North West Business Masters: True Grit
FIVE leading business people are in the running for an award that recognises those that have triumphed in the face of adversity.
The North West Grit category of the inaugural North West Business Masters awards attracted entrants from a wide range of sectors that have survived, and thrived, during the tough economic conditions of the past few years.
Our shortlist includes the chairman and chief executive of a stock market success story, the founder of a growing estate agency firm, the boss of a high profile business turnaround, a recovery specialist and a business leader who has made a success of four failed firms.
Winners will be announced at on April 7 at a high profile awards lunch at The Point at Lancashire County Cricket Club.
The shortlisted candidates are:
Chairman Geoffrey Halstead and his chief executive son Mark, pictured, 
have led their Radcliffe-based quoted flooring business James Halstead through a period of rapid growth in recent years despite the tough economic environment. In the year to September sales climbed 10% to £186.4m while recent projects include installing flooring at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, the Big Brother house and Peel Group’s MediaCity development in Salford.
Against a backdrop of the banking crisis and the ensuing credit crunch Carolyn Mellor’s Manchester-based estate agency homes4u Group has continued to trade profitably, with sales up 10% in the first quarter of 2010-11. A former retailer, Mellor set up the business in 2001 and puts her emphasis on customer care at the heart of the firm’s success.
Norman Tenray created his Preston-based plumbing and building supplies
business OBAS UK by turning around the fortunes of four failed companies. He has since rebuilt trust with staff and suppliers and overcome challenges associated with importing a wide range of goods. Tenray is an active member of the Lancashire business community and is a director of the North West Lancashire Chamber of Commerce.
Chief executive Brian Davidson has overseen the turnaround of Blackburn’s Crown Paints from losing £13m a year to achieving earnings of £20m on sales of £180m in 2010. Under Davidson’s management Crown has cut the cost of producing each litre of paint by 20% and conducted a far-reaching programme of investment and innovation into all business processes.
James Waddington specialises in dealing with adversity. As operations director of
Blackburn-based Winterhill Leisure he oversees the rescue of struggling licensed premises, from pubs to restaurants, hotels and clubs. The firm’s clients are usually the large pub companies, insolvency practitioners and banks that need an interim manager to turn around the fortunes of a particular venue. Founded by Mr Waddington, Andrew and Neil Duckworth and Simon Padgett, Winterhill has been appointed to more than 150 sites in the past 12 months.
Click here to cast your votes for The North West Business Masters.
See the candidates for NW Advisor and NW Ambassador by clicking on the link.
