Press Release

CEO Worldwide STARTS NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH CVO GROUP TO MEET THE NEEDS OF COMPANIES SEARCHING FOR TOP EXECUTIVES IN CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPE

CEO Worldwide will benefit of CVO Group's strong position in these regions to offer a complete recruitment and interim management solution, covering the whole range of profiles and activity sectors

Paris, May 11, 2005 ­ CEO Worldwide joins forces with CVO Group, the Number 1 recruitment service in Central and Eastern Europe, to develop its presence in 10 countries of this region: Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, and Romania. Taking advantage of CVO Group's strong presence and expertise in theses regions, CEO Worldwide will push its innovative Management on demand TM solution to these markets.

CEO Worldwide and CVO Group' clients will equally be able to benefit from the recruitment and interim management solutions offered in theses countries. Since their integration into the European Union on May 1st 2004, the CEEC (Central and East European countries) represent real opportunities of growth within the proximity of the European Union. With this partnership, CEO Worldwide extends its interim management offer to the middle management, the very sector of recruitment that CVO Group concentrates its activity on. Besides, CEO Worldwide's offer in the CEEC includes all (industry) sectors.

Patrick Mataix, founder of CEO Worldwide, comments: « This partnership is part of CEO Worldwide's strategy to offer its clients the greatest choice while always ensuring the highest standards of quality and professionalism. The strong economic growth in the Central and Eastern European countries represents real business opportunities for their West European neighbours, as long as they have local operational resources at their disposal, which are fully conversant with the culture and economic tissue of this region. This is the objective of this partnership. »

Via its Professional People division, segmented into key industry sectors ­ Finance, Technology, Sales and Marketing, CVO Group provides search and selection services which enhance the recruitment of mid-senior management profiles within local and international organisations. CV-Online the e-recruitment arm of CVO Group, with over 670 000 candidates referenced on its various internet sites and more than 14 million page impressions per month, has become the principal provider of recruitment services in junior-mid level disciplines. Through this partnership, CEO Worldwide complements its pool of candidates to even better serve its clients in these regions by offering a dedicated solution that equally responds to their needs and their local constraints.

Norrie Sinclair, CEO of CVO Group commented "senior level Interim Management is a tool widely used by companies in Western Europe, particularly where an immediate, interim solution is required. Through our partnership with CEO Worldwide we hope to introduce the benefits of interim management to existing companies in the region and to new entrants into the CEE marketplace. Our position as a premier supplier of recruitment services across 10 CEE markets ensures that we will be in a strong position to provide high calibre senior professionals on an interim basis."

CVO Group benefits of the rapid expansion of the Internet in the CEEC (40% of the population is online in Estonia, 30 % in the Czech Republic, etc.), and lets the candidates and the recruiting companies take advantage of this development. The use of powerful technical tools and a large network of local professionals enable the delivery of recruitment solutions that are perfectly tailored towards the needs of their clients.

For the CVO Group, this partnership enables its clients in Eastern Europe to have access to fast and efficient Management on demand in the 42 countries covered by CEO Worldwide. Besides, CVO Group can benefit from CEO Worldwide's expertise in the interim and permanent recruitment of top executives, both full and part time.

The CEEC, a potential of growth « in the proximity » of the European Union

The CEEC represents a market growth of 5% (EU : 2,3%) with a population of 75 million people, carried by economies in a phase of transition where the total Gross National Product (GNP) is 650 billion dollars, which represents 5% of the global GNP of the European Union (figures of 2004).

In 2004, the CEEC produced a growth of more than 3,7%. A tendency that should be confirmed in the coming years, since the European Commission predicts that the GNP of the ten new member countries (CEEC, Malta, Cyprus) should grow 4,6% in 2005, against 1,9% for the 15 old member states! In 2006, the growth of these countries climbs to 4,8% against 2,2% for the others.

Amongst the CEEC, the dynamism of the Baltic States is particularly strong. Latvia experienced a growth of 8,5% in 2004, Lithuania of 6,7% and Estonia of 6,2%. Followed by Poland (5,3%) and the Czech Republic (4%) and Slovakia (4%).

Germany and the United States are leading the ranking of direct investments in this region, followed by France on third position, and the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The sectors attracting most investments are the BTP, the environment, banking services, distribution, food, automobile industry and the telecommunications.

Source : Le Monde ­ April 7, 2005

About CEO Worldwide (www.ceo-worldwide.com)
Thanks to its unique expertise and positioning, CEO Worldwide is now able to link the worlds of interim management with the executive search. Featuring superior flexibility and a reaction time of less than three weeks from initial demand to final placement, Management on Demand is perfectly tailored to the modern day constraints on most companies. Drawing from its pool of over 1400 senior executives worldwide, each with a proven entrepreneurial profile, CEO Worldwide is able to offer managers who are prepared for local or cross border Interim projects that could turn into full-time positions in one of the 42 countries they are based in.

About CVO Group (www.cvogroup.com)
CVO Group, the leading recruitment company across Central and Eastern Europe provides a combination of state-of-the-art (CV-Online) and classical recruitment solutions (Professional People) to its local and international partners. Professional People concentrates on identifying, sourcing and selecting Junior-Mid level finance, accounting, technology and sales & marketing professionals.