Christine is a former Partner at PwC, where she spent nearly 20 years providing transaction advisory services across a range of corporate activities and a variety of sectors, including retail and consumer goods. She was PwC’s London region private equity leader, as well as being a national leader for mid-tier private equity.
Christine was also an elected member of the PwC Supervisory Board, the governance body for PwC in the UK which represents the interests of over 900 Partners and is responsible for providing constructive challenge to PwC’s UK Executive Board. Christine is a Non-Executive Board Member of Hill Dickinson LLP, an international commercial law firm headquartered in Liverpool.
Andrew is a chartered accountant and started his career with Arthur Andersen where he held positions in audit and transaction support. In 1998, he transferred into industry, taking on the role of Finance Director & General Manager of Mersey Television, an independent television producer of continuing drama including Hollyoaks, Brookside and Grange Hill. He was a key member of their management team, which was backed by private equity investment from LDC in 2002, leading the sale of the business to All3Media in 2005.
Andrew joined Ultimate Products in 2005, initially as Finance Director, and was an integral part of the management buyout team that year. In 2014, together with Simon Showman, he led the buyout of LDC using personal money and support from HSBC. At this point, Andrew was promoted to Managing Director responsible for Online and non-trading functions including finance, supply chain, human resources, IT and legal. In February 2024, Andrew took over from Simon Showman as CEO.
Simon began his career working for an auctioneer before founding Ultimate Products in 1997. Initially a clearance business buying discontinued and excess stock, with investment from Barry Franks who became the majority shareholder, Simon was able to grow the business into the full service sourcing and importing operation we see today. During the early 2000s, Simon began to source regular products from countries around the globe such as Portugal, Vietnam and, in time, from China. This led to investment by Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), enabling Simon to become the Chief Executive Officer and largest management shareholder in 2005.
As the company grew, Simon was able to use his increasing knowledge to change the focus of the business in 2014, moving away from own label and unbranded products to fine-tuning key brands. This led to the buyout of LDC’s shareholding using personal money and support from HSBC. Simon leads the Group’s international expansion strategy and is directly responsible for the key trading functions of sales and buying, continuing to be the driving force behind the ongoing development of the Group, always striving for progression and innovation. In February 2024, Simon took on the role of Founder & Chief Commercial Officer.
Chris has substantial accounting and financial experience from his time in the profession and as a Finance Director of private and publicly quoted companies. Chris began his career at Deloitte LLP where he spent ten years within audit, corporate finance and transactional accounting services.
From 2017 to 2022 he was the Chief Financial Officer of AIM-Listed Franchise Brands plc. Chris joined Ultimate Products as CFO Designate in April 2022. He is currently also a Non-Executive Director of Silent Opera.
Robbie is Chief Financial Officer of Highbourne Group whose brand portfolio includes some of the biggest names in the sector, including City Plumbing, The Bathroom Showroom, PTS, DHS, The Underfloor Heating Store, Plumbworld and PlumbNation.
He was formerly CFO of Holland & Barrett, Europe’s largest health and wellness retailer and convenience retailer McColl’s Retail Group, prior to which he was Chief Executive Officer of motorway services operator Welcome Break Group.
Andrew has been CEO of AIM-listed Nichols plc, a diversified soft drinks business, since 2021 having joined Nichols as Commercial Director in 2013. He was previously a Sales Director for Coca Cola Enterprises, prior to which he held a variety of commercial roles at GSK, after having started his career at Marks & Spencer.
He holds a BSc in Business and Technology from Sheffield Hallam University. Joined the company on 28 October 2024 when he was appointed Senior Non-executive Director.
José Carlos is Senior Advisor to private equity firm Advent International and to Roland Berger, a management consultancy. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Dichter & Neira, a data and market research company, and until recently was an advisor to Mintec Ltd, a provider of commodity price data and market intelligence. He was previously President of International for Information Resources, Inc., a technology and data company, Group CCO for retailer Carrefour, and VP at Procter & Gamble, where he spent more than 20 years.
He holds an MBA and a Masters in Law (equivalent) from Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Madrid) and has lectured on Marketing and Business subjects in several universities in Spain and Israel.