Board Changes & Appointment of Nominated Adviser (4771B)

TIDMPFO

RNS Number : 4771B

Prime Focus London PLC

17 April 2012

17 April 2012

Prime Focus London Plc

("Prime Focus" or the "Company")

Board Changes

Appointment of Nominated Adviser

Board changes

The Board of Prime Focus London plc, the visual entertainment services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Bernard Kumeta as Chief Executive Officer and Christopher Honeyborne as Non-Executive Director. As part of the changes to the Company's board, which are with immediate effect, Naresh Malhotra and Rivkaran Chadha have resigned as directors of the Company. The Company's board as a result comprises the following:

 
 Ramakrishnan Sankaranarayanan   Non-executive 
                                  Chairman 
 Bernard Kumeta                  Chief Executive 
                                  Officer 
 Christopher Honeyborne          Non-executive 
                                  Director 
 Shivkumar Venkatachalam         Non-Executive 
                                  Director 
------------------------------  ---------------- 
 

Bernard Kumeta, 51, is a Chartered Accountant who has worked in industry since 1987, initially for a subsidiary of Simon Engineering plc and then for GEC Alsthom in France. He subsequently joined a division of William Baird plc, where at the age of 29 he gained his first board appointment. In 1996, he joined Findel PLC, quickly progressing into a number of general management roles. In 2001, he led a GBP20m management buyout of 2 companies from Findel. Through a series of acquisitions, he re-positioned the business to be a large-scale multi-channel distributor of home entertainment consumer goods. He carried out a wide-ranging rationalisation to consolidate the number of operational sites and reduce headcount and associated costs. The business was then sold back to Findel and he left the company in 2010. Since September 2011 he has been acting as a consultant to Prime Focus London plc working with senior management on business development projects.

Christopher Honeyborne, 71, is an experienced AIM company director and adviser generally to SMEs in the media, entertainment, engineering and financial sectors, with a focus to management restructuring and fundraising. After studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and a research career at the Universities of Reading and Bristol, Dr Honeyborne spent some 20 years working in the financial services sector in a number of roles, including with Lazard Brothers, Banque Paribas (now a major part of BNP-Paribas) and the Bank of Butterfield. Dr Honeyborne has since held Board appointments with a range of private and publicly listed companies. Most recently, Dr Honeyborne was Chairman of the Dyson Group plc, and of Zoo Digital Group plc. He was previously Chairman of Gremlin Group plc and of the Aspect Group , which became part of LBIcon AB of which he was a non-executive Director. He has also acted as non-executive director to, amongst others, Yorkshire Water Plc, Birse Group plc, Kunick plc, Rensburg Aim VCT plc, Bannatyne Fitness Limited, and Cartier Limited, the UK subsidiary of the luxury goods company. Dr Honeyborne has held a number of additional positions, including a board membership with the Yorkshire region of the Prince's Youth Business Trust.

Appointment of Nominated Adviser

The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of its Broker, Northland Capital Partners Limited, as Nominated Adviser with immediate effect.

For further information, contact:

 
Prime Focus London plc 
 
 Bernard Kumeta               Tel: [phone] 
Northland Capital Partners 
 Limited (Nominated Adviser 
 and Broker) 
Tim Metcalfe / Edward        Tel: [phone] 
 Hutton / Lauren Kettle 
 

Bernard John Kumeta

 
 Current directorships       Past directorships held 
                              within the last 5 years 
  Avid Management Services 
  Limited                     Choices UK Group Limited 
  Bluestone Property          Club Centre Limited 
  Trading Limited             Harness Hill Trustee Company 
  M & B Estates Limited       Limited 
  Pavakeal Limited            West Auck No. 38 Limited 
  St. Giles Hospice           Webb Group Holdco Limited 
                              Webb Group Limited 
                              Webb Ivory (Burton) Limited 
                              Webb Ivory Properties 
                              Limited 
                              Webb TMD Limited 
 

Christopher Henry Bruce Honeyborne

 
 Current directorships   Past directorships held 
                          within the last 5 years 
  Brockhill Limited 
  Valtherm Limited        Bede plc 
                          Beepart Limited 
                          Cameron Richard and Smith 
                          (Holdings) Limited 
                          D. Duddell, Limited 
                          Dyson Group plc 
                          Dyson Industries Limited 
                          Dyson TPM Ltd 
                          Dytech Corporation Limited 
                          Eastgate European Enterprises 
                          Ltd 
                          Hi-Por Ceramics Limited 
                          Hot H 2002 Ltd 
                          Hot PP 2002 Ltd 
                          IMCO (62000) Limited 
                          Intelprop Limited 
                          J & J Dyson Limited 
                          John Knowles & Co (Wooden 
                          Box) Limited 
                          Matica plc 
                          Pickford, Holland & Co. 
                          Limited 
                          Saffil Automotive Ltd 
                          Saffil Limited 
                          (The) Builders Centre (Sheffield) 
                          Limited 
                          Sandygate Motor Services 
                          Limited 
                          ZOO Digital Group plc 
 

On 11 February 1992, Lynne Stern Associates Limited, a company of which Mr Honeyborne was a director, was placed into liquidation and subsequently dissolved on 11 July 1996 via a creditors' voluntary winding up.

Until December 1992, Mr Honeyborne was a director of both Rapid 9000 Limited and Rapid 9100 Limited, formerly William Comyns & Sons Ltd and Comyns of London Limited, respectively. On 26 January 1993, the group of which Rapid 9000 Limited and Rapid 9100 Limited formed a part was placed into creditors' voluntary liquidation and subsequently dissolved with a total deficiency to creditors of GBP320,506.

On 10 September 2007, Mr Honeyborne resigned as a director of Cameron Richard and Smith (Holdings) Limited. In early 2008, the company was placed into administration and subsequently dissolved on 9 February 2010 via a creditors' voluntary winding up.

Mr Honeyborne was appointed as a director of Bede plc on 13 October 2000, which was placed into administration and subsequently dissolved on 3 November 2010 with no deficiencies to creditors.

On 9 March 2010 Mr Honeyborne was appointed as a director of Valtherm Limited, a company incorporated solely for the purpose of a debt and capital restructuring of the Dyson Group, of which it formed part, required for the benefit of the Dyson Group and its creditors. The Company became the sole participating employer in the Dyson Group Pension Fund on 23 November 2010, with responsibility for the remaining section 75 debt of the fund (estimated to be approximately GBP44m as at 30 September 2009). Valtherm Limited was unable to meet these actual and contingent liabilities (having no assets) and was, therefore, placed into creditors' voluntary liquidation in December 2010, being a relevant insolvency event for the purposes of section 120 of the Pensions Act 2004.

Neither Mr Kumeta or Mr Honeyborne currently hold any ordinary shares in the capital of the Company.

No further information with respect to Bernard John Kumeta or Christopher Henry Bruce Honeyborne is required to be disclosed in accordance with Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

BOAGGUQWCUPPURM