, boosted in partby working at height regulations. www.upright.com www.aerialaccess.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange