PAUL MATTON – MRICS

PROFILE:

A motivational and inspirational Property Director, with a solid background in Real Estate and its disciplines. Commercially astute and equally comfortable operating at both Board level and taking a hands-on approach to implementation activities.

Proven leader and excellent communicator, having the ability to remain focused under pressure and achieve targets and deadlines.

Strategic ‘High level’ initiatives have included;

• ‘Right-Sized’ the property portfolio across every business I have managed through acquisition, disposal and concession or partnerships. • Defining the Asset strategy for UK wide businesses incorporating a multi-site portfolio, head office, distribution and warehousing. • Developed a Portfolio Review model defining a clear strategy for every store/property. • Developed risk ratings for each property function – driving efficiency. • Setting clear and achievable performance goals and strategies – defining focus • Organising the funding, acquisition, planning solutions and subsequent development of 108 petrol filling stations (the single largest development activity in the Petrol industry for decades).

Operational ‘On the Ground’ Initiatives have included;

• Building and leading both small and large teams for acquisitions, estates, maintenance and refurbishment projects, facilities management and asset management. • Ensuring statutory property compliance is achieved across all property functions. • Delivering ‘Zero waste to Landfill’ projects. • Executed a number of ‘ground up’ solutions including residential management, non- bricks and mortar asset management (fittings & equipment)

Above all else, I am totally focussed on driving commercial value and delivering higher quality at lower cost.

CAREER:

Consultant – Various organisations. December 2019 to Present Day.

Providing strategic advice and delivering short term property projects.

Property Director – Bestway Retail Limited. January 2018 to November 2019.

Bestway trades from 700 retail stores throughout England & Wales, the majority are owned by franchisees but 300 are company owned and operated. All are held on lease as are the company’s offices and distribution centres. I am accountable for all Estates Management, Facilities Management, Asset Management, Acquisitions & Disposals and statutory property compliance across the business. The teams are In-House but are supported by outsourced partners.

Bestway acquired and Central Convenience stores earlier this year.

Non-Executive Director – Anchorwood Limited. June 2018 to Present

Anchorwood Limited was formed in 2015 and is a commercial trading subsidiary company of North Devon Homes.

The company is governed by a voluntary Board consisting of 7 Directors. Its purpose is to provide market sale properties and commercial housing services.

Any profits that Anchorwood Limited makes will be reinvested into its charitable parent company, North Devon Homes. https://www.ndh-ltd.co.uk/

As a Non-Executive Director, my role is to provide a creative contribution to the Board by providing oversight, to constructively challenge the executive management team and, to bring an independent view by;

• being impartial • acting with the utmost integrity to promote responsible business • having wide commercial experience • assisting with specialist knowledge of construction • bringing a range of personal qualities that can assist and develop the management team

Property Consultant – William Morrison Supermarkets Plc. January 2017 to December 2017.

I undertook various Estates management and Asset management projects on an interim basis, providing direction to the in-house teams and external service providers. Primarily associated with extinguishing its parent company leasehold liabilities.

Property Director – Convenience Group Ltd. October 2015 to October 2016.

Backed by Greybull LLP a family run private equity house, ‘My local’ had 140 convenience stores located throughout England and Wales. Previously owned by WM Morrison Plc, I was part of the Management team that procured the acquisition of the shares & assets of WM Morrison Convenience Stores Ltd. The acquisition was completed in October 2015 and was a turnaround plan for a business which lost £36M the previous year. The plan consisted of a multi-faceted strategy, including a complete review and overhaul of the entire portfolio and its cost base. Despite the Management Teams significant successes in certain areas of the business, it was not possible to return this business to profit and the assets were returned to WM Morrison plc for disposal.

Property Consultant – Helistrat Waste Management Services Ltd. August 2014 to October 2015.

Helistrat is a UK based contract management partner delivering sustainable environments for waste management. I relocated its Head office from Gosport to Portsmouth and acquired land, warehousing and storage facilities across the UK. I le each of those projects, bringing together a collaborative team of internal functional heads of Departments with external outsource partners that including Agents, Planners and Solicitors.

Property Director - Ann Summers Ltd. February 2010 to May 2014.

Ann Summers has 150 property interests across the UK, Ireland and Europe and my role there encompassed Estate Management, Asset Management, Facilities Management, Procurement and Project Management across all properties including stores, residential premises, distribution centres and the Company’s Head Office.

