REG - British Honey Co. - Board Changes & Notice of Interim Results
09.08.21.
The British Honey Company plc
Board and Senior Management Changes
&
Notice of Interim Results
The British Honey Company plc ("British Honey", "BHC", "the Company" or "the Group"), the producer of premium British Honey, Honey-infused spirits and no/low products, announces a number of Board and senior management changes which take effect immediately.
The Company also announces that it will be publishing its unaudited Interim Results for the six month period ended 30 June 2021, on Thursday 2 September 2021.
As a corporate member of the QCA's Code of Best Practice in Corporate Governance and as part of the Company's previously stated strategy to build an independent Board of Directors with appropriate skills and expertise, BHC is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Richard Day as Independent Non-Executive Chairman. Mr Day's appointment is the result of a comprehensive executive search process over the past several months. He takes over the role from Michael Williams, Group CEO, who has acted as Interim Chairman since March of this year.
Mr Day, a qualified lawyer and, himself, a member of the QCA Remuneration Committee which produced the new Remco Guide, is an experienced Non-Executive Director with particular financial markets strengths, having had a diverse and successful senior management career, acquiring extensive knowledge of public markets, corporate finance and corporate governance across a range of sectors. He was a co-founder of AIM-Listed institutional stockbroker, Arden Partners plc where he worked from 2002 until 2015, and was Head of Corporate Finance for most of his time with the firm. He played an important role in building the business both domestically and internationally. Since then, he has been on the boards of various listed companies . He is currently Non-Executive Chairman of "Big Data" analytics company, Pelatro plc which is listed on AIM. He is also Chairman of Eden Geothermal Limited, a private company, which is drilling the first well on its two-well deep geothermal site at the world-famous Eden Project in Cornwall.
Mr Nicholas Agbo, a CIMA qualified accountant, has been appointed full-time Finance Director of the Group. Mr Agbo has served for the past three months as Company Secretary and joins from FTSE 100 constituent, Pearson, the global publishing and Education company where he managed a £100million budget managing its Technology Content, Enterprise Architecture and online platforms, gaining valuable online distribution functionality and processing experience. Previously, he worked for six years at UBM plc in Commercial Finance. He succeeds Mr Alistair Wallace, who will continue to provide assistance to the Company in his capacity as senior partner of BKB and who have been retained by the Company since inception in 2014.
As part of the planned Board evolution, BHC also announces that Mr Robert Porter-Smith, Mr Geoffrey Lennox, Mr Mark Gamble and Mr Wallace have all stepped down from the BHC Board, also with immediate effect, in order to form a newly established Operating Board whose purpose will be to oversee the day-to-day operational management of the business and the implementation of the Board's Strategic Plan.
Commenting on the Board changes, BHC's CEO, Michael Williams, said:
"I am delighted to welcome Richard to the Board as our independent Non-Executive Chairman and Nicholas as Finance Director. These new appointments align BHC's board and senior management structure with the QCA recommendations for Public Companies. Their complementary skills and experience will undoubtedly prove of great value to BHC going forward, whilst the establishment of our new Operating Board, utilising Robert's, Geoff's, Alistair's and Mark's respective extensive knowledge of the business and the industry, will help drive our Growth Strategy. I thank all four of them for their continued service to BHC."
Enquiries:
British Honey Company plc
Michael Williams, Chairman and CEO
Brooke Wiseman, Marketing Director
Tel: +44 (0)7976 559243
Email: brooke@britishhoney.com
finnCap - AQSE Corporate Adviser & Joint Broker
Carl Holmes / George Dollemore (corporate finance)
Richard Chambers (ECM)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7220 0500
Stanford Capital Partners - Joint Broker
Patrick Claridge / John Howes / Bob Pountney
Tel: +44 (0)20 3815 8880
Walbrook PR Limited - Financial PR
Paul Vann / Anysia Virdi
Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780
+44 (0)7768 807631
paul.vann@walbrookpr.com
About British Honey Company
Launched in 2014, BHC has an extensive collection of award-winning spirits brands crafted at its onsite distillery in Buckinghamshire. Its impressive range began with Keepr's British Honey Spirits infused with 100% pure honey from its own fully traceable apiaries and includes gin, rum, bourbon, vodka and a ready to drink selection of hard seltzers and a low alcohol gin and tonic.
In 2020 it expanded further after acquiring the brands of the London Distillery Company (Dodd's Organic Gin, Rye and Single Malt Whiskeys), securing an exciting partnership agreement with English Heritage to produce its gins and launching an affordable luxury spirits range, 1606. In the same year, BHC also developed its first alcohol sanitiser product in the UK in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
In February 2021, BHC completed the acquisition of Union Distillers Limited, based in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Union Distillers was founded in 2012 by Mark Gamble and his partner. Over the past eight years it has grown to become an independent producer and distributor of proprietary and "own-label" spirits. It has well-invested infrastructure which includes its own stills, bonded warehouse and it is proposing to install a canning line. Union has a strong manufacturing capability, established brands and an extensive and growing retail and wholesale customer base. Products include its premium, proprietary "Two Birds" range of spirits comprising 11 gins, seven vodkas, a spiced rum, an absinthe and a 29% ABV espresso vodka liqueur. In addition, Union distils spirits on behalf of a range of B2B customers including some major German supermarkets with a UK presence. Like BHC, Union is also SALSA accredited.
Future development plans will see BHC open a second distillery on Oxfordshire's Tusmore Estate, expected late 2021, where it will produce a Tusmore Single Estate Triple Distilled Premium English Whiskey to add to its Single Malt Tusmore Whiskey, of which investment casks are currently available to purchase.
Further information on Richard Day, age 61
Mr Day does not have a beneficial interest in the Company's issued share capital.
Save as set out below, there is no further information regarding Richard Day that is required to be disclosed pursuant to Appendix 1, Table A, paragraph 5.1.2 of the AQSE Exchange Growth Market - Rules for Issuers.
Current Directorships
Previous Directorships in the last five years
RJD Corporate Ltd
Greka Drilling Ltd
EGS Energy Ltd
Cogenpower Plc
Eden Geothermal Ltd
More Global Plc
Pelatro Plc
Envent Capital Markets Ltd
Alchemac Ltd
Further information on Nicholas Nii Ayi Agbo, age 31
Mr Agbo does not have a beneficial interest in the Company's issued share capital.
there is no further information regarding Nicholas Agbo that is required to be disclosed pursuant to Appendix 1, Table A, paragraph 5.1.2 of the AQSE Exchange Growth Market - Rules for Issuers.
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