Governance

Compliance with the Combined Code

The Board is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance and recognises that it is accountable to the Company's shareholders for good governance. The principal governance rules applying to UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange are contained in the Combined Code on Corporate Governance (the 'Code'), adopted by the Financial Reporting Council www.frc.org.uk/corporate and published in June 2006. The Code was most recently revised in June 2008 ('Revised Code') and the Company is already in a position to comply with this Revised Code. This report, together with the Report of the Directors and the Remuneration report, describes how the Board applied the principles of good governance, as contained in section 1 of the Code, and seeks to demonstrate how the principles of good governance have been applied, and continue to be applied, during the year under review.

The Board

The Board meets regularly during the year, as well as on an ad hoc basis as required by time critical business needs. The Board's primary role is to provide entrepreneurial leadership, necessary to enable the Group's business objectives to be met, and to review the overall strategic development of the Group as a whole. It has a formal schedule of matters reserved to it for its decision. Day-to-day operational decisions are managed by the Executive Committee.