27 July 2023

FRANCHISE BRANDS PLC

("Franchise Brands", the "Group" or the "Company")

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

Franchise Brands plc (AIM: FRAN), an international multi-brand franchise business, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Fryer to the Board as Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") with effect from 2 August 2023.

Mark Fryer is an experienced CFO with 25 years of public company and private equity experience as CFO in global manufacturing and business service companies. He has been CFO of FTSE Small Cap and FTSE 250 companies, as well as companies quoted on the AIM market. Mark's experience includes extensive M&A, operational and business improvement experience in complex international environments across a wide range of sectors, including waste, business services, industrial services, franchising, manufacturing and electronics.

Mark's recent roles include Group CFO of Augean plc, Dialight plc and Manganese Bronze Holdings plc, and he worked overseas in several of these roles.  Prior to that he spent 11 years in finance and corporate finance roles with GKN plc and Cable and Wireless plc.  Mark began his career with EY and is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. 

With the appointment of Mark Fryer as CFO, Andrew Mallows will step down from his role of Interim CFO and from the Board and will be returning to his former role as Group Commercial Director (non-Board).

Stephen Hemsley, Executive Chairman, commented:

"We are pleased to welcome Mark to the Group.  His extensive experience in senior finance positions within listed, international and business services companies will be invaluable as we continue to drive the Group's growth across ten countries following the acquisitions of Pirtek and Filta.  I would also like to thank Andrew Mallows for his tremendous contribution as interim CFO."

Mark Fryer commented:

"I am delighted to be joining such an ambitious business at an exciting time in its development, following the recent acquisitions.  I look forward to working with Stephen and the team to build on the Group's expanded platform of market-leading franchise businesses and driving shareholder value over the coming years."

The following additional information is provided in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule Two Paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies:

Mark Rupert Maxwell Fryer is aged 56 and currently is, and during the last five years has been, a director of the following companies:

Enquiries:

About Franchise Brands plc

Franchise Brands is an international, multi-brand franchisor focused on building market-leading businesses primarily via a franchise model. The Group has a combined network of 655 franchisees across seven franchise brands in ten countries covering the UK, North America and Europe.

Franchise Brands' focus is on B2B van-based reactive and planned services. The Company owns several market-leading brands with a long trading history, including Metro Rod, Metro Plumb, Filta and Pirtek in Europe, all of which benefit from the Group's central support services, in particular technology, marketing, management experience and other group resources. At the centre of Franchise Brands' business building strategy is helping its franchisees grow their businesses: "if they grow, we grow".

Franchise Brands employs some 715 people across the Group.

For further information, visit  www.franchisebrands.co.uk