Gerald Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive, Cramphorn PLC: the secrets of perennial growth
Article Abstract:
Cramphorn PLC Chmn and CEO Gerald Smith has overseen the firm's successful restructuring. Cramphorn, a grain dealer and supplier of foodstuffs that diversified into garden shops in the 1960s, closed most of its shops located in town centers and eliminated its wholesale business. The firm announced a record pre-tax profit of 1.34 million pounds sterling for 1990, up from 1 million pounds in 1989. Earnings per share increased by 28.6% and dividends per share increased 28.9%. Smith attributes the success of Cramphorn to a 1 million pounds savings from the closure of the wholesale business, the sale of shops in town centers before the decline of the real estate market, the nice weather than has extended the gardening season, and the fact that the incomes of the firm's customers, who are typically middle-aged, middle-income people and retirees, were relatively unaffected by the recent economic downturn.
Publication Name: Accountancy
Subject: Business
ISSN: 0001-4664
Year: 1991
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Jeffery Bowman: the problems of success
Article Abstract:
Price Waterhouse has expanded its size and its fee income under the management of Sr Partner Jeffery Bowman, who has led the firm since 1982. For the year ending Jun 30, 1990, Price Waterhouse, the fourth largest accounting firm in the UK, reported fee income of 320.8 million pounds sterling, a 34% increase. When Bowman was named senior partner in 1982, the firm had estimated fee income of 50 million pounds. Bowman believes that business will not be as good in 1991 because the reverberations of the Gulf War have undermined confidence. The firm will neither restructure nor affect a merger to counteract the anticipated decline in income. The firm will continue to expand into Europe, particularly Germany and France, and its European entities will be linked together through a 'combination' coordinated by Price Waterhouse European Services BV.
Publication Name: Accountancy
Subject: Business
ISSN: 0001-4664
Year: 1991
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A crusader in community service. (Roger Spoor: Founding Societies' Award Winner 1991)
Article Abstract:
Ernst & Young Partner Roger Spoor is the Founding Societies Award Winner for 1991. Spoor, who is disabled, is very active in charities, mostly for the disabled. Spoor is the chairman of the Dene Centre, the regional center for promoting excellence for the disabled in the northeast of England, and is a founding member of the Calvert Trust, which provides the disabled with scenic facilities in the Lake District and offers them physical challenges. Spoor is also the chairman of the Tyne, Wear, and Northumberland chapter of Business in the Community, an organization which has supported training and improvements to infrastructure and has led efforts to decrease the area's male unemployment rate, which has dropped from 40% to 13.6% since 1981, when Spoor joined the organization.
Publication Name: Accountancy
Subject: Business
ISSN: 0001-4664
Year: 1991
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