Franchise Brands appoints new finance chief

(Sharecast News) - Franchise Brands appointed Neil Miller as its new chief financial officer on Monday, confirming that current CFO Andrew Mallows would move into the newly created role of group delivery director as it focussed on completing integration work across the business.

The AIM-listed B2B franchise group said Miller would join the board and become CFO with effect from 26 May.

He had 30 years of finance experience across listed, private equity-backed and multinational companies in industrial, manufacturing and consumer goods markets.

Miller was most recently group CFO of Praesidiad, a private equity-backed global security solutions group, and previously held the same role at Scott Bader.

He also held senior finance roles at DS Smith and De La Rue, as well as earlier finance positions at Diageo and Mars.

Mallows, who had been CFO since June 2024, would step down from the board on the same date and take up the group delivery director role.

Franchise Brands said the move reflected its focus on completing integration across the group and realising the benefits of its 'One Franchise Brands' strategy, including the rollout of group-wide IT systems such as the NetSuite global finance platform.

The company said the new structure would create clearer focus between finance and commercial delivery, as it looks to drive operational gearing and capture the benefits of integrating Pirtek and Filta with its Water & Waste Services division.

Executive chairman Stephen Hemsley said Miller's background in value creation and finance transformation would support Franchise Brands as it looked to capitalise on its two-year, multi-million-pound investment in IT and integration.

"The appointment of a new CFO with a strong background in value creation and finance transformation will provide experience and focus in this area, whilst allowing Andrew to drive the more commercial benefits of Group-wide integration," Hemsley said.

At 1136 BST, shares in Franchise Brands were up 0.27% at 151.41p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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