4 April 2022
UP Global Sourcing Holdings plc
"Ultimate Products" or the "Group"
CFO SUCCESSION
Ultimate Products, the owner of a number of leading homeware brands including Salter (the UK's oldest houseware brand, est.1760) and Beldray (est.1872), is pleased to confirm that, further to the announcement of 7 December 2021, Chris Dent has now joined the Group as CFO-designate and as a member of the Board of Directors with immediate effect.
It is expected that Chris will formally take up the position of Chief Financial Officer on 1 August 2022 when Graham Screawn, the Group's current Chief Financial Officer, will step down from the Board of Directors and relinquish his current role. Graham, who has spent 12 years with the Group, will remain at Ultimate Products on a part-time basis until November 2022, allowing for an orderly handover in the interim, following which he will retire.
Chris joins Ultimate Products from Franchise Brands plc, the AIM-listed multi-brand franchise business, where he had been Chief Financial Officer since July 2017.
For more information, please contact:
Ultimate Products +44 (0) 161 627 1400
Simon Showman, CEO
Andrew Gossage, Managing Director
Graham Screawn, Finance Director
Shore Capital +44 (0) 20 7408 4090
Mark Percy
Malachy McEntyre
James O'Neill
Powerscourt +44 (0) 207 250 1446
Rob Greening
Sam Austrums
ultimateproducts@powerscourt-group.com
About Ultimate Products
Ultimate Products is the owner of a number of leading homeware brands including Salter (the UK's oldest houseware brand, established in 1760) and Beldray (a laundry, floor care, heating and cooling brand that was established in 1872). According to its market research, nearly 80% of UK households own at least one of the Group's products.
Ultimate Products sells to over 300 retailers across 38 countries, and specialises in five product categories: Small Domestic Appliances; Housewares; Laundry; Audio; and Heating and Cooling. Other brands include Progress (cookware and bakeware), Kleeneze (laundry and floorcare), Petra (small domestic appliances) and Intempo (audio).
The Group's products are sold to a broad cross-section of both large national and international multi-channel retailers as well as smaller national retail chains, incorporating discount retailers, supermarkets, general retailers and online retailers.
Founded in 1997, Ultimate Products employs over 300 staff, a significant number of whom have joined via the Group's graduate development scheme, and is headquartered in Oldham, Greater Manchester, where it has design, sales, marketing, buying, quality assurance, support functions and warehouse facilities across two sites. Manor Mill, the Group's head office, includes a spectacular 20,000 sq ft showroom that showcases each of its brands. In addition, the Group has an office and showroom in Guangzhou, China and in Cologne, Germany.
Please note that Ultimate Products is not the owner of Russell Hobbs. The company currently has licence agreements in place granting it an exclusive licence to use the "Russell Hobbs" trademark for cookware (NB this does not include Russell Hobbs electrical appliances).
For further information, please visit www.upgs.com