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Not all 'champagne lunches' at publicly Listed Stobart
Page 12
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By Chris Tindall ANY OPERATORS under the impression that becoming a publicly listed company is necessarily glamorous have had their illusions shattered this week, as the Stobart Group shed some light on its new status.
Its launch on to the London Stock Exchange last September, coupled with subsequent highprofile purchases, ambitions to run an airline and its chief executive's predilection forfashion,could make you believe that life is a whirlwind of long dinners, champagne receptions and executive suites over at Stobart Towers. The truth is not quite so alluring.
"Our reputation is much more under the spotlight now," says a spokeswoman for the famous haulage company. "We are not in a massively privileged position to be nearer the city. We have the capacity to raise more funds, but you couldn't say that about anybody now. Share prices fluctuate. Investors want to know what our KPIs [key performance indicators] and our targets are. It's changed from being a family firm into being one with different stakeholders."
Chief executive Andrew Tinkler, who owns £32m of shares in the group, is credited with overhauling the haulage operation and turning it into the company it is today.
The spokeswoman describes the group's staff set-up as now "like a Roman legionwith one manager overseeing 24 staff and, in turn, being one of 24 managers governed from above.
But the added pressures of stock market placing aside, it seems as though the company has retained its roots.
"Andrew and William [Stobart] have the confidence of the entire workforce," she insists. "They have retained a family atmosphere in a much bigger company now. It's not easy to achieve that in a firm as large as ours."
• An investigation into the recent transformations of the Stobart Group and Wincanton will follow in a future issue.
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