Avon Rubber p.l.c. wins International Award

Following the recent announcement of our 2010 financial results in November, Avon is delighted to announce that it has been selected as the ‘International Company Turnaround’ Winner for 2010 by the Institute for Turnaround (IFT). The award was presented at a recent dinner in London. Avon triumphed over a number of other high quality nominees and beat General Motors Inc. into second place.

Avon was highlighted as one of the most impressive global turnarounds to appear before the judges. Previous winners of IFT awards include Wilkinson Sword, Germany; Wm Morrison Group plc; Arcadia Group and Sir Stuart Rose. Further details can be found at: http://www.instituteforturnaround.com

The turnaround has been a true partnership between Board strategic planning, development and implementation of operational plans by management, co‐operation and commitment from our workforce and the support of our bankers, Barclays Corporate and Comerica.

Commenting, Chief Executive of Avon Rubber p.l.c. Peter Slabbert said, “Avon is a very different company to that of a few years ago. Avon was a loss making manufacturing company; lacking focus and direction with many diverse business areas. A new management team implemented a plan to transform Avon into a successful, innovative customer and technology led Group.

“During difficult economic times we have established global leading positions in our Protection & Defence and Dairy businesses by retaining the best of our heritage; talented and motivated people, excellence in materials science and manufacturing but most importantly we have been investing in our great brand names and the infrastructure to get our world leading products to market.”

Commenting, Chris Jones of Barclays Corporate said, “Barclays have backed Avon Rubber for more than 25 years and we’re delighted that we’ve been able to help it through this difficult time. The support we provided gave management the room to implement the Company's transformation.

“Avon is a world leader in its market position and brand and we look forward to continuing our close relationship with the Group to help it grow in its existing markets and also to exploit new opportunities globally.”

9th December, 2010