Group timeline

1997 - 2004Construction of an industrial and services group2004Link-up between ArjoWiggins and Carbonless in order to benefit from the synergies offered betweenthe two businesses and optimize management of production facilities.Definitive sale of Accor shares, generating a capital gain of €21.6 million net of tax.Initiation of restructuring of Permal and conclusion of an agreement in principle with managers, with aview to changing the management structure of the parent company of the Permal group from a limitedpartnership with share capital ('société en commandite par actions' or SCA) to a limited company('société anonyme' or SA) in which the managers would hold 23% of shares.2003Continuing recovery of Antalis.Expansion of Permal Group following the restructuring initiated in 2002.Acquisition of additional shares in SGS, bringing Worms & Cie's stake to 23.77%.Definitive sale of Danone shares.1997 - 2002 Construction of an industrial and services group2002Arjo Wiggins and Antalis became simplified single-shareholder companies (sociétés par actionssimplifiées à actionnaire unique - SASU). Worms & Cie increased its holding in SGS to 20 % andappointed a new Chairman and a new Chief Executive Officer.2001AWA sold its 40% holding in Soporcel and was split into three separate subsidiaries, each whollyownedby Worms & Cie (ArjoWiggins, Carbonless Paper Europe and Antalis). Appleton Inc. was soldto an employee buyout. Worms & Cie sold the remaining 47% of Saint Louis Sucre, modernised themanagement and legal structure of SGS, following which two representatives of Worms & Cie wereappointed to its Board of Directors.2000The Group sold 53% of Saint Louis Sucre, made a cash bid for 100% of the Arjo Wiggins AppletonGroup (AWA) and acquired 11.34 % of Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), the world leader ininspection, testing and certification.1999The Group bought out the minority interests in Arjomari Prioux, which was then delisted and its assetstransferred to Worms & Cie, before embarking on a plan to restructure Arjo Wiggins Appleton.1998Soméal, a subsidiary of Ifil, transferred its assets to Worms & Cie and the new entity was listed on themonthly settlement market of the Paris stock exchange.The Group sold its 54.4 % holding in Compagnie Nationale de Navigation to Compagnie MaritimeBelge and divested the remaining 20 % of Banque Demachy.1997Demachy Worms & Cie was sold to ABN-Amro. Athena was then sold to AGF following a cash offermade by Worms & Cie's principal shareholders (founding families, Ifil and AGF) to ward off a bid fromthe Pinault group.2/4