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Firth Rixson Board Appointments

Sheffield, UK - April 6, 2006

For the past year the Board of Firth Rixson has focussed on putting in place a succession plan that would ensure a smooth transition of executive responsibilities within the organisation.  In light of the current sale process and the new chapter in the evolution of the Company, the Board has decided to action its plan.

As a result we are delighted to announce the following Board appointments effective from today.

  • Armand Lauzon will step up to the Chairman position, taking over from David Squier, who will remain on the Company Board  as a non-executive director
  • Neil MacDonald will step up to the role of Vice Chairman
  • David Mortimer is appointed Chief Executive Officer, taking over from Armand Lauzon
  • Peter Bland assumes the role of Chief Financial Officer, taking over from Neil MacDonald.

The Board would like to take this opportunity to thank David Squier for his invaluable guidance and support and Armand and Neil for their leadership and transformation of Firth Rixson during Carlyle’s ownership.  A tremendous amount has been achieved over the past three years with Firth Rixson now a much stronger company and well positioned for further success. Armand and Neil have driven a culture of excellence within the organisation and have nurtured one of the strongest management teams in the business.  The Board is very excited about the prospects for the new leaders of Firth - David Mortimer and Peter Bland - and are highly confident in their ability to take the Company onto further success.

David joined Firth Rixson in 2003 after 20 years leadership experience in manufacturing businesses with Precision Cast Parts, and is currently Chief Operating Officer and acting Senior VP of the Rings division.  Under David’s leadership the Rings division has made significant progress – he led the integration of the Schlosser acquisition and also secured significant market share gains during the recent round of LTA negotiations.

Peter joined Firth Rixson in 1994 and has been Group Financial Executive since the acquisition by Carlyle.  Prior to this he spent eight years as Neil’s number two whilst Firth Rixson was a public company, playing a lead role in the ‘take private’ process and stepping up the Company’s standards of financial analysis.