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Ultimate Products Annual Report 2025

Overview Strategic Report Governance Financial Statements

Contents

Overview

01 Highlights, culture and values

02 Investment case

Strategic Report

05 Chair’s introduction

23 Environmental, Social and Governance Report

38 TCFD and environmental reporting

42 Section 172 statement

44 Principal risks and uncertainties

46 Viability Statement

Governance

48 Board of Directors

51 Chair’s introduction

54 Audit and Risk Committee Report

58 Remuneration Committee Report

79 Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

80 Company Statement of Financial Position

81 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

82 Company Statement of Changes in Equity

83 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

84 Reconciliation of cash flow to the Group net debt position

85 Company statement of Cash Flows

86 Reconciliation of cash flow to the Company net debt position

87 Notes to the Financial Statements

Shareholder Information

a number of leading homeware

brands including Salter (the UK’s

oldest housewares brand, est.

1760) and Beldray (est. 1872).

Our purpose is to provide

beautiful and more sustainable

branded products for every home.

Our focus on sourcing appealing

branded products at prices that

resonate with both customers and

1

Highlights 2025

Financial highlights

Revenue

Adjusted EBITDA*

Operational highlights

80% of our sales and delivered 4% growth in the year. This includes the brand

transformation of Beldray (sales up 11%), with its successful consumer launch

having taken place in March 2025.

accelerated training times, reduced error rates and improved the quality of

product information

Non-Executive Directors, bringing a track record of success and valued

insights into both the UK and European consumer goods landscapes

highest level of the business, strengthening the Operating Board and C-suite

2

Investment case

Beldray All-in-One Floor Cleaner

Ultimate Products Annual Report 2025

Overview Strategic Report Governance Financial Statements

3

What sets us apart?

1

Compelling customer

proposition provides

resilience

Because we love our brands, we

develop extensive ranges of original

to go the extra mile for our customers,

makes us a partner of choice for over

300 retailers in over 30 countries. Our

branded product portfolio makes up 90%

of our sales and provides a resilient core

to our business model, as our brands

provide an opportunity to leverage

customer loyalty.

2

Established international

and online presence

provides growth

Whilst proud of our UK heritage, our

outlook is international. We see Europe

addition, growth in Europe is supported by

our growing online presence, as we roll-out

our tried and tested online model to more

European countries.

3

Focus on productivity

provides profits

4

Leading ESG

strategy

4

Strategic Report

5

6

productivity, accelerated training times, lower error rates and

better-quality product information.

These productivity gains allow us more time for product

development, which enables us to bring even better

innovations to market. In the current year, we are particularly

proud of three Salter launches: the Slushie Maker, the Crisp&Go

and the VertiCook, each of which shows our ability to respond

quickly to demand and deliver products that resonate with

customers. UP’s clearest product achievement, however, has

been the Beldray All-in-One Floor Cleaner. It was recently

model, where products are trialled in smaller volumes before

being scaled up. The initial soft launch across Beldray.com and

several leading online retailers was a sell-out success, and the

next phase will begin in Spring 2026 to coincide with spring-

clean promotional events.

We see this as just the beginning of what our enhanced

systems can enable. Our talented teams are fully embracing

our new technologies, and we expect AI to play an increasingly

important role in driving further improvements. Looking ahead,

our next major, multi-year project will be the replacement of

metric is gross profit per colleague. In the current year this

has fallen, primarily due to increased shipping costs impacting

gross margin. However, revenue per colleague has continued

to rise.

FY21

£

FY22

£

£

429,049 430,897 452,078 467,490 484,665

94,937 104,862 112,856 117,667 109,106

fHuman Capital

fTraining & Development

7

regular training to build on existing strengths

and ensure everyone is equipped to sell in

this new context. We are therefore rolling out

a comprehensive training programme to refine

capabilities and close any gaps. Our Buying

teams are supporting this with a refreshed

approach to product training, including

next phase in this technological investment is

the development of a Customer Relationship

Management system (“CRM”), an area that

has historically limited progress within our

sales function. We have identified CRM as

a key enabler, and our new ERP system will

include a standalone CRM module to improve

productivity. In the interim, our process

development team has created a temporary

CRM solution to bridge the gap.

We have also made several senior

management changes to invigorate our team,

European business. Additionally, we have

promoted five leaders to C-suite roles across

key functions: Duncan Singleton (Chief

Commercial Officer), David Bloomfield (Chief

Supply Chain Officer), Craig Holden (Chief

Operating Officer), Katie Maxwell (Chief

Product Officer) and Tracy Carroll (Chief

Marketing Officer).

