01 April 2015 

Synthomer plc

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

Synthomer plc ('Synthomer' or 'the Company') announces that it has appointed Steve Bennett as its Chief Financial Officer. Steve will join Synthomer in July and will succeed David Blackwood, who announced in December that he would step down from the role after seven years. David will leave the Company after a brief handover period.

Steve joins from INEOS Group ('INEOS') where he has been Chief Financial Officer at Petroineos Refining Limited, a JV between INEOS Group AG and PetroChina, since 2006. In addition to this role, he has acted as Chief Financial Officer of INEOS Upstream Limited, a start-up oil and gas exploration business, and of INEOS Olefins and Polymers South and INEOS Phenol.

Steve joined Coopers & Lybrand in 1986 and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He joined Full Circle Industries plc as Company Secretary and Group Controller before moving to PricewaterhouseCoopers ('PWC') in 1997 as a Director in Transaction Services. At PWC, he specialised in public and private equity transactions across a variety of sectors including chemicals.

Neil Johnson, Chairman, said:

"I am delighted to welcome Steve to Synthomer. He has a superb track record at INEOS and thirty years of experience working in finance across a broad range of sectors, not least the chemical industry. I have no doubt that Steve's considerable knowledge and skills will be invaluable to the Group as we move forward.

On behalf of the Board, I would once again like to thank David for his seven years of service. His contribution has been instrumental in helping Synthomer through a significant transformation and we wish him all the best for the future." 

Calum MacLean, Chief Executive, said:

"I have known Steve for the past ten years and I am delighted to welcome someone of his calibre to Synthomer. His significant experience will be of enormous benefit to me and the senior team as we look to take Synthomer into a new phase of its growth."

There are no further details required to be disclosed under LR 9.6.13R of the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority.

-ENDS-

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