Appointment of Group CEO

RNS Number : 5506H

Spirent Communications PLC

06 November 2008

 



SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS PLC

APPOINTMENT OF GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

London, UK - 6 November 2008: Spirent Communications plc ("Spirent" or the "Company") (LSE: SPT), a leading communications technology company, today announces that Mr William Burns has been appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.

Mr Burns joined the Company in November 2004 and has most recently been Chief Executive Officer of the Communications Group.  In this position he has been responsible for the overall leadership, strategy, investments, coordination of resources and leveraging of the Company's breadth and depth of technology across all of our Communications Group's business units.

Prior to this position, Mr Burns was Executive Vice President of the Communications Group, also served as President, Service Assurance Broadband and was responsible for global sales and corporate marketing across all divisions.  In this role, he drove critical business changes to improve profitability and grow market share.

Commenting on Mr Burns' appointment, Edward Bramson, Chairman of Spirent said, "I have worked closely with Bill since I joined Spirent in December 2006.  Bill has a clear vision of Spirent's strategic direction and contributes directly and effectively across all aspects of Spirent's Communications business.  The Board is confident that Bill is the best person to lead the Company, to take advantage of its current position and to take Spirent into its next phase of development."

Following the appointment, Edward Bramson will remain as Chairman of the Company but in a non-executive capacity.

The following information relating to Mr Burns is disclosed in accordance with the UK Listing Rules and Disclosure and Transparency Rules:

Directorships of Publicly Quoted Companies held in the last 5 years  None

Interests in the Company's Ordinary Shares Ordinary Shares of 3 & 1/3 pence: None Share Incentives: 91,875 Performance Shares & 683,125 Stock Appreciation Rights

The Company confirms that there are no other matters requiring disclosure in relation to UK Listing Rule 9.6.13R.

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Notes to Editors

• Prior to joining the Company in November 2004, Mr Burns held several executive leadership positions at Tellabs, Inc. including Senior Vice President Global Marketing, Senior Vice President - Europe, Middle East and Africa and Vice President - Competitive Service Provider Sales. 

• Mr Burns holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, a Business Administration degree from College Misericordia and a Master of Business Administration degree from Temple University.

Enquiries

Edward Bramson, Chairman		Spirent Communications plc		[phone]
Eric Hutchinson, Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Dowler/Juliet Clarke/Helen Thomas		Financial Dynamics		[phone]

About Spirent Communications plc

Spirent Communications plc is a leading communications technology company focused on delivering innovative systems and services to meet the needs of customers worldwide.  We are a global provider of performance analysis and service assurance solutions that enable the development and deployment of next-generation networking technologies such as broadband services, Internet telephony, wireless and web applications and security testing. The Systems group develops power control systems for specialist electrical vehicles in the mobility and industrial markets.  Further information about Spirent Communications plc can be found at www.spirent.com.

Spirent Communications plc Ordinary Shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT). The Company operates a Level 1 American Depositary Receipt ("ADR") programme with each ADR representing four Spirent Communications plc Ordinary Shares. The ADRs trade in the US over-the-counter ("OTC") market under the symbol SPMYY and the CUSIP number is 84856M209. Spirent ADRs are quoted on the Pink OTC Markets electronic quotation service which can be found at www.pinksheets.com. 

  Spirent and the Spirent logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Spirent Communications plc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are held by their respective companies. All rights reserved.

This document may contain forward-looking statements which are made in good faith and are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. You can sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the use of a date in the future or such words as "will", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "should", "may", "assume" and other similar words. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive and speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

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