Hibernian appoints new Group Strategic Marketing Director

9th May 2007

Hibernian Group Chief Executive, Stuart Purdy, today announced the appointment of Paul Kelly to the position of Group Strategic Marketing Director. This is a new role to reinforce Hibernian’s position in the Irish marketplace as a leading brand and the number one composite insurer.

Paul joins Hibernian from Diageo Ireland where he most recently held the position of Marketing Director. Paul joined Diageo in 1997 and over the last ten years held a number of pivotal roles on leading brands such as Guinness, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Smirnoff, Baileys, Smithwicks and Harp. This included a number of brand and marketing management roles before becoming Head of Innovation for Diageo new product development. A three-month stint in Australia followed, where Paul headed up a project to devise a five-year strategy for the growth of the Guinness brand. On his return to Ireland and at a time of great change for the drinks industry in Ireland, Paul played an early leading role in developing Diageo’s responsible drinking marketing initiatives. He was subsequently appointed Marketing Controller for Lagers and then Marketing Director Ireland and has overseen marketing strategies and programmes for Diageo’s brands resulting in market share and brand equity growth.

Stuart Purdy confirmed Paul Kelly represents a strong addition to the Hibernian Group executive team, which has seen a number of key appointments made in recent months. He said, “Paul is an excellent marketer with great strategic and commercial ability. His track record and experience in managing global brands will prove a very strong asset for Hibernian. Our business model has changed significantly in recent years and we now reach our customers in many ways, through our contact centres and branches, the broker, AIB Bank and the internet. While the Hibernian brand is well established, an Irish household name, we need to create a stronger link in our customers’ minds so they appreciate the strength Hibernian can offer them.”

Paul Kelly joins Hibernian in September.

About Hibernian

• Hibernian Group is Ireland’s largest composite insurer, ranked first for general insurance and top three for life and pensions.
• Hibernian Group is a subsidiary of Aviva plc, the world’s fifth-largest insurance group and the UK’s largest insurance services provider (based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2005), and is one of the leading providers of life and pension products to Europe, with substantial positions in other markets around the world. Aviva employs 58,000 staff worldwide.
• Aviva’s principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
• Morley is the UK-based asset management business of Aviva plc. Firms within the Morley group of companies manage £169bn (€247bn) from offices around the world as at 30 April 2007.
• With a strong track record in the property arena, Morley has seven European property funds focusing on a range of sectors and markets and over the last 24 months has acquired over 50 properties in 11 countries. These funds account for over €1.1bn of European assets under management.
• In 2006 Morley Fund Management won two awards at the Central and Eastern European Real Estate Quality awards taking ‘Outstanding Company of the Year’ and ‘Investor of the Year’ for its Central European Property activities.
• The product information above is for press release purposes only; full details are contained in the product literature available from Hibernian.
• The value of property investments is generally a matter of valuer’s opinion rather than fact. In addition, property investments may not always be readily saleable and very occasionally there may be constraints on cashing in units.
• The value of investments abroad may rise and fall due to exchange rate movements.

Media enquiries:

Alan Tyrrell
+ 353 1 898 5452

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