David Youlton Steps Down from Snell & Wilcox Chairmanship

Sept. 11, 2001 - Professor David Youlton has announced that he willstep down from the chairmanship of Snell & Wilcox, the company hehas headed for the past 13 years. This move completes the seniormanagement handover initiated in January 2000 when the Board appointedJohn Spencer to the post of CEO. It anticipates a planned change fromprivate to public status for Snell & Wilcox in the near future.

Professor Youlton will remain Chairman of the Snell & WilcoxAdvisory Board.

Explaining his decision to Snell & Wilcox staff, ProfessorYoulton said that having invested massively over the last 12 years inresearch and development -- to the point where Snell & Wilcox nowhas one of the major technology and patent pools in the industry -- theemphasis now needs to change.

"Being entirely privately held, investing only our own revenue intogrowth, has given us the creative freedom to develop a pre-eminentportfolio of technology and intellectual property and an outstandingglobal brand," he said. "Now however, the company needs access togreater funding sources in order to take fuller advantage of the manycommercial opportunities made available to us because of ourtechnological leadership. That's why we are currently organizingsuitable external investment prior to an eventual IPO.

"It seems to me," he added, "that this imminent change of status andculture,from private to public, represents an appropriate juncture forme to bow out of the day-to-day operations of the company. Havingplayed such a pivotal and powerful role in the company's management forso long, it would be unfair of me, in handing over to the new team, toexpect 'the oak trees to grow in the shadow of the cypress.'"

Roderick Snell, the company's founder and research director, paidtribute to Professor Youlton's outstanding contribution during his 13years as group chairman. "Under David's leadership", he said, "thecompany has developed one of the industry's great technology andproduct bases and has grown in turnover more than 40 fold. Being theindependent-minded entrepreneur that he is, it is no surprise to any ofus that given our company's imminent change in status and culture fromprivate to public, he has decided that the time is right to hand overthe reins.

"We all owe David a great debt of gratitude for the untiring workthat he has put in over so many years to provide us with such apowerful springboard," Snell added. "I look forward very much tocontinuing to work with David in his new role as Snell & Wilcoxpositions itself to play an increasingly powerful part in the future ofimage communications."

John Spencer, chief executive officer, also acknowledged thecompany's debt to Professor Youlton and outlined the new challengesahead. "David has always predicted that mastery of the moving imagewould be the key enabling technology for the communications industry inthe 21st century," he said. "Under his leadership, Snell & Wilcoxhas concentrated its resources on becoming the acknowledged master inthis field. The challenge for us now, with new public funding secured,will be to fulfill his vision by exploiting to the full the hugepotential of our technology and products in the market place."