Turin, 5 November 2009 – Seat Pagine Gialle S.p.A. announces that, with immediate effect,  Elio Schiavo is nominated to the position of CEO of the subsidiary Thomson Directories Ltd. replacing Andrew Hopson, who will leave to pursue other interests. Mr. Hopson had been CEO since 2007. 

Elio Schiavo joined Seat Pagine Gialle in 2000 in the Internet M&A area. In 2002, he was appointed Head of Business Development and Synergy, and in 2003 Chief Executive Officer of Consodata, the Group’s direct-marketing company. In October 2007, he was appointed CEO at Katalog, a JV between SEAT and the Dogan media group focused on development of the directories business in Turkey.

Alberto Cappellini, Chief Executive Officer of the Seat Pagine Gialle Group, Thomson’s parent company, stated: “I would like to thank Andrew  for his efforts in facing such a difficult market situation. Elio Schiavo, Thomson’s new Chief Executive Officer, has the skills needed to further leverage the company’s strong ‘local’ positioning and transfer the skills and tools already present within the Group in the field of developing product and service offerings, especially in the online business, to the effective management of the sales force and cost control. This management change in Thomson Directories, which I believe  will allow the company to benefit from eventual market recovery, does not change the SEAT Group’s target as it focuses on the Italian market. In the process of the strategic revision of the equity investment portfolio, Seat will continue to analyze possible scenarios to creat value from those investments”.

Seat Pagine Gialle Communications
Tel. +39.011.435.3030 – fax +39.011.435.3040
Comunicazione.stampa@seat.it

Investor Relations Seat Pagine Gialle
+39.011.435.2600
Investor.relations@seat.it  

Seat Pagine Gialle S.p.A. Legal and Corporate Affairs
ufficio.societario@seat.it  

Barabino & Partners
Tel. +39 02 72.02.35.35
Federico Vercellino – f.vercellino@barabino.it

This press release is a translation, the Italian version will prevail.