The Nichols succession – new finance chief and family board seat up for grabs

Nichols, the listed business behind the Vimto brand is to appoint Richard Newman as its new chief financial officer (CFO) and company secretary in March 2024, succeeding David Taylor.

Newman will join the board before taking over from Taylor after the final year figures to December 2023 are released in March 2024.

Between 2021 and 2023, he was CFO at AIM-listed Accrol Group Holdings Plc, having held senior finance roles at Cadbury plc, National Express Group plc and the packaging division of DS Smith plc. He qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC in 1993.

He will inherit a stable position at the Newton-le-Willows-based maker of the iconic Vimto soft drink brand, where improved sales and profits in the half year to June 30, 2023, revealed in July  showed turnover up 6.6% at £85.5m, while the pre-tax profit of £11.2m was a 10.35% improvement on the previous year.

The Nichols family are also on the hunt for a family member to take up one of their two seats on the board after James Nichols has decided that he “wishes to pursue a fresh challenge” and will leave the board and the business with immediate effect.

He had been with the company for 18 years in board level and executive positions in sales and marketing and is the great grandson of the founder of the company and inventor of Vimto, John Noel Nichols; and son of the non-executive chairman, John Nichols. 

On the board profiles on the company website it states that James and his young family enjoy travelling and “spending time on, in or around the sea”.

Another of John Nichols’ sons also works in the business.

It is expected that a new representative of the Nichols family will be appointed as a Non-Executive Director in due course, as a Relationship Agreement between the PLC and the family entitles them to two Non-Executive Board positions as long as the family holds 30 per cent of the shares.

Liz McMeikan, non-executive chair, said: “On behalf of the board I would like to thank James for his significant contribution over the past 18 years and we wish him well and every success for the future.”

She also said Richard Newman’s appointment followed a “thorough search process” and that he “brings a wealth of highly relevant experience” to Nichols. “I have every confidence that he will make a substantial contribution to the Group’s continued development and growth,” she said.