At a ceremony held on 23 March at the Thales head office in Neuilly, France, Denis Ranque officially handed over a cheque for 230,000 euros to the president of UNICEF France, Jacques Hintzy , as part of the Group's tsunami relief donation. Group employees were represented by Patricia Barbet and Karl Reed .

Denis Ranque applauded the work being done by UNICEF and underlined the key role being played by the organisation in laying foundations for the future by helping children in need. Jacques Hintzy thanked Thales for its loyalty - the Group also supports UNICEF through its annual greeting cards - and gave an insight into his own recent experiences in South-East Asia and how UNICEF was contributing to relief efforts there.

As part of Thales' tsunami relief initiative, employee donations totalled 130,000 euro worldwide. By matching that sum, and adding the initial 100,000 euro donation pledged by Thales, the Group has in all raised 360,000 euros for UNICEF, representing one of the Fund's largest corporate donations. Several thousand employees took part in the operation, with donations coming in from the UK, France, USA, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, South Africa and Belgium.

Pictured left-right : Karl Reed, Denis Ranque, Patricia Barbet, Jacques Hintzy.