SkinBioTherapeutics plc

("SkinBioTherapeutics" or "the Company")

Board and Leadership Changes

·    Appointment of Simon Hewitson as Chief Operating Officer and proposed appointment to the SkinBioTherapeutics Board as a Director

·    Emily Bertram to be appointed as Group Finance Director, to take over all Group financial operations

·    Current CFO, Manprit Randhawa is leaving to pursue other business interests

24 April 2025 - SkinBioTherapeutics plc (AIM: SBTX, the Group), a life science company focused on skin health, announces proposed changes to the Board and leadership team to strengthen the day-to-day operational and financial functions of the Group.

Simon Hewitson has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer to the Group and he will also join the Board. This appointment has been agreed by the Board, subject to completion of customary due diligence for the purposes of the AIM Rules. In addition, Emily Bertram has been appointed as the Group's Finance Director in a non-board capacity and will assume responsibility for financial control and reporting, succeeding Manprit Randhawa, who is stepping down as Chief Financial Officer to pursue other business interests.

Simon Hewitson, Chief Operating Officer

Simon Hewitson is an experienced Chartered Accountant with a strong background in corporate finance as well as financial and commercial skills.

For the past 25+ years, Simon has worked for a number of different companies in CEO, CFO and Director roles, having managed specific transactions for them, including management buy outs (MBO), acquisitions, disposals or integration into other companies. Most recently, he was the CEO and then consultant to the iced drink company, Polar Krush Group, a corporate financier within the Williams Ali Corporate Finance firm and Financial Director at Mill North East where he advised on its MBO from Inchcape plc and its subsequent sale to Stoneacre Group.  Before then, he was a Director at BTG Corporate Finance focusing on transactions with enterprise values up to £100m and prior to that, he was a corporate financier at the financial services firm, UNW LLP. He also worked for Five Arrows Commercial Finance providing Asset Based Lending solutions to support growing and acquisitive companies.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and he has a BA (Hons) in Business Studies from Northumbria University.

Emily Bertram, Group Finance Director

Emily is an experienced certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA) who has led and worked within finance teams in a variety of industries, from business advisory groups to medical technology and pharma companies, to banking.

Most recently, Emily has been the Group Head of Financial Planning and Analysis at Azets, the international business advisory group. Previously, she spent a brief time at SkinBioTherapeutics where she was responsible for the whole finance function under Manprit Randhawa. Prior to this, she held senior finance positions at THF Holdings, Leica Biosystems, Quantum Pharma, Northumbria University (Faculty of Health & Life Sciences), Alta Link and Northern Rock.

She has a 1^st class BA (Hons) in Accounting from Northumbria University.

Martin Hunt, Chair of SkinBioTherapeutics said: "The Group's needs have changed substantially over the past 18 months with an active M&A strategy and the successful launch of the Croda Zenakine™ (SkinBiotix®) active ingredient. As a result of which, we identified a need to strengthen the Board and leadership team, especially the support required by Stuart to drive the Group's growth further. We have been very fortunate to have found two excellent new team members in Simon and Emily, and on behalf of the Board, we thank Manprit for his work as CFO and wish him well in the future.

"Simon has extensive corporate finance experience in M&A and the operational management following the deals to ensure they succeeded. He will provide Stuart with valuable support, especially in the day-to-day operations of the expanded Group, and will bring additional financial and investor relations experience to the Board.

"We are also delighted to have Emily returning to us as our Finance Director. Emily has a good knowledge of SkinBioTherapeutics' financial systems having worked in the finance team previously, and she is a very safe and experienced pair of hands having worked across multiple industries. We welcome her back in her new elevated role as Group FD."

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Notes to Editors

About SkinBioTherapeutics plc

SkinBioTherapeutics is a life science company focused on skin health. The Group's proprietary platform technology, SkinBiotix®, is based upon discoveries made by the translational dermatology team at the University of Manchester.

The Group's foundation business is targeting the skin healthcare market via five pillars, the most advanced of which are cosmetic skincare (SkinBiotix) and food supplements to modulate the immune system by harnessing the gut-skin axis (AxisBiotix). The cosmetic pillar has a partnership with Croda plc and the Group's first in-house product, AxisBiotix-Ps™, is a food supplement to address the symptoms of mild to moderate psoriasis.

The Group is also acting as a consolidator and is making acquisitions in complementary areas such as skin care and cosmetic applications, that also bring new distribution and geographical platforms, and manufacturing capabilities through which it can funnel its in-house pillar products. 

The Company listed on AIM in April 2017 and is based in Newcastle, UK. For more information, visit: www.skinbiotherapeutics.com.