38 FAMILY BUSINESS
Continued from Page 37
The current board of directors will remain and will still have responsibility for running the business. The directors will now be accountable to a trustee board, which will include two elected employee trustees.
Michael says the EOT also means that the company’s 72-strong directly employed workforce now all have “skin in the game”.
He adds: “Clients will see no changes, things will stay exactly the same for our supply chain.”
Over the past 63 years Conlon has been involved in standout projects in Lancashire and beyond, including the revamp of Preston Bus Station and the ongoing Harris Museum restoration in the city.
Michael says: “We have always been very much a family company and we’re very much going to carry on as a family ethos business. It is the legacy that we are protecting.”
The Conlon brothers CASE STUDY 2: NEXT GENERATION WEIGHS IN
Today Rospen has a workforce numbering just over 60 with an annual turnover of around £10m. One of Grant’s immediate plans on taking over was to grow its export sales in Central Europe.
Long-term he is also looking to move the business into a new facility, moving the operation onto a single site, but he adds that ambition is some way off.
Grant’s father joined the business, then called Mass Measuring Systems, in 1988 as a project engineer, becoming a director and shareholder in the mid-1990s.
He bought the company, at this point named Rospen Industries, jointly in 2003, becoming outright owner in 2007. He became chairman last year after handing over to Grant, stepping into that role at the age of 62.
You need to show Grant McGeever and his father Tony
Grant McGeever took over the role of managing director from his dad Tony 14 months ago. It was a measured move for their family business.
Rospen Industries manufactures weighing and metering equipment for various sectors including food, chemicals, wastewater and construction.
His father’s shoes were big ones to step into. Tony had doubled the size of the business, based at Waterside Business Park in Haslingden, in his last three years as MD.
The succession process went smoothly. Grant, 33, says: “It was seen as the right time. I’d
been involved in the day to day running of the business for years. I’d been involved in every department, so when the time came it was quite straightforward.
“The workforce and our customers took it well, there was no negative reaction to it at all.”
He adds: “My parents are still shareholders and I know I can go to my dad for advice if I need to.”
Grant, a mechanical engineering graduate, worked at Rospen as a student before taking a job with a greenhouse manufacturer after graduation to broaden his industry experience. He rejoined the family firm in 2014.
leadership, people need to know you will do what you say, and you have to be solid in your decision making
Grant’s message to other people who may be set to take over the reins of their family business is: “You know the business, not like someone who has been parachuted in.
“Work hard, work with the staff and listen to them and help them because you are all in it together. You can’t do it without your people, they are the ones who come up with solutions.
“You need to show leadership, people need to know you will do what you say, and you have to be solid in your decision making.”
He adds: “The plan is to keep the business in the family and keep developing it. We want growth but the right growth.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
