Ultimate Finance boss departs
ULTIMATE Finance, the AIM-listed lender to SMEs, has announced that its co-founder and chief executive, Richard Pepler, is standing down from the company after a nine-year stint “to seek new challenges”.
The company, which bought Cheshire-based Ashley Commercial Finance 12 months ago, also said that non-executive Richard Lee (who chairs the firm’s remuneration committee) is also stepping down.
Ultimate Finance’s other founder and group managing director Jeremy Coombes will act as interim chief executive, while Matt Cooper and Roger McDowell have joined the board as non-executives.
Mr Cooper is currently chairman of Octopus Capital and executive chair of Imaginatik plc, while Roger McDowell already carries out three non-executive chairman roles at plcs Augean, Avingtrans and One Advice.
Chairman Clive Garston said that Mr Pepler had decided “it is now time for him to let others take the company forward”.
“The board would unanimously like to thank Mr Pepler for his substantial contribution and wise counsel during the past successful nine years and wish him personally every success in the future.”
