Nowy CEO w Samas NV, zmiany w Zarządzie

5 listopad 2008, ŚrodaNew CEO for Samas , changes in Supervisory Board


Houten (The Netherlands), 5 November 2008, before start of trading Samas N.V. (Samas) today announced that as per 1 January 2009, Mr. Carl-Christoph Held, who currently holds the position of member of the Executive Board and Chief Operating Officer (COO), will be appointed Chairman and CEO of Samas. Current Chairman and CEO, Mr. Coen van der Bijl, who was appointed in September 2007 for a limited period of two years, will be nominated to join the Supervisory Board, with the intention to be elected as its chairman.

Jaap Vink, chairman of the Supervisory Board: " Following the steps taken to restore stability and return to profitability, including the recently announced management buy out of the French operations and the possible divestment of the Swiss operations, Samas is now entering a next phase. A more compact and focused organization is emerging. The next stage of development of Samas demands for a smaller, more operationally orientated management structure.
With Mr. Held as new CEO we believe to have great industry and company expertise in the right place to further lead Samas into the future."

Coen van der Bijl: "Although Samas is not yet where we would like it to be, the company is now significantly smaller, more stable and moving in the right direction. This is the moment to hand over my tasks as CEO to my colleague Carl-Christoph Held already COO for two years. He has many years of experience in the office furnishing industry in production as well as sales and marketing."

Carl-Christoph Held: " Providing leading office solutions is at the heart of Samas. As CEO, my first priority for the short term will be to focus on profitability and operational excellence, both in sales and in production. In the long run we have to make the company financially successful again, to create a platform to take Samas to its next stage of development."

As of 1 January 2009, the Executive Board of Samas will comprise of two members, Mr. Carl-Christoph Held (Chairman and CEO) and Mr. Mark van den Biggelaar (CFO).

In light of the strong operational focus at Samas, the announced divestment of the French operations and the intended divestment of the Swiss operations, it is anticipated that Mr. Mark van den Biggelaar will step down as member of the Executive Board and CFO of Samas in the course of the new financial year 2009/2010.

Changes in the Supervisory Board
On 31 October 2007, it was announced that the Supervisory Board unanimously concluded that with Samas starting a new chapter, it would make good sense to appoint new members to the Supervisory Board and that the current members of the Supervisory Board would step down in stages. In line with this announcement, Mr. Andre Olijslager and Mr. Jaap Vink will step down as members of the Supervisory Board as per January 1st 2009.

Subject to shareholder approval, current Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, Mr. Coen van der Bijl (60) will be joined by Mr. Roel Houwer (67) for appointment as new members of the Supervisory Board as per January 1st 2009. Mr. Roel Houwer brings a wealth of hands-on managerial experience with him, having served in many different organisations, such as Tip Trailer Rental, Christian Salvesen and TNT.

With these proposed changes, the Supervisory Board of Samas will be completely renewed. Mr. Van der Bijl and Mr. Houwer will join Mr. Theo van der Raadt and Mr. Michiel van Doornik, who were appointed at the latest Annual General Meeting of shareholders held in June of this year.

The Supervisory Board is anticipating the election of Mr. Van der Bijl as its chairman.

Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders
Samas will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of shareholders on 2 December 2008 at 14.30 hrs at its headquarters in Houten. During this meeting Samas shareholders will be informed about the strategic and operational progress at Samas, as well as the changes in the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, as described above. Therefore, this EGM will have a highly informative character by nature. In addition, shareholders will be asked at the EGM to appoint Mr. Van der Bijl and Mr. Houwer as members of the Supervisory Board.