Appointment

IMI PLC
4 January 2001





                             Board Changes at IMI



IMI plc, the major international engineering group, today announces the
following Board changes:




  * Sir Eric Pountain announces his intention to retire as Chairman and
    Non-executive Director at the Annual General Meeting in May 2001. He will
    be succeeded as Non-executive Chairman by Gary Allen.

  * With effect from 4 January 2001 Gary Allen will hand over his role as
    Chief Executive to Martin Lamb and serve as Executive Deputy Chairman
    until the Annual General Meeting.

  * Martin Lamb, who is 40 years old, joined IMI in 1985 and was appointed
    to the Board in 1996. He is currently Executive Director responsible for
    Drinks Dispense. On his appointment as Chief Executive Martin Lamb will
    take over direct responsibility for IMI's four business areas, Energy
    Controls, Drinks Dispense, Fluid Power and Hydronic Controls.

  * Nick Paul, currently Deputy Chief Executive, has decided to retire from
    the Board with effect from 31 January 2001.

  * Barry Pointon, currently Executive Director for Hydronic Controls, will
    from 4 January 2001, become Executive Director with responsibility for
    major business development initiatives including mergers and acquisitions,
    global procurement, e-commerce, emerging markets and technology
    innovation.

  * Trevor Slack will continue as Finance Director.

  * Ian McIntosh, who has been a Non-executive Director since 1989, has also
    decided to retire at the Annual General Meeting.



Commenting on the changes Sir Eric said, 'I have been proud to serve as
Chairman of IMI since 1989. I feel it is now time to step down and I am
delighted that Gary Allen will succeed me as Chairman and that Martin Lamb
will be taking over as Chief Executive.'

Gary Allen said, 'I wish to thank Sir Eric for the part he has played in IMI's
development over the past 12 years. It has been a pleasure to work with him
and I look forward to taking over from him. After 15 years as Chief Executive
it is a good time to hand over to Martin Lamb. IMI faces exciting and
demanding changes and the new structure will enhance IMI's ability to meet the
strategic and operational challenges that lie ahead.'

                                   - ends -

Enquiries:

IMI plc

Gary Allen, Executive Deputy Chairman

Martin Lamb, Chief Executive           Tel: [phone]

Issued by:

Shandwick International

Ben Padovan / Peter Corbin             Tel: [phone]





Notes to Editors:

Martin Lamb has extensive experience of engineering businesses and the drinks
dispense industry in particular, including being chief executive of a
significant part of the Cornelius business prior to joining the Board.

He graduated from Imperial College, London with an honours degree in
Mechanical Engineering, and subsequently completed an MBA at Cranfield
Business School.

Mr Lamb is married with four daughters, and lives near Solihull. His main
interests, apart from the family, include tennis and golf.