Christopher Bark-Jones, till now the finance director of Alcan Europe, will be based at the corporate headquarters in Calcutta as the new chairman and managing director. The director and chief operating officer NK Chowdhary has been elevated to the position of managing director (operations).

The non-executive chairman Susim Mukul Datta who had joined the board in March, 1996, has stepped down, and so has Tapan Mitra, the vice chairman & managing director after 38 years in the company. Mitra will continue to be on the board till December.

One of the five new directors is a replacement for PK Pal, the chief legal officer in Alcan's corporate office. The two other existing Alcan nominees-- Brian Sturgell and Suresh Thadani--will continue to be on theIndal board.

The new Alcan representatives are Gaston Outlet, Michael Hanley, Glenn Lucas and Serge Fecteau. Lucas, the president of Alcan Japan, was the alternate director to both PK Pal and Brian Sturgell.

Addressing mediapersons, Bark-Jones, a British national, said, "I should be considered a representative of all shareholders and not Alcan alone. My main role will be to maximise shareholder value. Indal must grab all opportunities that come up in the global market."

Bark-Jones emphasised that his role will be to integrate Indal into Alcan's global strategy. "We have an excellent team of executives who will have to aid me in this regard," he added.

Brian Sturgell, the executive vice-president of Alcan's south-east Asian operations said, "Alcan is grateful to Indal's employees for continuous support to the parent company. They have put up a stellar performance despite various distractions," referring by implication to the recent hostile takeover bid mounted on Indal by Starlit Industries.

Sturgellalso thanked Datta and Mitra for their contribution to Indal. "I hope in the future Alcan and Indal can seek their advice," he added.

He clarified that the changes in the board were not because Alcan felt that the existing management failed to deliver. "On the contrary, the existing management team, I feel, has done a tremendous job as is evident from the first half results."

Indal has logged a 71 per cent jump in net profit for the first half of the current fiscal despite a mere 5 per cent growth in sales. The board has recommended a Rs 2 per share interim dividend. Net sales & operating revenue increased to Rs 570.72 crore against Rs 544.51 crore in the same period of last year. Net profit jumped to Rs 38.52 crore as compared with Rs 22.54 crore in the previous year.