A statement from Sir John Timpson CBE regarding the recent appointment of his son, James Timpson OBE DL as Minister of State (Minister for Prisons).

Dear Colleagues, 
 
On Friday, the  Prime Minister appointed our CEO James as the Minister for Prisons and Probation. 
 
As part of James taking on this role, he has resigned as a Director of the business, and is not involved while he carries out this important job. 
 
While James is concentrating on his ministerial role, I will spend more time with the business. I will rely on support from Paresh Majithia, who becomes our Acting Group Managing Director, to pick up the detail normally overseen by James. We will trust our superb leadership team to run the day to day business, and to ensure that we continue to deliver James's long term vision. 
 
I am confident we will continue to thrive, for three good reasons. 
 
First, we have a first rate leadership team who run the businesses day to day, and are deeply imbedded in our unique culture. I also have two of my grandsons Bede and Patrick working in the business, and James's wife Roisin is a Director of our hospitality business. 
 
Secondly we continue to trade at record levels and have a clear plan for the next three years. We are opening a lot more pods and in store supermarket sites, investing in key and photo vending machines, building a large Photo Warehouse on the Wirral, developing a new factory in London for Jeeves, and rebuilding Le Tremplin hotel in Morzine, France.  
 
Finally, we have our principle of upside down management, which is consistently understood and appreciated by our colleagues and customers. It's so powerful it got us through Covid, and made us more financially robust than ever before. 
 
My priority is the continual development of our family business, and ensure it is run well while James carries out the role that the Prime Minister has asked him to do. I am delighted James has been given this opportunity, and am confident that, when he returns as CEO, the company will be in an even stronger place than it is now.  
 
 
Thank you, John.