Tony will take up his role as chief executive officer on 1st May, based at Sambro’s UK headquarters in Bury.

Tony has 25 years of experience delivering growth strategies for major business units across Europe, Asia and North America for market leading international consumer brands including Carlsberg, Molson Coors and Mars.

Additionally, Tony brings significant toy industry experience from his time with Vivid Toy Group, where he led the business turnaround and subsequent sale to Goliath. At leading US toy company LeapFrog he successfully developed the group’s international business in existing core markets, whilst also developing opportunities in a number of new markets.

Tom Falcon, chairman of Sambro and operating partner at Elysian Capital, commented: “We are delighted to have Tony on board, who shares our ambitious growth plans for Sambro. Tony’s strategic background and experience in leading international FMCG and toy businesses, coupled with his strong relationships across the toy industry and licensing community, will be critical to delivering further growth for our business and driving our international expansion.”

Tony said: “It is a real privilege to be joining Sambro at this exciting stage in its development. Sambro is a strong business with a fantastic track record developing licensed products and has been expanding further into other categories and segments. The team has built a strong distribution network and retail relationships worldwide that are primed for the next level of growth. I look forward to expanding on the great business that has been developed by the team since the business started in 1996, as well as exploring the many new growth opportunities for the company. I also want to say how excited I am to be back in the toy business again so soon – it is a wonderful business that I really enjoy working in.”