Brendan Hynes

Non Executive Chairman
Swallowfield plc

Brendan joined Nichols plc in 2002 as Group Finance Director and was promoted to the role of CEO in November 2007. He stepped down from his role as CEO on 1st May 2013 in order to build his non executive portfolio career.

Brendan joined the board of Swallowfield plc as Non Executive Chairman on 1st July 2013. He is also currently a non- executive director of private, online education business “Webexaminer”, a member of the CBI North West regional council and a member of the Criticaleye Advisory Board. Previously he was a Director of the Consumer, Retail and Distribution (CRD) practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been on the board of the Cornerhouse Theatre in Manchester.

Brendan also has plc main board experience  across a range of other sectors including TMT, retail, consumer goods, buildings and automotive. Where previous roles have included Executive Director at Knowledge Management Software plc and Group Finance Director at William Baird plc a branded clothing business

Nichols plc is a soft drinks business with a stable of brands including Vimto, Weight Watchers, Panda and Sunkist, which are sold to over 65 countries worldwide.  During his tenure as CEO Nichols plc was shortlisted out of 1,100 businesses for the Aim company of the year in both 2011 and 2012 and won the MEN Business of the Year award in 2010.

In his early days  as CEO Brendan initiated a strategic review of the business, disposed of noncore divisions and properties, outsourced production and warehousing, merged remaining divisions, created a centralised shared services structure and transferred the business from the full list to the AIM market.  At the same time he more than doubled the brand values with a brand development strategy of international growth combined with   increased brand   investment and multi-media marketing.

In financial terms this resulted in net debt moving from £20m to £40m of positive cash, PBT increasing fourfold to over £20m, and the share price increasing from 90p to £9.00, creating more than £300 million of shareholder value along the way

Brendan is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and has an MBA from the Manchester Business School. A family man with 3 daughters, Brendan is passionate about the arts and sport, and is a season ticket holder at Manchester City.