26 Feb 2021 07:00
26 February 2021
AIM: UNG.L
Universe Group plc
("Universe", the "Company" or the "Group")
CEO Transition Plan and Board Changes
Universe Group plc (AIM: UNG.L), a leading developer and supplier of retail management solutions, payment and loyalty systems, announces that the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Lewis, has decided to leave the Group to pursue other opportunities outside of the public markets.
Jeremy will remain with the Group until 30 April 2021 ensuring continuity in the Group's determined delivery upon on a number of large customer projects, without losing focus on core retained customer relationships. The Group is now in discussions regarding a successor to Jeremy and further announcements will be made in due course.
An orderly handover of responsibilities will be assisted by Andrew Blazye adopting the position of Executive Chairman with immediate effect and, reflecting the positive contribution that he has made in recent months in supporting the Company's senior leadership team, Ivan Brooks will take the newly-established position of Chief Operations Officer on an interim basis. Ivan brings considerable relevant experience from having previously served as Chief Information Officer for McDonald's UK and Countrywide, where he led the adoption and roll-out of new technologies and drove business efficiency initiatives.
Andrew Blazye, Executive Chairman, commented: "The Board is very grateful to Jeremy for his excellent leadership. He has piloted us through some tricky market conditions, driven major product development, closed a significant acquisition, and won prestigious customer contracts. He leaves us in a much stronger position than previously and we wish him all the very best for his future endeavours. We continue to look forward to the future with cautious optimism and look forward to building on the platform that we have established and the great team that can drive the business onward."
Jeremy Lewis, Chief Executive, commented: "I have enjoyed the last seven years immensely and it has been a great pleasure to have worked with the Universe team. We have now completed the integration of Celtech's market-leading retail management solution platform, following its strategically important acquisition in 2019, and we achieved this whilst also navigating the challenges of COVID.
"Furthermore, our increasingly important payments business has also made excellent progress, winning new contracts that bode well for the future. I feel therefore that now is the right time to hand over the baton and so allow me to return to working with more early-stage software ventures. I have every confidence Universe will continue to thrive from here."
For further information:
Universe Group plc Andrew Blazye, Executive Chairman Jeremy Lewis, Chief Executive Officer Carmel Warren, Chief Financial Officer
finnCap Henrik Persson (Corporate Finance) Matthew Radley (Corporate Finance) Richard Chambers (ECM)
IFC Advisory Tim Metcalfe Graham Herring Florence Chandler | Tel: +44 2380 689 510
Tel: +44 20 7220 0500
Tel: +44 20 3934 6630
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About Universe Group plc:
Universe provides some of the world's leading retailers with retail management solutions, payment and loyalty systems. The Group's solutions are based on its own proprietary software and are offered out of the cloud on a software as a service model processing over 20 billion transactions every year. For further information, please see www.universe-group.co.uk
This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014. Upon publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.