Distil Regulatory News (DIS)

21 December 2020

Distil plc (the "Company")

Board Changes

Distil plc (AIM: DIS), the owner of premium drinks brands RedLeg Spiced Rum, Blackwoods Gin and Vodka, Blavod Black Vodka, Jago's Cream Liqueur and Diva Vodka, is pleased to announce that Roland Grain has been appointed as non-executive director and Kate O'Connell, Marketing & Operations Director, is to be appointed to the Board. Both appointments are effective from 1st January 2021. Roland Grain will succeed non-executive director Mark Quinn. The Company also has intentions to appoint an independent non-executive director in due course with a search process commencing in the new year.

Roland has extensive experience in the Spirits industry within multi-faceted roles as an Owner, Investor and Director. Firstly, Roland has been an Investor in East London Liquor Company since 2015 and became a Director in 2020, as well as being the Owner of Austria's largest whisky importer and distributor, Potstill Spirits Trading GmbH, since 2019. Roland is also the founding Investor and a Director of Manly Spirits. Additionally, Roland is the CEO and Owner of Grain GmbH since 1994, which provides IT Services focused on large international corporations. Roland has a Master of Science degree in Controlling and Financial Leadership from Danube University.

Kate is an integral longstanding employee at Distil having joined the business in 2011 as Marketing Manager, before then being promoted to Marketing and Operations Director in 2017. Before joining Distil, Kate was Marketing Manager at The Juice Brewery Ltd from 2008-2011. Kate has a BA degree in Criminology from the University of Leicester.

Don Goulding, Executive Chairman of Distil, commented:

"I am delighted to welcome both Roland and Kate to the board as we seek to further strengthen our team and take Distil into the next phase of development. An independent non-executive director is sought to bring balance and we will begin the search in January.My personal thanks go to Mark Quinn who, as non-executive director, has been of great support and guidance to the board since 2010 and played an important role in helping lay the foundation for growth"

Further information in relation to Roland Andreas Grain (aged 48)

In addition to his appointment to the Board, Mr Grain holds or has held the following directorships or partnerships in the past five years: 

Current directorships Previous directorships

East London Liquor Company Limited None

ANXO Holding GmbH

Grain GmbH

RGS Beteiligungs- und Management GmbH

Potstill Spirits Trading GmbH

ANXO Trse UK Limited

Manly Spirits Co.

Anxo Adriatics d.o.o, Serbia, Belgrade

Grain Slovakia s.r.o, Slovakia, Bratislava

Grain Bulgaria, o.o.d, Sofia, Bulgaria

Grain Middle East FZ-LLC, Dubai

Mr Grain has an interest in 102,309,584 ordinary shares of the Company, amounting to 20.38% of the Company's issued share capital.

Further information in relation to Kate O'Connell (aged 34)

In addition to her appointment to the Board, Kate O'Connell holds or has held the following directorships or partnerships in the past five years: 

Current directorships Previous directorships

Distil Company Limited None

Kate has share options over 7,000,000 ordinary shares of the Company.

Save for the information above, there are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17, Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies in respect of the appointment.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (eu) 596/2014

-Ends-

For further information:

About Distil

Distil Plc is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. It owns drinks brands in a number of sectors of the alcoholic drinks market. These include premium spiced rum, vodka, gin, vodka vanilla cream liqueur and are called RedLeg Spiced Rum, Blackwoods Vintage Gin, Blackwoods Vodka, Blavod Original Black Vodka, Diva Vodka and Jago's Vanilla Cream Liqueur.