Budget responsibility was £20M pa with a further sum of slightly under £10M pa associated with Insurance, Rates & Service Charges. The Maintenance budget was £2M pa with a further £2.5M pa allocated to Asset Management and central costs.

My ‘In-House’ team was purposefully kept small consisting of an Estates Manager, Facilities Manager and Project Manager with Administrative support but supplemented very effectively by outsourced partners.

Development Initiatives:

• Portfolio Review: An end to end assessment of the costs and opportunities of the entire trading estate, culminating in a clear trading and investment strategy for each and every store. • Facilities Management Overhaul: Implemented a transformation of the Facilities Management function driving efficiencies into this discipline that were previously absent. The business now operates an intelligence based approach to maintenance, enabling optimal allocation of expenditure, planned whole life asset management/replacement and pinpoint accurate budgeting. • New Store Environment: Appointed external consultants following a robust tender process, that delivered a multi-award-winning new store concept. Following a successful trial, this concept was rolled out across the long term retail estate at a cost of C. £10M. • Disposals: Costly empty/closed properties and loss making stores have been disposed of eradicating trading losses or vacant property costs, thereby releasing valuable provision. • Environmental: Delivered a 65% saving in waste management costs and taking the Company to a Zero to Landfill position. The entire business is now also powered exclusively by Green Energy. • Procurement: Reviewed the Top 100 suppliers of goods not for resale and reduced cost by over £1M pa via contract renegotiation. • Asset Management: Implemented a lease re-gear program that generated incentives of over £1M pa each year for 3 successive years.

Head of Acquisitions - Stores Ltd. October 2004 – September 2009

Somerfield Stores Plc was acquired in January 2006 by Violet Acquisitions, an SPV for a consortium of Banks & Private Equity Houses and then taken private.

• Defined the strategy and entire process governing forecourt and convenience acquisitions for the Company, swiftly implemented number of organisational refinement measures, providing leadership, direction & structure to the teams and clarity to the Company’s Developer partners, Agents, Lawyers & Contractors. • Acceleration of the store opening programme, managing the internal team of 8 Acquisition Managers and their internal and external support partners. • Over 200 stand-alone stores opened in 4 years, primarily through corporate rather than piecemeal acquisition (including the acquisition of 108 Petrol Filling Station sites from Total UK Ltd), delivering incremental sales growth of c. £8m pa. The single largest development activity in the Petrol industry for decades.

Somerfield did not have a business when I joined but creating one was the key factor in the consortium’s exit strategy. In addition to the 200 stores opened another 80 sites were in the future pipeline and this was of critical importance to the buyer.

The Company was successfully sold to the Co-operative Group for £1.8 billion in 2009.

Director - PCK Investments Ltd. May 2003 – August 2006.

A property development and investment company with its principle activities being the development of land & buildings in town centres, secondary and neighbourhood locations for retail or mixed retail and residential use.

Developments included the conversion of mixed use schemes, new housing and new and converted commercial premises. The Company completed several schemes investing £9M throughout its 3-year trading period and was profitable throughout.

Head of Acquisitions and Disposals - Alldays PLC. July 1997 – May 2003.

The role had direct responsibility for all property acquisitions and disposals (trading and non – trading) within one of the largest convenience store operators in the U.K with a portfolio of over 600 trading stores and nearly as many non – trading properties. The Company had an annual turnover of c £500m.

Key role in the incorporation and harmonisation of franchise stores within the company estate and subsequent consolidation and business recovery plan which took the company from an operating loss of £1m in 2000 to a full year operating profit of £12m in 2002. This increased the enterprise value of the business by more than £50m in the same period, resulting in a successful sale of the company to the Co-operative Group in October 2002.

London Retail Director. Christie & Co (Surveyors, Valuers & Agents), SW1. May 1992 – March 1997

Director for the market leader in the business transfer market, which specialises in Retail, Hotel, Licensed, Leisure & Development and Healthcare sectors. Responsible throughout the UK for the disposal and acquisition remits of corporate retail clients and independent retail operators.

PERSONAL DETAILS:

Address: 27 Damson Crescent, Fair Oak, Hants. SO50 8RD Telephone: 023 8060 2991 (Evening) 07887 535716 (Mobile/Daytime) E-Mail: [email protected]