REUTERS GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 1999

view opening in front ofated and it is good to beit as a total priority,towards it for many years.change; the release of assets and peoplevia public offerings into the greaterfreedom but greater challenge ofindependent public quotation is another;the ‘creative destruction’ of longstandingparts of the business in pursuitof competitive costs is a third; andchanging the skills balance in order tolearn and ride with what markets need isa fourth. What will not change, as thepervasive glue of the Reuters group, willbe the values which have served us sowell for so long: speed, accuracy,security, independence and freedomfrom bias in our handling of information;neutrality, integrity and commitment inour promotion of e-commerce andnurturing of commercial communities.These values are embodied in theReuters Trust Principles, to which theDirectors are bound under the Articlesof Association and which the FoundersShare Company is pledged to defendwith equity carrying commanding votingrights under certain circumstances. Thechairmanship of the Founders ShareCompany has now passed to PehrGyllenhammar who, as a director ofReuters from 1984 to 1997, had longexperience of watching the Reuters TrustPrinciples at work in the business. Wewish him well and will give him everyco-operation; and we warmly thank hispredecessor, Sir Frank Rogers, for hiswork as a Trustee and as Chairman of theTrustees.The Reuters Board is also changing. Twoexecutive directors, André Villeneuveand John Parcell, have now left theBoard. Each served Reuters for morethan 30 years and made a majorcontribution to the tremendousdevelopment of the company over thatperiod. Of the non-executive directors,Bob Bauman and David Walker havecompleted six-year terms and areretiring. Their experience and ability,allied to unfailing interest andcommitment, have benefited Reutersgreatly. To all four I offer my warmestthanks on Reuters behalf; and Iwelcome to the Board Philip Greenas a new executive director andDennis Malamatinas as a furthernon-executive director.In my statement in the 1993 AnnualReport, I commented that the FoundersShare Company’s power to conferimmunity from takeover “places aparticular responsibility on the Board ofReuters to govern the company in a waywhich does not call that immunity intoquestion”. It is a point which the Boardhas continually in mind and particularlyin these times when it is so challengingto judge enduring value.Sir Christopher Hogg ChairmanReuters Group PLC Annual Report 1999 5