FORM
6-K
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Report
of
Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant
to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
under
the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For
the
month of August, 2006
Commission
file number: 1-14872
SAPPI
LIMITED
(Translation
of registrant’s name into English)
48
Ameshoff Street
Braamfontein
Johannesburg
2001
REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH AFRICA
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under
cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
|
Form
20-F
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X
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Form
40-F
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Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted
by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b) (1):
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted
by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b) (7):
Indicate
by check mark whether by furnishing the information contained in this Form,
the
registrant is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant
to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
|
Yes
|
No
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X
-------
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If
“Yes”
is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82-
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
Sappi
Limited’s press announcement, dated August 8, 2006, announcing the
appointment of Mark Thompson as Chief Financial Officer, furnished by the
Registrant under this Form 6-K is incorporated by reference into (i) the
Registration Statements on Form S-8 of the Registrant filed December 23, 1999
and December 15, 2004 in connection with The Sappi Limited Share Incentive
Scheme, (ii) the Section 10(a) Prospectus relating to the offer and sale of
the Registrant’s shares to Participants under The Sappi Limited Share Incentive
Scheme, (iii) the Registration Statements on Form S-8 of the Registrant
filed December 15, 2004 and December 21, 2005 in connection with The Sappi
Limited 2004 Performance Share Incentive Plan and (iv) the Section 10(a)
Prospectus relating to the offer and sale of the Registrant’s shares to
Participants under The Sappi Limited 2004 Performance Share Incentive
Plan.
FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
In
order
to utilize the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Reform Act”), Sappi Limited (the “Company”)
is providing the following cautionary statement. Except for historical
information contained herein, statements contained in this Report on Form 6-K
may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Reform
Act. The words “believe”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate “, “plan”,
“assume”, “positioned”, “will”, “may”, “should”, “risk” and other similar
expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends
which do not relate to historical matters identify forward-looking statements.
In addition, this Report on Form 6-K may include forward-looking statements
relating to the Company’s potential exposure to various types of market risks,
such as interest rate risk, foreign exchange rate risk and commodity price
risk.
Reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because they involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are in some
cases
beyond the control of the Company, together with its subsidiaries (the “Group”),
and may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Group
to
differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements (and from past results,
performance or achievements). Certain factors that may cause such differences
include but are not limited to: the highly cyclical nature of the pulp and
paper
industry; pulp and paper production, production capacity, input costs including
raw material, energy and employee costs, and pricing levels in North America,
Europe, Asia and southern Africa; any major disruption in production at the
Group’s key facilities; changes in environmental, tax and other laws and
regulations; adverse changes in the markets for the Group’s products; any
delays, unexpected costs or other problems experienced with any business
acquired or to be acquired; consequences of the Group’s leverage; adverse
changes in the South African political situation and economy or the effect
of
governmental efforts to address present or future economic or social problems;
and the impact of future investments, acquisitions and dispositions (including
the financing of investments and acquisitions) and any delays, unexpected costs
or other problems experienced in connection with dispositions. These and other
risks, uncertainties and factors are discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on
Form 20-F and other filings with and submissions to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including this Report on Form 6-K. Shareholders and prospective
investors are cautioned not
to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are made as of the date of the submission of this Report on Form
6-K
and are not intended to give any assurance as to future results. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these
forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information or future events
or circumstances or otherwise.
 |
Sappi
Limited
|
Announcement
08
August
2006
Sappi
appoints Mark Thompson as Chief Financial Officer
Sappi
Limited, the
global pulp and paper group, today announced that Mark Thompson has been
appointed as CFO with immediate effect and will join the Sappi Limited board
as
an executive director.
Mark
Richard
Thompson (54) has been with Sappi since 1999 as Group Legal Counsel. Prior
to
joining Sappi he was Group Treasurer at Anglo American Ltd, Managing Director
of
Discount House Merchant Bank and previously Head of the Corporate Finance
Division of Senbank.
Sappi
chairman,
Eugene van As, said today :
“Mark
Thompson
brings an intimate knowledge and understanding of Sappi’s global business and
the broad finance function, and will, I am sure, play an important role in
developing the group’s future profitability”.
ENDS
NOTES
TO EDITORS
:
Additional
information on Mark Richard Thompson:
He
holds BCom,
BAcc, and LLB degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in
Johannesburg.
He
is a chartered
accountant, CA (SA).
He
read Management
Studies at Magdalen College, Oxford
He
started his
career as an investigating accountant at the Industrial Development Corporation,
before joining Malbak where he was the PA to the CEO.
He
spent 2 years as
Head of Corporate Finance Division - Senbank.
Thereafter
he spent
5 years as Managing Director of Discount House Merchant Bank, before moving
to
Anglo American as Group Treasurer.
He
joined Sappi as
Group Corporate Counsel and Tax Advisor in 1999.
He
holds a number
of directorships within and outside of the Sappi group.
Sappi
is the
world’s leading producer of coated woodfree paper with production facilities in
nine countries on four continents - Europe, North America, Asia (China) and
Africa, sales offices on five continents and customers in over 100 countries
worldwide. For further information visit www.sappi.com
For
further
information:
André
F
Oberholzer
Group
Head
Corporate Affairs
Sappi
Limited (Reg
No 1936/008963/06)
Tel +27
(0)11
407 8044
Fax +27
(0)11
403 8236
Mobile +27
(0)83 235 2973
Andre.Oberholzer@sappi.com
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant
has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized.
Date:
August 8, 2006
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SAPPI
LIMITED,
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by
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/s/
D.J. O’Connor
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Title:
Group Secretary
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