Majestic Wine PLC Management Change (1228C)

TIDMWINE

RNS Number : 1228C

Majestic Wine PLC

11 April 2017

For Immediate Release 11 April 2017

Majestic Wine PLC

("Majestic")

Management Change

The Board of Majestic Wine announces that John Colley, Managing Director of Majestic Retail has decided to step down in order to take a new role closer to his young children in the South of England. His last day will be 31 May 2017.

John has played a key part in the first phase of the transformation of Majestic Retail. He has professionalised the business and built much better processes that go with that task. Building on the solid platform John has laid, Rowan Gormley, Group CEO, will add the role of MD of Majestic Retail to his other Group responsibilities.

John has built a talented and diverse Retail and Commercial Board with many years of experience. This team will carry on running the day to day business, reporting directly to Rowan. No other management changes will need to be made and the Naked Wines and Lay & Wheeler businesses will continue to also report directly to Rowan.

Rowan Gormley, Chief Executive, commented:

"John leaves with our best wishes, and our heartfelt thanks for the hard work, dedication and expertise he has given us.

For the first time in many years Majestic is organically growing sales and our job is now to accelerate that by building our customer base through loyalty. This is exactly what gets me excited and what I love doing so it's a perfect time for me to get more involved.

Congratulations John. Thank you for getting Majestic back on its feet and the very best of luck in your new role."

For further information, please contact:

 
 Majestic Wine PLC                        Tel: [phone] 
  Rowan Gormley, Chief Executive           Tel: [phone] 
  Officer                                  [e-mail] 
  James Crawford, Chief Financial 
  Officer 
  Gabriella Clinkard, Public & Investor 
  Relations 
  Investec (NOMAD & Joint Broker)          Tel: [phone] 
   Garry Levin / David Flin / David 
   Anderson/Carlton Nelson 
  Liberum (Joint Broker)                   Tel: [phone] 
   Peter Tracey / Anna Hartropp / 
   Richard Bootle 
  Instinctif Partners (PR Agency)          Tel: [phone] 
   Damian Reece 
 

About Majestic Wine PLC:

Majestic Wine PLC is a leading wine specialist, operating in four separate divisions, each with the fundamental goal of delivering sustained growth in shareholder value by doing the right thing for the Group's customers, suppliers and people:

--Majestic Retail - The UK's largest specialist wine retailer, with 210 branches in the UK and two in France. We help people find the wines they will love through over 900 highly trained, specialist store team members. Sales for the year ended 28 March 2016 were GBP244.0m.

--Naked Wines - Funds independent winemakers to make exclusive wines at preferential prices which we pass onto our customers. Naked Wines currently has 159 winemakers in 16 countries and 320,000 Mature Angels (Customers). Sales for the full year ended 28 March 2016 were GBP104.3m (GBP102.5m of this was post acquisition).

--Majestic Commercial - A specialist on-trade supplier who aims to support businesses to make their wine lists more profitable, with the unique advantage of running their supply chain through Majestic Retail stores. Sales for the year ended 28 March 2016 were GBP45.6m.

--Lay and Wheeler - A specialist fine wine merchant. Lay & Wheeler aims to be a trusted guide for people who love fine wine, supplying the world's finest wines with a personal service. Sales for the year ended 28 March 2016 were GBP10.0m.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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April 11, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)