Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

RNS Number : 6338O

Hotel Chocolat Group PLC

02 February 2023

 

2 February 2023

HOTEL CHOCOLAT GROUP PLC

( " Hotel Chocolat ", the " Company" or the " Group ")

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

Hotel Chocolat Group plc, a premium British chocolate maker, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jon Akehurst as the Company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and as an Executive Board Director. He will join the Company and Board when his appointment becomes effective in May 2023.

Jon is a Chartered Accountant, and his career includes management and leadership roles with General Mills, Mars, Aggreko and most recently at Terumo Corporation as CFO. He has extensive experience across branded goods, manufacturing and international development.

Further to the Company's announcement on 1 December 2022, Matt Pritchard stepped down as CFO on 31 January after 9 years with the Company. Hotel Chocolat Co-Founder and Chartered Accountant, Peter Harris, will be Interim CFO until Jon arrives.

Angus Thirlwell, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hotel Chocolat, said:

"Jon joins at an exciting time for Hotel Chocolat. His skills will underpin our determination to get back to running a tight ship operating model, with EBITDA of 20%+ in 2025 within our sights."

In accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies, the names of all companies and partnerships of which Jonathan Firth Akehurst, aged 40, is or has been a director or partner at any time in the previous five years are set out below:

Current directorships and/or partnerships	Previous directorships and/or partnerships (in the last five years)
Terumo Aortic Limited	Aggreko International Projects Limited
Vascutek Limited	Aggreko Employment Services Limited
Serom Medical Technology SRL	Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Limited
	Kellogg Manchester Limited
	KJAL Limited
	Kellogg UK Minor Limited

Jon currently holds 613 ordinary shares in Hotel Chocolat and will join the Hotel Chocolat LTIP upon commencement of his role.

Save as set out in this announcement, there are no further details to be disclosed under Rule 17 or Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies in respect of Jon.

Enquiries:

Hotel Chocolat Group PLC	Tel: [phone]
Angus Thirlwell, Co-Founder and CEO
Peter Harris, Co-Founder, and Interim CFO
Liberum (Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Clayton Bush
Edward Thomas
Miquela Bezuidenhoudt
Citigate Dewe Rogerson	Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7638 9571
Angharad Couch
Ellen Wilton
Alex Winch

Notes to Editors:

Hotel Chocolat is a premium British chocolate maker with a strong and distinctive D2C brand. The business was founded by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, who are still executives within the business, and has traded under the Hotel Chocolat brand since 2003. The Group is unusual in being a grower (organic cacao farm in Saint Lucia), a manufacturer (Cambridgeshire) and owning its extensive direct to consumer channels (branded stores, websites). The Group was admitted to trading on AIM in 2016.

 

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