RNS

21 March 2022                                                                                                             

AFERIAN PLC

("Aferian", the "Company" or the "Group")

24i Leadership Transition

Dr Neale Foster appointed as 24i CEO

Current 24i CEO, Joachim Bergman, to leave Aferian with integration of 24i complete and clear growth strategy in place 

Aferian plc (LSE AIM: AFRN), the B2B video streaming solutions company, today announces a leadership transition within its 24i business. 

24i CEO, Joachim Bergman, will step down from this role today and from the Board of Directors of Aferian plc on 30 April 2022. Joachim joined Aferian in September 2017 as SVP Cloud Services and has been instrumental to the successful integration and growth of 24i since its acquisition by Aferian in May 2019. 

With the integration of 24i into Aferian's business completed and strong progress made against its strategic objectives, the leadership of 24i will transition to Dr Neale Foster who joins 24i as its CEO today.  

Neale is a proven broadcast technology business leader, with significant experience in creating and sustaining high-growth sales, marketing and engineering environments.  Between February 2009 and August 2021, Neale held a number of roles, including VP Sales and Marketing, COO and ultimately CEO at Access Europe GMBH, a provider of advanced IT solutions centred on mobile and network software technologies to customers including Deutsche Telekom and ViacomCBS.

Joachim will remain with the business until 30 April 2022, in order to deliver an orderly transition to Neale.

Announcing the transition, Donald McGarva, Aferian CEO said: "Joachim's contribution and partnership over the past five years has been incredibly important to the growth of Aferian and to the success of our 24i acquisition.  He leaves 24i and the Aferian Board with all our good wishes and thanks.

The next exciting chapter for 24i now opens up under Neale's stewardship. We believe Neale has the required leadership skills and deep industry expertise that will help drive 24i forwards. We are proud to welcome him to the team and look forward to building on the growth and innovation 24i has already delivered."

Neale Foster, 24i CEO, said: "I am delighted to join a strong and growing 24i business that forms a key part of Aferian's overall growth strategy. The 24i team is remarkably talented and I am looking forward to leading them as they continue to push the boundaries of streaming.  I am excited to take the reins of an incredible business, ambitious to grow - and with a plan to achieve it."

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About Aferian plc 

Aferian plc (AIM: AFRN) is a B2B video streaming solutions company. Our end-to-end solutions bring live and on-demand video to every kind of screen. We create the forward-thinking solutions that our customers need to drive subscriber engagement, audience satisfaction, and revenue growth.

It is our belief that successful media companies and services will be those that are most consumer-centric, data driven and flexible to change. We focus on innovating technologies that enable our customers stay ahead of evolving viewer demand by providing smarter, more cost-effective ways of delivering end-to-end modern TV and video experiences to consumers. By anticipating technological and behavioural audience trends, our software solutions empower our customers to heighten viewer enjoyment, drive growth in audience share and ultimately their profitability.

Aferian plc has two operating companies: 24i, which focusses on streaming video experiences, and Amino, which connects Pay TV to streaming services. Our two complementary companies combine their products and services to create solutions which ensure that people can consume TV and video how and when they want it. Our solutions deliver modern TV and video experiences every day to millions of viewers globally, via our growing global customer base of over 500 service providers.

Aferian plc is traded on the London Stock Exchange's AIM stock market (AIM: symbol AFRN). Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the Company has over 350 staff located in offices in San Francisco, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Madrid, Porto, Brno, Buenos Aires, and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.aferian.com.