news opinion It’s an outrage …
… same packaging, same price – then you open it up and it’s a different shape. Yes, Toblerone still has its Alpine peaks, only now they come with several millions of years’ worth of erosion.
To brand-loyal consumers, the new shape with larger gaps, feels like a betrayal. They opted for tried-and-tested and got something else.
Then take the trusted household item – a toaster or baby monitor for example – no longer just for breakfast and childcare, but now also an aid to hacking – Twitter and PayPal being recent victims. Considering the number of Internet-connected appliances in our homes, we might all soon have to accept our vulnerability.
On a more serious note – but not to undermine the significance of the spying toaster – these small examples suggest we’re headed for an era of uncertainty and mistrust.
‘Post-truth’, right at the core of the issue, has in fact been announced the word of the year. It describes situations in which solid facts and reason lose out to emotion, and it seems both sides of the Atlantic have helped bump it into top spot.
The double shock of the Brexit vote and Trump’s alarming election seem to have left both countries divided and insecure. And this feeling is even wider spread as the wrong kind of nationalism gains ground across the globe – breeding fear of immigrants, fear of minorities, fear of anyone not just like us.
From chocolate bars and toasters to leaders of superpowers, mistrust is the order of the day. And with mistrust comes uncertainty.
What’s next with Trump’s shoot-from-the- hip style of leadership? Will Britain leave the European single market? How much say will Parliament have in the negotiations?
And closer to home, what price will businesses pay for this instability?
We’re heading into a year of uncertainty; but with change comes opportunity. So let’s choose to adapt and thrive, and to make 2017 a truly good year.
Carry de la Harpe Editor
4
businessmag.co.uk
Local firms making the Top Track 250
A common sight and smell on Britain’s high streets – provided by the Lush chain – has proved a winner in pure sales as well. For the Poole-based company is the top- placed Solent area business in the latest league table ranking Britain’s private mid- market growth companies.
Gaining 43rd place in the national Top Track 250 table, the handmade bath and beauty products specialist now has 933 outlets in 49 countries and has been growing fast in America and Saudi Arabia.
Founded in 1995 Lush now has over 5,700 staff, and last year opened a flagship store on London’s Oxford Street as well as new production facilities in Brazil. Led by co-founder and managing director Mark Constantine, the company chalked up an operating profit of £12.4 million from sales of £326m.
Second place for sales in this region was Westover Group (59th nationally), the Bournemouth-based company that began life more than 90 years ago as a Morris Motors dealership and now has 28 sites in Dorset and Wiltshire.
In 1984 chairman Peter Wood led a buyout and subsequently expanded the car dealership business through a series of acquisitions. Sixteen manufacturers are now represented across its 24 showrooms which employ over 700 staff, helping operating profits to £6.3m from sales totalling £278m.
Third place in the area went to Churchill Retirement Living (151 in UK). Having started out building stone and thatched cottages in 1994, it was only when this Ringwood-based developer switched to purpose-built retirement complexes that sales and profits took off.
Headed by brothers Spencer and Clinton McCarthy, CRL operates from four regional offices. Growing demand from an ageing population helped the firm sell 589 properties in the past year, lifting annualised sales 21% to £173.3m to earn profits of some £56m. It now employs some 480 staff.
Hammer, the Basingstoke company, was placed at 176 nationally. It customises, distributes and supports data-storage products, such as encrypted solid-state drives, designed to operate in extreme environments for the military and in the high-frequency trading systems used by financial markets.
Founded in 1991, it now has eight offices across Europe serving more than 40 markets. Strong domestic growth pushed profits up 48% to £6.3m from sales of £154m. Managing director James Stidwill owns 40% of the company employing some 160 staff.
The top-performing Southampton company was WP Group (no.191), which was founded in 1991 and supplies heating oil to homes and industry as well as fuels for motorsport, agriculture, marine vessels and aviation. It also distributes Esso fuels and Mobil lubricants across the south.
In February managing director David Fairchild led the acquisition of Airport Energy, a firm providing fuel and fuel management services to UK airports, in which it already had a 40% stake. Last year it earned operating profits of £3m from sales of £142m.
Close behind at number 192 with £141m sales was Colt, the Havant-based company that made light-blocking ventilation equipment to keep factories safe during Second World War blackouts.
Colt now designs and supplies smoke control, ventilation, climate control and solar shading for clients in 50 countries, having expanded production in China. Still owned by the founding O’Hea family, who set up in 1931.
Three other Solent companies made the lower reaches of the league table. The fresh-food manufacturer Nature’s Way Foods (no.201), with its headquarters and manufacturing units in the Chichester area, produces more than 210 million units of salad and fruit products every year. Sales reached £137m.
National Lighting (no.233), founded in 1994 and now operating through Poole Lighting in the UK, employs over 500 people in designing lighting products that are manufactured in the Far East and shipped from Christchurch. Sales totalled £122m.
CLC (no.237) started in Southampton in 1969 as a painting contractor and has grown into a national property maintenance provider with 14 bases. Sales totalled £121m.
* The Top Track 250 is compiled by Fast Track, sponsored by Grant Thornton and published annually in the Sunday Times.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – DECEMBER 16/JANUARY 17
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