These promotions strengthen our Operating

Board, bringing together a group of talented

continues to foster future talent and helps to

drive the business. Indeed, we were delighted

that, upon Katie Maxwell’s recent promotion,

she became the first person to be promoted to

the C-suite having joined UP as a graduate. Our

workforce is unafraid to challenge the status

quo, and this mindset is actively encouraged

because it fuels our culture of continuous

improvement. Simply put, it is our people who

give us confidence that our strategy is the right

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16

Strategic goals

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

Expanding our

online offering

development

to protect

and grow the

business

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Strategy in action: Branding

are monitoring our brand health to measure the impact of

the rebranding, ensuring that the consumer perception is

performing well and our awareness is growing.

Progress doesn’t stop there…

The Progression of Progress

In our portfolio of brands, we have yet another long-standing

We’ve transported Progress into the 21st century with a bright

and colourful new look. Simple, clear and coherent, we’re

revitalized our brands but also reinforced

our commitment to providing high-quality,

innovative products to our retailers and

consumers. We are proud of the progress

we have made, but it’s only the start and

we’re excited to continue the journey of

brand growth and transformation.

Now That’s Progress!

Tracy Carroll

Chief Marketing Officer

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Strategy in action: Culture of continuous improvement

Our position in the supply chain makes our business complex;

we work with over 500 factories and retailers and deliver

over 2,000 types of product to our end consumers. While this

means our business model cannot be simple, we consistently

and seamlessly navigate the intricacies of both our model and

global supply chains to strive to provide an unbeatable level

of service for our retail partners. We believe it is our unrivalled

While we cannot make our business simple, we can strive to

make our business simpler. This enables us to become more

solutions, such as process change, robotic automation and

AI. Over the past year, we have automated hundreds of low-

skill, low-reward tasks, ultimately increasing the ability of our

workforce to focus on higher value activities. By solving issues

with automation, we are able to increase productivity and

improve accuracy. This results in a better customer experience,

helping to drive sales, with the savings being reinvested in

price, quality and marketing spend.

During the year we have automated 305 different tasks which

we estimate have an annualised time saving of 26,000 hours,

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Key performance indicators

merchandise, with many

consumers prioritising saving

over spending.

Performance:

Sales per head has increased

by 4% despite a fall in sales.

This increase in productivity

highlights our commitment

to continuous improvement,

as we have continued

31% fall in adjusted EBITDA to

£12.5m (2024: £18.0m), with

our adjusted EBITDA margin

slipping from 11.6% to 8.3%.

Performance:

Gearing ratio has increased

from 0.6x to 1.1x. Our capital

allocation policy is maintain the

ratio at around 1.0x, with the

of capital to shareholders.

Performance:

Our delivery performance

to our retail customers has

reached 100% during the

period, despite delays caused

by the Red Sea disruption,

showing our commitment to

excellent customer service.

Environmental, Social and Governance Report

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Committed to being a Great Place to Work

We are pleased to report that we have again maintained a strong

score of 82% on our “great place to work” target from our annual

colleague engagement survey. This consistent performance and

high engagement rate highlights the continued success of our

efforts to foster a positive workplace culture.

We are proud to have earned the globally recognised “Great

Place to Work” accreditation, affirming our strong workplace

culture. This recognition is valued by our retail customers and

strengthens our recruitment efforts, particularly in attracting

top graduates from leading universities nationwide. To support

this goal, the company has continued to invest in initiatives

that enhance the colleague experience. These include

improvements to working environments across our offices, Far

East operations, and Distribution Centre, expanded well-being

and community committee activities, significant investment

aligned benefits for our GZ colleagues such as contribution

towards a wedding cake and gift cards for those on maternity

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Our Company charity

nominations. Recognising the impact we

UP-Lift programme

affected by exploitation, grooming, or

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Highlights

formats leading to greater packaging recyclability

packaging and FSC wood, towards our 2027 target

More sustainable products

that reflect our purpose

of FSC-certified wood has seen another

significant increase in progress towards our

target, an achievement that not only reflects

our dedication to responsible sourcing but also

aligns with the requirements of the upcoming

EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). We

are also proud to have achieved our GRS

accreditation, an important milestone in our

focus on using more sustainable materials in

the manufacture of our products. GRS-certified

have surpassed last year’s performance and

now consider this metric to have reached a

consistent and reasonable number. Where

applicable, it is now Company standard that

spare parts are made available to support

product longevity, consumer satisfaction

and to reduce return rates, and therefore

this target will be removed from next year’s

sustainability objectives as we have achieved

our overall goal.

have decided to remove this KPI from future

reporting. This decision is based on the

anticipated introduction of product passports

under upcoming EU regulations, which are

expected to require the use of QR codes or

similar digital identifiers to provide detailed

product information. We will revisit and look to

reinstate this target once clearer guidance is

available, ensuring our approach aligns with

regulatory expectations.

