Press Releases

10/05/2006

LOVEFiLM appoints Charles Gurassa as Non-Executive Chairman

LOVEFiLM International Ltd, Europe's leading web-based home entertainment subscription service, today announces that Charles Gurassa will join the board as non-executive Chairman.

Mr Gurassa is currently the non-executive Chairman of Virgin Mobile PLC, which he chaired through its floatation in 2003 and has guided the company during its takeover offer by NTL Inc. He is also currently chairman of Worldwide Excellerated Leasing ltd, the global car-hire business that owns the National, Alamo and Guy Salmon brands. The business which has sales of more than $2.8bn is majority-controlled by Cerberus Capital Group.

Mr Gurassa is also non-executive director of Whitbread PLC and non-executive chairman of human resources consultancy 7Days. He is a Trustee of the National Trust and Chairman of National Trust Enterprises.

Previously, Mr Gurassa was chief executive of Thomson Travel Group plc and negotiated the sale of the company to the TUI group, where he took up a position on the TUI AG board, a DAX 30 company. He was also Executive Chairman of TUI Northern Europe and the TUI Airline Group. Between 1989 and 1999 he held various senior management roles at British Airways, and was the senior director responsible for the worldwide commercial businesses. He started his career at Thomas Cook as a graduate trainee in 1978.

LOVEFiLM recently merged with Video Island and now has more than 400,000 subscribers. It has a strong position in the UK market with around 17% of all DVD rental transactions, as well as leading market share in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

The group is also pioneering digital downloading services and recently launched, in partnership with NBC Universal, a new member's service for the release of King Kong. This together with the development of new mobile content services will extend LOVEFiLM's leadership across a number of different delivery platforms.

Simon Calver, chief executive of LOVEFiLM said: "The board is delighted to have appointed a Chairman with such strong City credibility and the standing of Charles, to position the group for future growth.

"We believe his chairmanship of Virgin Mobile and his knowledge of international markets will help us accelerate the expansion of LOVEFiLM to become a leading pan-European brand and entertainment group.

"His experience of the mobile market will also help us capitalize on the exciting opportunities we have ahead of us and enable management to take this business to the next stage of its development."

Mr Gurassa said: "I am delighted to be joining this fast growing, innovative and international business. LOVEFiLM has rapidly established itself as the market leader in its field, offering terrific choice and value for its customers.

"It is pioneering the development of the next generation of content delivery platforms and is at the forefront of this rapidly changing sector. The company has a highly impressive and dynamic management team and has excellent potential to further expand. I very much look forward to contributing to its future success.