New chapter for Leighton as challenges mount

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Allan Leighton, one of Britain’s best known businessmen, publishes his second book this week.

His motive is laudable. All his royalties will be donated to Breast Cancer Care. But the publication could not have come at a more awkward time for the serial director, who with Archie Norman turned round the fortunes of Asda in the 1990s.

The book is entitled Tough Calls: Making the Right Decisions in Challenging Times. It comes as the 58-year-old – who coined the phrase “going plural” to describe multiple non-executive directorships a decade ago – faces a plethora of difficult decisions right across his disparate portfolio of jobs.

Two companies he chairs have had profit warnings in the past four months, while a third is grappling with debt and a downturn in its market. Mr Leighton acknowledges he is facing some tricky situations. “But I think the point is, everybody is. That is why the book is so topical,” he says.

Mr Leighton says he has freed up time by moving from a full-time to an advisory role for Galen Weston. He will come off the BSkyB board next month.
He points out that some of the issues have arisen because he deliberately chooses more challenging roles. “It isn’t that they all become difficult. I know they are difficult when I go into them,” he says. Either way, he says his record of reviving troubled companies is strong: “I’d say that my strike rate in these businesses has probably been eight out of 10. And that’s a pretty good strike rate.”

He reels off successes from the original “going plural” portfolio. Among them is his stint as chairman of Lastminute.com, which was sold to Sabre Holdings in 2005, for £577m. Wilson Connolly, which he also chaired, was sold for £480m to Taylor Woodrow. He says he improved Loblaw and helped BSkyB and Dyson crack America. He lists Leeds United, which battled financial catastrophe and relegation, as his only failure.

He endured a turbulent reign as chairman of Royal Mail from 2002 to 2009. But he defends his record there, pointing out that he took the organisation from losing £1m a day to making £1m a day and developed the profitable GLS European parcels business.

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[daveyeff]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ecf2ad3c-e208 ... z1YOq9jMPi


Allan Leighton, one of Britain’s best known businessmen, publishes his second book this week.

His motive is laudable. All his royalties will be donated to Breast Cancer Care. But the publication could not have come at a more awkward time for the serial director, who with Archie Norman turned round the fortunes of Asda in the 1990s.

The book is entitled Tough Calls: Making the Right Decisions in Challenging Times. It comes as the 58-year-old – who coined the phrase “going plural” to describe multiple non-executive directorships a decade ago – faces a plethora of difficult decisions right across his disparate portfolio of jobs.

Two companies he chairs have had profit warnings in the past four months, while a third is grappling with debt and a downturn in its market. Mr Leighton acknowledges he is facing some tricky situations. “But I think the point is, everybody is. That is why the book is so topical,” he says.

Mr Leighton says he has freed up time by moving from a full-time to an advisory role for Galen Weston. He will come off the BSkyB board next month.
He points out that some of the issues have arisen because he deliberately chooses more challenging roles. “It isn’t that they all become difficult. I know they are difficult when I go into them,” he says. Either way, he says his record of reviving troubled companies is strong: “I’d say that my strike rate in these businesses has probably been eight out of 10. And that’s a pretty good strike rate.”

He reels off successes from the original “going plural” portfolio. Among them is his stint as chairman of Lastminute.com, which was sold to Sabre Holdings in 2005, for £577m. Wilson Connolly, which he also chaired, was sold for £480m to Taylor Woodrow. He says he improved Loblaw and helped BSkyB and Dyson crack America. He lists Leeds United, which battled financial catastrophe and relegation, as his only failure.

He endured a turbulent reign as chairman of Royal Mail from 2002 to 2009. But he defends his record there, pointing out that he took the organisation from losing £1m a day to making £1m a day and developed the profitable GLS European parcels business.

more at link

an 8 out of 10 strike rate is about right. i remember being out on strike for about 8 times while he was in charge!!