Shamir Optical Industry Ltd (Nasdaq: SHMR), a leading provider of innovative products and technology to the progressive ophthalmic lens market, today announced that it has appointed Yagen Moshe as its chief financial officer. Mr. Moshe, who currently serves as Shamir's vice president of finance, replaces Mr. Amir Hai as chief financial officer, who has resigned to pursue other interests. Mr. Hai will continue to serve the Company's interests, if needed, in the near term. The appointment is effective as of July 1, 2006.

Mr. Moshe joined Shamir in February 2005. Prior to Shamir, he held various financial positions, including senior manager at Ernest & Young. Most recently he served as CFO at Comsec Ltd, a Petach Tikva based information security firm.

"We are delighted that Yagen has agreed to serve as Shamir's new chief financial officer. His experience in financial reporting will enhance our team and provide strong continuity during this transition. Over the last year and a half, Yagen has proven himself an invaluable member of our finance efforts. His intimate knowledge of Shamir will help support our continuing efforts to expand our footprint worldwide," said Mr. Giora Ben-Zeev, Shamir's president and chief executive officer.

Mr. Ben-Zeev added, "We would also like to thank Mr. Amir Hai for his significant contributions to Shamir during his seven years with the Company. We greatly appreciate his efforts, especially his guidance through last year's IPO and listing on NASDAQ. We wish him well in his future endeavors."

Mr. Moshe holds a BA degree in accounting and management from The College of Management in Tel-Aviv, a master in law from the Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, and is a qualified CPA.

About Shamir

Shamir is a leading provider of innovative products and technology to the progressive spectacle lens market. Utilizing its proprietary technology, the company develops, designs, manufactures, and markets progressive lenses to sell to the ophthalmic market. In addition, Shamir utilizes its technology to provide design services to optical lens manufacturers under service and royalty agreements. Progressive lenses are used to treat presbyopia, a vision condition where the eye loses its ability to focus on close objects. Progressive lenses combine several optical strengths into a single lens to provide a gradual and seamless transition from near to intermediate, to distant vision. Shamir differentiates its products from its competitors' primarily through lens design. Shamir's leading lenses are marketed under a variety of trade names, including Shamir Genesis(TM), Shamir Piccolo(TM), Shamir Office(TM), and Shamir Autograph(TM). Shamir believes that it has one of the world's preeminent research and development teams for progressive lenses, molds, and complementary technologies and tools. Shamir developed software dedicated to the design of progressive lenses. This software is based on Shamir's proprietary mathematical algorithms that optimize designs of progressive lenses for a variety of activities and environments. Shamir also has created software tools specifically designed for research and development and production requirements, including Eye Point Technology software, which simulates human vision.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, any securities described herein in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Statements concerning Shamir's business outlook or future economic performance; product introductions and plans and objectives related thereto; and statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to: the effect of global economic conditions in general and conditions in Shamir's industry and target markets in particular; shifts in supply and demand; market acceptance of new products and continuing products' demand; the impact of competitive products and pricing on Shamir's and its customers' products and markets; timely product and technology development/upgrades and the ability to manage changes in market conditions as needed; possible business disruptions from acquisitions; and other factors detailed in Shamir's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shamir assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT

Investor Relations Contacts:

Jeffrey Goldberger / Marybeth Csaby Roni Gavrielov / Asaf Porat

KCSA Worldwide KM / KCSA Investor Relations

212-896-1249 / 212-896-1236 +972-3-516-7620

jgoldberger@kcsa.com / mcsaby@kcsa.com roni@km-ir.co.il/asaf@km-ir.co.il

Source: prnewswire