Cookson Group plc (London, UK), an international materials technology group, has announced that John Sussens joined the Board as a non-executive director on May 1, 2004. He has been an executive director of Misys plc, a software products and solutions company, since July 1989 and group managing director since 1998.

Sussens has a long record in the manufacturing sector. He started his career with the Ford Motor Co., and prior to joining Misys was managing director of JCB Manufacturing, a construction and agricultural equipment manufacturing company.

The company also recently released its results for the first quarter of 2004. The electronics division continued to benefit from the recovery in the electronics industry that began to take hold in the second half of 2003, as well as from the actions taken over the past three years to reduce its cost base and optimize capacity.

Sales for Q1 were 18% higher than the same quarter last year at constant exchange rates and up 10% at reported rates. First quarter sales were also marginally higher sequentially. Activity in the Asia-Pacific region continued to grow strongly; in the U.S., a gradual improvement has been underway since the end of the third quarter of 2003; however, in Europe no improvement in underlying demand has yet been seen. As a result of increased levels of activity and a lower cost base, operating profit of $19.5 million for the first quarter of 2004 was more than $16 million higher than the same period last year, at both constant and reported exchange rates.

Q1 sales of laminates were 21% higher than the same quarter last year. Having operated at a loss of some $8.9 million in the first quarter of 2003 and near break-even in Q4 2003, the sector's profitability continued to improve and a modest profit was recorded in the month of March 2004. Further improvements are expected to arise in the second quarter as the program to optimize production capacity at the sector's U.S. West Coast facility nears completion and in-house production of the GETEK product range increases in both the U.S. and Asia-Pacific.

In the chemistry division, sales for the quarter were 16% higher than last year. Profitability improved markedly, more than doubling year-on-year, although profits were boosted in the first quarter by a surge in high margin sales in the sector's Japanese joint venture.

Assembly materials sales were 18% ahead of last year. Sales were inflated by a 45% year-on-year increase in the price of tin although the sector was better able to pass on the impact of this than in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Operating profit for the Group's continuing operations was $42.5 million, $23 million higher than Q1 2003. Profit before tax in the first quarter was $32 million, compared to a loss of $1.7 million in the first quarter of 2003.

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