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Harrier aims to concentrate on home work and waste

27th October 2005
Page 12
Page 12, 27th October 2005 — Harrier aims to concentrate on home work and waste
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Richard Vorris, new owner of what used to be Fiege Ver.lin, has outlined

his plans for its future as Harrier Logistics. Chris Tindall reports.

EXCLUSIVE!

THE NEW owner of failed white goods firm Fiege Merlin plans to stay focused on home deliveries and waste management to keep the business profitable and solvent.

Richard Morris and a number of trustees bought the business and assets of Fiege Merlin two weeks ago and renamed it Harrier Logistic& He says the parcels arm of the company was losing a lot of money and this is not a sector the business wishes to deal with again.

Morris is no stranger to the company; he was CEO for Merlin and stayed on in this position when it was sold to Fiege in 1999. He says he was -dismissed" within months of that sale and became a nonexecutive director representing the minority shareholders, whom he claims were later excluded from decision making at the company. This might lead to legal action. "It's not something we are accepting — it's ongoing," he adds.

Morris has confirmed that the business was bought for £1.75m, but denies it was a bargain: "It was a sensible price to pay, we are very happy with that" The company, which retains contracts with companies such as Electrolux, Bosch,B&C) andArgos, has a new finance director, Declan Connolly (ex-MD of DEDS) and non-executive director, John McDarren, who was MD of white goods manufacturer Merloni.

Morris says it was the praise of its customers that swung the deal.

"The thing that made the trustees make the bid was that all the major customers were very effusive with the service level, quality of IT and dedication and commitment of the employees," he explains, That was the single most important thing, really. They are a good bunch of people."


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