Franchise Brands plc Annual Report and Accounts 2018 35 Strategic Report Financial Statements Governance CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION TO GOVERNANCE We believe that good corporate governance is vital in supporting our Company’s growth strategy and in turn its long-term success. The Board of Directors has chosen to apply the Quoted Companies Alliance (the “QCA") Corporate Governance Code (the “Code”) as it believes that this provides an appropriate governance framework for a Group of our size and should help support our growth and success. We seek to comply with the Code’s principles and application wherever possible, but there can be circumstances where the interests of the Company and its shareholders are better served by departing from the Code’s requirements. In these circumstances we will seek to explain the divergence. Corporate governance plays a crucial role in helping to preserve value for shareholders by providing a process for decision-making which should ensure that all major decisions are considered in good time, that the Board is provided with good quality briefing materials which cover all relevant factors and that our deliberations consider the risks, as well as the opportunities, in the issues before us. It is for these reasons that the Board is committed to achieving high standards of corporate governance. The QCA published a new edition of its Code on 25 April 2018, which was after the date on which the Company’s last Annual Report and Accounts was published. This edition of the Code requires us to provide an explanation for any departures from the principles or application of the Code. As a result, the remainder of this report explains how we have applied the Code during 2018. Further information on the Group’s governance practices, the business model and strategy can be found in the Company Overview, Strategic Report and Governance sections of this Annual Report and Accounts. In addition to choosing to apply the new edition of the QCA Code, I am delighted to announce that in the current year we have become members of the QCA in order to support the work it does in promoting good corporate governance. Stephen Hemsley Executive Chairman “Franchise Brands is an AIM-quoted company and we have chosen to follow the QCA’s Corporate Governance Code for small and mid-size quoted companies (the “Code”) as we believe that this provides an appropriate governance framework for a Group of our size.”