Mecon Group announces new Group Finance Director
Mecom Group plc today announced the next stage in its establishment of an appropriate pan- European management structure with the appointment of Keith Allen as Chief Operating Officer for the Group and John Allwood as Group Finance Director, such appointments to take effect from 14 March 2008 although John joins the Board as a director of Mecom with immediate effect
John Allwood, who joined Mecom in May 2007 with responsibility for the development of the Group’s enterprise initiatives (which he will retain for a limited period), is a chartered accountant with over thirty years’ financial experience in the media and telecommunications sector. Prior to joining Mecom, John held a number of senior executive positions in the media industry. Having joined the board of the Mirror Group plc in 1992 as Finance Director, he became Chief Executive in the lead up to its merger with Trinity in 1999. Following the merger, he joined France Telecom as Chief Executive of its “Orange” UK operations, before moving to Telegraph Media Group Limited in 2004 as Managing Director. His financial track record and experience of European business will be invaluable to Mecom.
About Mecom
Since its listing on AIM in March 2005, Mecom Group plc has made a number of significant acquisitions of European newspaper publishing businesses. The Group is now one of the largest regional newspaper publishing and content operating businesses in Europe. Headquartered in London, Mecom manages its operations on a country-by-country basis whilst leveraging the depth and experience of its country
managers as well as its pan-European scale to strengthen its position in Europe and maximise the value of its content and media assets across all of its platforms.
The Group now owns over 300 titles in its five business divisions, with substantial operations in The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Poland, together publishing approximately 30 million copies a week with approximately 18 million unique website users per month.