José Miguel Zugaldía Ainara has been named General Director for the AZKOYEN Group, replacing Rafael Mir, who has left his position by his own request.

The new General Director is an industrial engineer, having graduated from the University of Navarre and earning a MBA from the University of Michigan Business School. José Miguel Zugaldía has had ample professional experience in carrying out administrational responsibilities at Construcciones Metálicas Comansa, Eaton Corporation, TRW Corporation and Dana Automoción, Spain.

He has been the European General Director for the Special and Commercial Vehicle Division and President of Dana Automoción Europe in Spain since1999.

The new General Director will be responsible for developing the Company’s Strategic Plan, which will be presented soon, and for international expansion and consolidating the excellent profits generated during the first half of 2004, which meant going from losses of over 6.8 million euros during the first half of 2003 to profits of over 4.5 million euros during the first half of 2004.

This appointment completes the remodelling of the administrative team, which included the addition of new directives in four Company divisions: Finance, Purchasing, Sales and Product Marketing. All have a distinguished international profile.

In a similar manner, the Company has reinforced the stable core of stockholders, incorporating QMC and Competiber and with the Caja de Navarra´s Industrial Corporation increasing the numbers of their shares.

AZKOYEN, which has gone up more than 55% since the beginning of the year, is among the three companies most reassessed on the continuous market.