Management Change

Ultimate Products PLC

08 February 2024

 

8 February 2024

Ultimate Products plc

("Ultimate Products", or "the Group")

MANAGEMENT CHANGE

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 announce the appointment today of Andrew Gossage as Chief Executive Officer. Andrew is taking over from Simon Showman, the Group's founder, who will remain on the Board as Chief Commercial Officer.

Andrew joined Ultimate Products in 2005, initially as Finance Director before being promoted to Managing Director in 2014. Since then, he has been responsible for the Group's strategy as well as overseeing its operational functions and online business. Andrew is a chartered accountant and started his career with Arthur Andersen, after which he was the Finance Director & General Manager of Mersey Television.

Simon founded Ultimate Products in 1997 and has led the Group ever since. As Chief Commercial Officer, he will continue to oversee the Group's commercial functions including sales, buying and product development.

Simon Showman, Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Ultimate Products, said:

"I am delighted that Andrew has agreed to step into the role of CEO and, having run the business with him for nearly 20 years, I am confident that he will do an exceptional job in leading Ultimate Products into the next phase of its growth journey.

For my own part, I am very excited to be taking on the new role of Chief Commercial Officer, which will allow me to focus on the elements of the job that I relish the most, including business development, product development and managing key retailer relationships. I am particularly looking forward to spending more time with our customers in the UK and internationally, building the longstanding and strategic partnerships necessary to drive Ultimate Products' future growth."

Andrew Gossage, Chief Executive Officer of Ultimate Products, said:

"It is a huge honour to take on the role of CEO. I am looking forward to continuing to work with Simon and the rest of our excellent team to build on our current capabilities with the ambition of making Ultimate Products the world's best branded consumer goods business. Our strategy remains unchanged, which is to create beautiful and more sustainable products for every home and pursue growth via the online, supermarket and discount channels both here in the UK and internationally."

For more information, please contact:

Ultimate Products [phone]

Andrew Gossage, CEO

Simon Showman, CCO

Chris Dent, CFO

Shore Capital [phone]

Mark Percy

Malachy McEntyre

David Coaten
Iain Sexton

Isobel Jones

Cavendish Capital Markets Limited + 44 (0)20 7220 0500

Carl Holmes (Corporate Finance)

Matt Goode (Corporate Finance)

Abigail Kelly (Corporate Finance)

Charlie Combe (ECM)

Powerscourt [phone]

Rob Greening

Sam Austrums

Oliver Banks

Notes to Editors

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 370 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 Paris, France.

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 and laundry (NB this does not include Russell Hobbs electrical appliances).

For further information, please visit www.upplc.com.  

 

END