WYG Regulatory News (WYG)

31 Jul 2009 07:00



White Young Green plc

Board Changes and Financing Update

White Young Green plc ("White Young Green" or the "Company" or the "Group") today announces the following changes to the Board and provides an update to its refinancing negotiations.

Board changes

The Board of White Young Green is pleased to announce the appointments of Mike McTighe as Non-Executive Chairman and Graham Olver as Group Services Director and Company Secretary with effect from 3 August 2009.

Mike McTighe is currently Chairman of Pace plc and Volex Group plc, a member of the Board of Ofcom and Chairman of a number of private companies. Previously he was Chairman and CEO of Carrier I International S.A., and before that the Executive Director and Chief Executive, Global Operations of Cable & Wireless plc.

Graham Olver joins the Board as Group Services Director and Company Secretary. Graham brings strong, international built environment experience at a senior level. He was previously Commercial & Operations Director at Skanska Infrastructure Development, the infrastructure development and investment division of Skanska AB. Prior to that he worked with Thames Water and ALSTOM in commercial and legal roles. He is a Barrister-at-Law.

In March 2009, Brian Duckworth agreed to act as Non-Executive Chairman until a long term appointment was made, when the former Chairman, Peter Wood, resigned from the Board for personal and family reasons. As a result of the appointment of Mike McTighe, Brian will step down as Chairman and will be leaving the Board with effect from 3 August 2009.

John Richardson has advised the Board that after 12 years on the Board he will not be seeking re-election at the Company's next Annual General Meeting and accordingly will step down as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee following the next Annual General Meeting.

The Board would like to thank Brian and John for their significant contributions to the Group since their appointments to the Board in 2005 and 1997 respectively.

Robert Barr is now the Senior Independent Director of the board and a search has commenced for two new Non-Executive Directors.

There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.13 in respect of Mike McTighe and Graham Olver.

Current Trading

As previously highlighted, trading conditions across the Group in the second half of the year ended 4 July 2009 were mixed and more challenging than those experienced in the first half of that financial year. These challenging trading conditions have continued into the start of the new financial year and the Board remains cautious about the trading outlook for the current year.

Financing

As previously announced, White Young Green is in discussion with its lenders with a view to renegotiating its existing banking facilities. As part of this process, the lenders originally agreed to defer the covenant test date from the year end date initially to 31 July 2009. As anticipated in the announcement on 30 June 2009, the covenant test date has been deferred again to 31 August 2009 whilst discussions continue and the Board expects that a further deferral of the covenant test date is likely to be requested. A further announcement will be made in due course as appropriate.

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