Philip Green News

Clarksons say that Philip Green has decided to step down as chairman of Clarksons in order to focus on his other responsibilities. His resignation from the board will take effect from the AGM on 9 May. Bob Benton, chairman until last year, will remain a non- executive board member and assume the role of interim Chairman with effect from the next Board meeting on 6 March 2014. Since Philip's appointment early last year he has taken on a number of new roles including chairman-designate of Williams & Glyn, steering its IPO process, and chairman designate of Carillion plc.

Clarkson PLC ("Clarksons") the shipping services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Backhouse as Non-Executive Director to the board with immediate effect. Peter has 40 years of experience in the international energy business. He is a former executive vice-president of global refining & marketing at BP plc; chief executive of European refining and marketing; and head of UK North Sea oil development. He also has considerable experience in international LNG and natural gas development. Peter is a Non-Executive Director at BG Group plc and is a member of the advisory Board of Riverstone Energy Partners, a private equity fund in the US. Philip Green, Chairman, commented: "On behalf of the board, I would like to welcome Peter to Clarksons.

P&O and Royal Nedlloyd N.V. announced the appointment by P&O Nedlloyd Container Line Limited of Philip Green as Chief Executive Officer from January 1, 2004. Green was, until recentl,y Chief Operating Officer of Reuters Group plc which he joined in 1999. His responsibilities included the design and implementation of a global change management program. Prior to this he worked for nine years with DHL International, the global market leader for cross-border express delivery, becoming Chief Operating Officer for Europe and Africa. Green holds an MBA from London Business School and a BA (hons) degree from the University of Wales. Haddo Meijer, CEO of Royal Nedlloyd NV, will stand down as Chairman of the Executive Committee of P&O Nedlloyd on January 1, 2004.

P&O Nedlloyd announced that it achieved an operating profit of $84 million in 4Q 2003, compared with an operating loss of $49 million in 4Q 2002. Driving the improved performance: average freight rates increased 16 percent over 2002, and volumes shipped were up 5 percent. Commenting on the future, the company sees a favorable trend in freight rates, and provided trade growth continues as in 2003, the outlook for the container shipping industry remains positive for 2004 although cost pressures remain. "During 2003 the P&O Nedlloyd team succeeded in turning a prior year operating loss of $206 million into an operating profit of $96 million - a positive swing of $302 million in our financial performance. This is a significant achievement, but we need to do more.

P&O Nedlloyd's first quarter results for 2004 improved by $79 million compared to the same quarter 2003, moving from a loss of $58 million to an operating profit of $21 million. Commenting on the Q1 result and the full year outlook, Royal P&O Nedlloyd CEO Philip Green said: "The improvement of our financial performance is encouraging in what is traditionally the weakest quarter of the year. A feature in the quarter's results has been the improvement in average freight rates, up 15 percent overall on Q1 2003. The increases have been particularly strong in the Europe Asia Trades (19 per cent) and Americas (17 per cent) compared with the same quarter last year. On a comparable basis with Q1 2003 volumes shipped grew by 7 percent.