Elementis chief executive Lyndon Cole resigns; shares fall 7%

05 July 2001 09:51  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--UK specialty chemicals company Elementis announced on Thursday that its chief executive Lyndon Cole has resigned by mutual consent.

Jonathan Fry, non-executive chairman, will temporarily become executive chairman until a new group chief executive is appointed, Elementis said in a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The process to find a new chief executive is underway, it added.

The announcement sent shares in Elementis down 7% on the LSE. At about 09:25 hours (08:25 GMT) they were trading down 5 pence at 64.5 pence.

There was no-one immediately available at Elementis to enlarge on the announcement, which comes just under a month ahead of interim financial results expected to confirm that profits growth has been hit badly by rising energy costs and the general economic slowdown.

Cole was appointed group chief executive on 1 October 1998, taking over the helm from Bill Turcan who had transformed the former industrial group Harrisons & Crosfield in to the speciality chemicals group Elementis.

Unlike Turcan, who had a background in the food industry, Cole had an extensive specialist chemicals pedigree. He spent long periods with GE Plastics and Dow Chemical. Prior to joining Elementis, Cole was general manager of GE Plastics' global structured products business, based in the US.

During his seven years with GE Plastics, he also held other general management and sales positions in the US and Europe. Before that, Cole worked for the Dow Chemical Company for 12 years in the UK and Switzerland.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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