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Junction Appoints Financial Director

BGL affinity arm expands team to meet business growth

Immediate release: 05 May 2009

Junction, the affinity partnerships arm of the BGL Group, today announced the appointment of a new Financial Director, Mark Guttridge.

Mark Guttridge

Mark joins the company in May 2009 from Experian Plc, where he has built a successful career over the last 13 years, culminating in his role as Finance and Acquisitions Director, Emerging Markets.

His new role will be to manage Junction's financial performance and work with the Junction Board to drive the company's strategic development as it continues to grow. Junction is successfully acquiring new partner brands as well as developing existing portfolios for partners, including Post Office®, M&S Money, HSBC, RAC and Auto Trader. It has grown the number of customers for partner brands by more than 100 per cent in the last 24 months, taking the total to 1.5 million.

Mark Guttridge replaces current Financial Director Tim Wingfield, who has joined the Junction marketing team as Associate Director, Commercial Development to manage the financial implications of growing partners' existing business.

Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Junction, said: "This is an important time for Junction. We are growing fast and continuing to secure new partners at such a rate that we expect to exceed two million customers in 2010. We're driving good profits for our partners and need to ensure that we continue to meet their needs. Mark's experience in both financial management and strategic development will be invaluable in building a sustainable future for our business. We welcome him to the team."

A Master of Economics, Mark's career history began with accounting roles across a variety of sectors, from Experian's business solutions and consumer information divisions to information services, before becoming UK Finance Director in 2003. He became Global Finance Director, Business Strategies in April 2007, and took his current role in April 2008.