CEO’s journey from near bankruptcy to major gong from Queen

THE chief executive of Queen’s Award-winning wound care specialist Crawford Healthcare has told how the company was on the brink of bankruptcy 12 years ago.

Now targeting revenue of £100m by 2020 Richard Anderson is not ruling out taking the company public, although he is currently non-committal.

The dark days were in 2005, after Crawford’s launch from a small office in Goose Street, Knutsford, when telephones and computers were shared among a staff three.

Now, the company has 150 staff, turnover of £25m, sites in Philadelphia, Dubai and Munich, and has just received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2016.

Its prestigious headquarters in Knutsford is a far cry from that first Goose Street base, but Anderson takes nothing for granted and vividly remembers those roller coaster early days.

“I threw a computer out of the window once,” he told TheBusinessDesk from his office. “It shattered into little pieces and I had to go outside and pick all up.

“Our credit was so bad I had to put all the reps company cars and all their phones on my credit card.

“We were in danger of going under. Outside here there’s a Lloyds Bank and I remember vividly going to the cash machine and taking every single credit card to the maximum, walking in the front door and putting it in my current account and then spending that money on reps.

“We (his family) couldn’t pay the mortgage or the school fees. We were in debt up to our neck. Every penny went on this company.

“I was two weeks away from bankruptcy with a wife and two kids.

“I’m absolutely of a view that with people who do what I do, it’s not just about the money, it’s about self esteem and proving you can do it.

“Having been to the wall and back on more than one occasion, it makes you appreciate what you’ve got.”

Speaking of the award received by the company from the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire David Briggs, Anderson went on: “This is not just some vase to stick on a shelf.

“I passionately believe in what we’re doing in the North West and that the way to encourage success is to bang the drum and celebrate it.

“The Northern Powerhouse has come into question because of the departure of George Osborne as Chancellor, but I think it’s up to the companies in the region and key organisations to pick up the baton and celebrate their achievements.

“We are part of that and this award for me is part of that celebration.”

Anderson said that on a personal level it was “desperately sad” the UK had made the decision to leave the EU.

“But parking that aside, from a business perspective, there is no such thing as a business that is immune to economic downturns, but within healthcare and the supply of healthcare services and pharmaceuticals, you’re getting pretty close to being there,” he said.

“That’s because people today, tomorrow and the day after, will have illnesses, be it blood pressure, diabetes, wounds which need healing, skin that needs to be fixed. And that occurs whether you’re in or outside of Europe, in an economic good spell or bad spell.

“I don’t think an economic downturn with affect us. With regard to Brexit, specifically because we now operate internationally in the US, Germany and other territories, we’ve almost got a natural hedge to any currency changes.”