Directors. Parent Company Directors as of December 31, 2004 are as follows:
Luciano Benetton, Gilberto Benetton, Carlo Benetton and Giuliana Benetton are brothers and sister; Alessandro Benetton is the son of Luciano Benetton.
Directors’ fees due to members of the Board of Benetton Group S.p.A. totaled 4,927 thousand euro in 2004.
Principal organizational and corporate changes. The branches of Bencom S.r.l. in Spain, France and Great Britain became operational in January 2004. Through these branches, Bencom S.r.l. directly manages a certain number of Benetton stores in the above-mentioned countries, previously controlled by Benetton Retail Spain S.L., Benetton Retail France S.A.S. and Benetton Retail [1988] Ltd., respectively. During June, a branch was set up in Belgium, operational from August 1, to purchase and manage, also by rental to third parties, businesses operating Benetton stores.
On February 17, 2004 Benfin S.p.A. bought from third parties, for 15 million euro, 15% of the Olimpias S.p.A. share capital, of which it previously held 85%. This company produces, mainly for Group companies, textile products and, in particular, fabrics, knitted fabrics, yarns, woven and printed fabrics, as well as acting as a dye house and laundry. With effect from December 1, 2004, Olimpias S.p.A. was merged by incorporation into the parent company Benfin S.p.A., which changed its name at the same time to Olimpias S.p.A. The operation is part of and is based on the same rationale as a more general reorganization of the Group, largely completed during the 2003 financial year.
During May, Benetton International S.A. [formerly Benetton Retail International S.A.] sold to Benetton Holding International N.V. S.A. [formerly Benetton International N.V. S.A.] its holding in Benetton Asia Pacific Ltd., a company operating in Hong Kong in retail activities and services for other Group companies.
The German subsidiary New Ben GmbH purchased, for a price of 4 million euro, the entire shareholding in Mari Textilhandels GmbH, a German company owning around 30 stores engaged in the sale of Group-branded products in various German regions. This purchase was effective on July 1, 2004; from the same date, Mari Textilhandels GmbH was merged by incorporation into New Ben GmbH.
Continuing with the same process of simplification of the corporate structure, with effect from September 1, 2004, I.M.I. S.r.l. was merged by incorporation into the parent company Bencom S.r.l.
In September 2004, Benetton Group S.p.A. sold its holding of 10% of the share capital of Tecnica S.p.A. to third parties.
Name and surname Date of birth Appointed Office
Luciano Benetton 05.13.1935 1978 Chairman
Carlo Benetton 12.26.1943 1978 Deputy Chairman
Silvano Cassano 12.18.1956 2003 Managing Director
Giuliana Benetton 07.08.1937 1978 Director
Gilberto Benetton 06.19.1941 1978 Director
Alessandro Benetton 03.02.1964 1998 Director
Gianni Mion 09.06.1943 1990 Director
Sergio De Simoi 05.23.1945 2003 Director
Ulrich Weiss 06.03.1936 1997 Director
Reginald Bartholomew 02.17.1936 1999 Director
Luigi Arturo Bianchi 06.03.1958 2000 Director