Improving our product packaging

whilst maintaining its integrity

This year our overall plastic usage has

increased compared to last year, however

we continue to meet our target with 67%

reduction compared to our baseline. The

most notably the replacement of polyfoam

to a paper-based solution for microwave

packaging which has been implemented as

a rolling change. Whilst we recognise that

plastic remains necessary in certain situations,

we continue work on increasing the use of

recycled and recyclable plastics, to improve

sustainability and minimise the effects of the

Plastic Packaging Tax. However, we note that

integrating recycled content into PET blisters

next year, now focusing solely on maintaining

our plastic reduction and instead giving space

for learning and keeping up to date with

developments in recycled content to make

amended the date of our plastic recyclability

target to reflect the challenges faced across

certain product categories, where safety and

material limitations have impacted progress.

Recognising these complexities, we aim to

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Aim: To Have Net Zero Carbon Emissions from Manufacturing to Delivery

Focus areas What we have delivered so far including this financial year

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Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is a framework for companies to

report climate-related risks and opportunities. TCFD is structured into 11 supporting disclosure

recommendations which span four key themes: Governance, Strategy, Risk Management and

Metrics & Targets. In this climate-related financial disclosure, we aim to report in line with the

requirements of Listing Rule 9.8.6R and the TCFD supporting recommendations.

With the impacts of climate change being increasingly felt around the world, we understand the

importance of the role we can play to help reduce this. We have committed to reduce our GHG

emissions within our operations by 2040 and within our wider supply chain by 2050, as part of

the ambition of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. We are aware that climate change is going

to have an impact on our business, presenting risks and opportunities over the short, medium,

our ability to mitigate risks and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Governance

Our Board of Directors is responsible for oversight of our ESG initiatives and this includes

climate-related risks and opportunities. The Board ensures action plans are embedded into the

business strategy and future financial planning to mitigate climate-related risks and capitalise on

climate-related opportunities. The Board considers the threat of climate change and has been

actively involved in taking steps to address its potential impact through assigning day-to-day

responsibilities to the Executive Directors. They have received a full ESG update twice during the

current year, which included updates on progress made towards climate change targets during

the period.

are responsible for monitoring risks and overseeing progress against goals and targets for

addressing climate-related issues. The Environment Committee is made up of executives and is

responsible for the day-to-day management of environmental risks.

In addition, the Remuneration Committee has in the current year approved a bonus structure for

senior management which includes targets related to the environmental goals which we have set

ourselves as laid out on page 34.

Risk Type Classification Time Horizon Description Financial Impact Potential Mitigations

Transition Policy & Legal S M Introduction of further plastic taxes, especially in relation to

materials (such as non-recyclable plastics).

Transition Market M Consumer behaviour changes away from products using

plastics, and non-essential products to concentrate on only

essential and sustainable products.

Transition Reputation S M A failure to fully commit to moving to a low-carbon business

model leads to reputational damage.

Physical Chronic (2°C or

weather events leading to higher prices for essential goods,

leading to lower demand for discretionary items.

Key : S Short term M Medium term L Long term

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In accordance with provision 31 of the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018, the Directors have assessed the viability of the Group over a five-year period to July 2030, taking account of the Group’s

current position and the Group’s principal risks, as detailed in the Strategic Report. Based upon this assessment, and the assumption of the banking facilities continuing as referred to below, the Directors

have a reasonable expectation that the Group will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the five-year period to July 2030.

The Group has a suite of working capital facilities with HSBC including a £25.0m invoice discounting facility which runs until June 2027 and a £15.0m import loan facility, which is repayable on

demand and subject to annual renewal. In addition the Group has a £5m Revolving Credit Facility.

In line with the Group’s stated Capital Allocation Policy, it is expected that the Group will aim to keep its net debt at a level of around 1.0x the Group’s Adjusted EBITDA. Therefore, the Directors

believe that, in the ordinary course of business, the Group will continue to wish to use facilities to fund short-term working capital requirements, and it is assumed that these facilities will continue

throughout the period to 31 July 2030.

The following three principal risks were selected for enhanced stress testing:

• Macroeconomic factors: the impact of a significant economic downturn and reduced consumer spending arising out of matters including, but not limited to, inflationary pressures, higher interest

rates, higher taxation, and the impact from recession or reduced consumer spending.

• China sourcing: in particular a severe restriction in product supply levels due to potential power outages and significantly reduced shipping capacity.

• Margin dilution: including the effects of changes in exchange rates and changes in freight costs.

Corporate Governance

48

Board of Directors

50

Operating Board

Chair’s introduction

52

Role of the Board

During the year, the Nomination Committee has made

planning. The Group has made several new C-suite

appointments, included new positions of a Chief Supply Chain

Officer (David Bloomfield), Chief Product Officer (Katie Maxwell),

Chief Marketing Officer (Tracy Carroll) and Chief Operating

Officer (Craig Holden). In addition, Simon Showman has been

appointed President of the Group, being replaced as Chief

Commercial Officer by Duncan Singleton. These appointments

are part of the Group’s long-term succession planning, with the

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