Board
I am honoured to have been appointed Chairman of
your company with effect from 9th June 1998. Chris Clark was appointed as
Chief Executive on the same day. Chris has had a long and distinguished
career with Johnson Matthey since he joined the company in 1962.
In July 1996 he was appointed Chief Operating Officer
when he assumed responsibility for all of the group's commercial operations.
There is no person better suited to lead the company in its next phase of
development.
David Davies retired from the Board on 9th June
1998 after eight years as Chairman, including four as Chief Executive. David
played a leading role in the development of Johnson Matthey during those
years and on behalf of the Board I thank him for this and wish him continued
success in his future career.
Geoffrey Wilson retired at the end of November
after seven years on the Board, three of them as Deputy Chairman of the
company.
In this time Geoffrey provided wise counsel and
invaluable support to the Board. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank him for his contribution to the development of Johnson Matthey and
wish him the very best in his retirement. Hugh Jenkins has succeeded Geoffrey
as Chairman of the Audit Committee.
George Wells joined the Board as a non-executive
director in March. George has lived and worked in the United States since
1960 and brings with him a lifetime of experience of the electronics industry.
Our businesses in North America, particularly Electronic Materials, are
central to Johnson Matthey's future growth and George's input will be most
valuable.
Investing in People and the Community
The importance of our employees to Johnson Matthey's
future cannot be stressed too highly. On behalf of the Board I would like
to thank all our employees for their hard work during what has been a successful
year for the company.
It is vital that we recruit and develop the management
talent of tomorrow. This a key management responsibility and one that receives
a great deal of attention throughout the company. We also seek to give managers
as wide an experience of our operations as possible by moving them both
between our divisions and around the world.
Johnson Matthey's products make a major contribution
to improving the environment. Our autocatalysts are resulting in big reductions
in the amount of harmful emissions from motor vehicles and are thus improving
the air that we all breathe. We place great emphasis on the careful control
of our manufacturing processes in order to meet our responsibilities to
the environment and for health and safety. See our Environmental, Health
and Safety policies.
Conclusion
I look forward with confidence to another good
year at Johnson Matthey. The company is in good shape, led by a first-class
executive team. We shall all be focusing on the best interests of you; our
shareholders.
Michael Miles OBE
Chairman
I am pleased that in my first statement
to you as Chairman of Johnson Matthey, I am able on behalf of the Board
to report to you a very good year with profits well up. The year has seen
continued progress in the strategic development of Johnson Matthey as a
world class company supplying advanced materials to global growth markets.
During the year we entered the list of the world's top ten materials suppliers
to the semiconductor industry; our autocatalyst business remains at the
forefront of emission control technology for the automobile industry and
we have further improved our leading positions in the world's precious metal
industries.