The Thompson dream
Page 17
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M THE DAY he emerged as er of the Consortium which itually bought the National ght Company from the Govnent, there was little doubt Peter Thompson would ultiely be chairman of the new irprise. It was really a matter vhen, and not whether, the nge would take place, writes ■ N MILLAR.
hat changeover took effect n October 1 when Sir Robert trence stepped down to bele a non-executive board Tiber. Sir Robert, a career Nayman and the last of the side chairmen drafted on to former National Freight Coration, is spreading his wings, I will be helping privatise ts of the National Bus Corniy.
NFC, the change of power, ich Thompson sees as a ural consequence of privation, has been accompanied a major restructure, with six duct groups — British Road vices, Parcels, Pickfords, Renal, National Services, and iperty — and a board cornsing mainly executive direcs.
Thompson's view, the em3sis on executive directors is portant. It is a complete west with the last days of the I Corporation, when the board s entirely non-executive. That $ bad he says, as decisions re taken by people outside Icompany.
ie regards transport as a 3nds on" business in which inagement must be motivated meet the changes in demand. board composed of "hands " executives helps achieve it, although it benefits also m the wider business experice which a minority of nonnutive directors can introce.
)n top of that, Thompson asses the importance of hay] shareholding directors on board, now that the NFC's Iployees are shareholders in .) business.
:or NFC-watchers, one of the )re intriguing changes which companied the restructure IS the exchange of managing rectorships between David hite of BRS and Geoff Pygall at ;kfords. Thompson insists that is has nothing to do with any cking order of NFC corn
panies, and says that it is a good idea to practise job rotation.
He believes a manager is at his best, his most innovative, and most challenging, for the first five years in a job. White and Pygall have spent longer than that with BRS and Pickfords, and will benefit their new companies by bringing wider experience into them.
Thompson is also looking forward to seeing how this job switch should improve performance at board level. He believes it will lead to more debate, based on broader experience, and will help with business strategy, and lead to better decision making.
The move is also consistent with the breadth of experience held by the other executive directors: Brian Hayward having worked with BRS, Pickfords, National Carriers, and now National Services; Steve Abell at BRS, Roadline, and National Carriers; and Jack Mather at BRS, Special Traffics and now Property.
The Property Group is also vitally important to NFC at the start of a life in which it is widely acknowledged that its assets are healthier than its income. Studies in 23 towns have already revealed many opportunities for operating from fewer sites without reducing the scale of operations. The most dramatic saving, which is on the verge of becoming a reality, is the telescoping of seven sites into two in Sheffield. The Property Group will develop this policy.
It will also be responsible for selling surplus property, where that appears to be the best policy, and for developing other sites in partnership with development companies. Sites have been earmarked at several points in London, and at Bristol, Reading, and Basingstoke. Property management will also be charged with improving the use of warehousing space owned by NFC.
Thompson acknowledges that Transport and General Workers Union resistance to the Consortium's buy-out scheme has reduced the scale of employee shareholding, and he is planning a campaign for 1983 which is to try and attract more of the 60 per cent non-shareholding employees to buy shares. That hap pens after the first annual general meeting.
He also sees no reason why the banks which loaned £46m to the Consortium (and which have a representative on the board) should ever foreclose upon them, and bring Thompson's dream crashing down. They would not have provided the money, he believes, if it was a high risk venture.
He believes that it would have been wrong to commit the Consortium to a "no redundancies" policy, however attractive that might have seemed, and cannot rule out the sale of subsidiaries — as a very last resort — where either the cash offered for them is highly attractive or they are beyond salvation within NFC.
But, despite such caveats, he has a firm conviction that the Consortium's days of general retrenchment are over, and that its present product range can be developed to benefit NFC. Indeed, he expects the banks will be among those urging such a policy.
lie has an eye on the own-account operations which have yet to hand over their fleets to specialist distribution companies such as BRS and National Services. The removals business, he believes, will grow along with the fall in interest rates, and demand for overseas travel will benefit Pickfords' Travel.
The parcels companies should also benefit from companies making use of their 24/48-hour automated services over the next five or six years. He envisages growth in the bulk oil and gas sector, as well.
NFC is poised to develop its presence in waste disposal, already having gained a good reputation for tip management, and although initial tenders for taking over local authorities' refuse collection services have been unsuccessful, Thompson is confident of breaking into this developing market. A case of the privatised helping to privatise others.
The Consortium also recognises that it must widen its areas of activities, and wants to invest in overseas markets as a hedge against future recessions in Britain. An Australian company joined the Pickfords Group earlier this year, and Thompson sees great virtue in following the example of his principal British rival, Transport Development Group chairman Sir James Duncan, and buying into the US transport market over the next 10 years.
He accepts it is in a state of deregulation-induced disarray, but believes this will be overcome, and that the higher return on investment possible there will be of great benefit.
Acquisitions, of necessity, must take second place to debt reduction over the next two years, but they cannot be ruled out, even at home. Thompson says NFC would buy specialists which fit into its strategic plans, but quite adamantly, he says no general haulage capacity will be taken over.