Finance Monthly CFO Awards 2016 Winners Edition

www.finance-monthly.com UK Finance Monthly CFO Awards 2016 Ron Whitten CFO at Henderson Group About Ron Whitten Ron Whitten was appointed CFO of John Henderson (Holdings) Limited in 2006. Ron joined the organisation in 1997 and prior to being appointed CFO he held a number of executive roles within the group including Finance Director for the Retail division, overseeing a 10 year strategic investment plan to grow the Company owned estate from turnover of £38m to £300m and from a loss making subsidiary to a profit contributor to the group in excess of £6m. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PWC, Ron joined their Corporate Recovery Division and was part of the PWC team to oversee the first Administration in Northern Ireland under the newly introduced Insolvency legislation, heading up the Finance function. This lead to the move into Industry with a career starting as Head of Finance of the domestic divisions of Norbrook Laboratories Limited, a veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturer and another of Northern Ireland’s leading private companies. At Hendersons, Ron is responsible for the group functions Controlling and Accounting, M&A, Risk management and Internal Audit, I.S. and Retail Technology, Taxes and Treasury. Group Turnover at Hendersons has doubled during the period in position to £660m. Last year, Henderson Group announced an investment of £25m in the transformation of their headquarters in Mallusk with the opening of a new office block and the construction of a new 180,000 sq ft warehouse with 31 Docking Stations. Other Key highlights in the last 12 months: Oversight of strategiccapital investment programof £34million innewstore acquisition, refurbishment of existing retail sites and associated expansion of wholesale facilities to support continued growth expectations. Acquisition and Integration of Dargan Press Limited . Record Group Turnover and Profit performance. Firm Profile ● Henderson Group is a privately owned Northern Ireland based business achieving 91st place on the latest 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table of the U.K’s private companies. ● Henderson Group is ranked 6th in Northern Ireland’s Ulster Business Top 100 Companies 2016. ● The Group owns the SPAR, EUROSPAR, VIVO, VIVOXTRA and VIVO Essentials franchises in Northern Ireland. Four companies make up the Group - Henderson Wholesale, Henderson Retail, Henderson Group Property and Henderson Foodservice. ● Henderson Wholesale has been distributing food and grocery-related products to the convenience retail sector for over 100 years and is the largest operator of its kind in the country, supplying 422 stores. ● The Group is committed to sourcing local fresh foods from farmers, growers and suppliers, with over 75% of fresh products sourced on the island of Ireland. Henderson Retail owns and operates 79 SPAR and EUROSPAR stores in Northern Ireland. ● Henderson Foodservice is the market’s leading supplier to the catering industry, providing a vast range of products to hotels, schools, restaurants etc. across Ireland. ● Operating out of its head office in Mallusk, the Group employs 3,017 employees across Northern Ireland. Contact Details Ron Whitten CFO at Henderson Group Web: www.henderson-group.com 32