Call Sign December 2008 - Page 28 - BRIAN RICE INTERVIEWED BY FT WEEKEND

Britains banks aren’t the only businesses currently going through the wars. The FT Weekend Magazine of 25 October was dubbed The Wealth Issue! The idea was to look and see how smaller companies were coping under the regime known by that awful Americanism - the Credit Crunch.
   The FT Weekend took an in-depth look at five businesses that were nothing to do with banking, yet relied on that sector to do well – or as the FT referred to those behind the businesses: The Other City Boys! Call Sign has edited their interviews down to a brief synopsis of how they are coping.
   John Booth is the MD of Millards Cleaning Services who have been operating for 90 years. His belief was that we weren’t heading for a recession, but a depression that he believed would last for around four years. Whilst expecting a dip in business, he was confident that the future would be fine and ended by claiming: "So long as you have cash, you’ll be alright."
   Stephen Pinner is the MD of Goodacre Management Consultancy. His company have noticed that whilst there hasn’t been the number of redundancies that we saw during the last recession, those positions available are being filled by contracted staff such as interim management rather than by taking new people on. His view was that Gordon Brown’s virtual nationalisation of the banks was the correct decision.
   Glen Manchester is the CEO of Thunderhead Software Providers. He accepts that there may well be fewer opportunities, but that because Thunderhead are careful about their spending and watch their expansion carefully, they are still in a good position.
   The wonderfully named Vasco de Castro is the Business Development Director for Fruitful Office – a company that delivers fruit baskets to London offices. They supply many companies, including Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro. Their quietest period was in November 2007 and they have now noticed a return of that quiet period. However, they feel confident that their strategy of

BRIAN RICE INTERVIEWED BY FT WEEKEND

Brian Rice Interviewed by FT Weekend

more creative marketing will pay dividends, although they expect no growth for the next six months.
   The fifth interview was with Dial-a-Cab Chairman Brian Rice and Call Sign is publishing that interview in full.
   "The taxi industry is considered a good barometer of how the economy is doing in London and the south-east. Dial-a-Cab works with all the big financial institutions - 99.6% of our business comes from the corporate sector. The UK financial centre is trying to claw back its losses from companies such as ours by saying that they need to cut prices.
   I have noticed a distinct downturn since May and we are now running at something like 20% under what we were for the equivalent period last year. Don’t misunderstand me; we are not on the breadline. Until the end of July, a month before our financial year ended, we were ahead of the previous year, but by the end of August, turnover was down by Ł500,000.
   Recent events have been so traumatic that it got to a point where I was afraid to turn on the news in the morning. But while I am delighted that governments stepped in, there is a part of me which feels that the chips should stay where they fall. You have big banks that mismanaged their portfolios, but which are allowed to continue - a luxury which would not be afforded to smaller businesses, including Dial-a-Cab.
   In this country, the government has shown the way forward in terms of what needs to be done and Gordon Brown is coming out of this quite well. The situation is being tackled in the right way and Europe seems to be pulling in the same direction as well.
   Things did get bad, but some prominent people who really should have known better, made things worse. The incessant talking down of the economy frightened people. I attended a dinner where Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI, gave a very downbeat talk on the status of the economy. By the end of it, my only dilemma was whether to cut my throat or jump out of the window. There is always some good news somewhere in the country.
   I don’t think a lot of politicians understand how much emphasis is put on what they say. For people such as Alistair Darling to have said we are in the worst recession in 60 years is premature. I’ve been with Dial-a-Cab for 34 years and this certainly is not as bad as the three-day week we had in 1974 with Edward Heath. Then there was, of course, the miners' strike in the 1980s. That was far worse than it is at the moment and I wish someone, somewhere, would stand up and say that.
   While I have to make some revisions to my forecasts, as a company Dial-a-Cab will be fine as we have no debt to service - a very important factor given the current state of affairs."

Brian Rice, Chairman, Dial-a-Cab

Organic wine at half price!

Grown in a small family-run vineyard in the Corbieres region of Languedoc, Call Sign’s Bob Woodford delivers 3 organic wines to London regularly.
Domaine Red: Traditional full-bodied 100% syrah for accompanies red meat and game.
Trobadour: Light bodied fruity red wine; ideal to accompany poultry, Asian or Oriental.
Domaine White: Medium-sweet wine can be enjoyed with Thai or Chinese cuisine.

All three wines are available at Ł4.50 a bottle - half the price what you would expect to pay in your local supermarket! You can mix and match and all include free delivery!
Bob will be setting up a few ‘pick up points’ in the City and West End in December, so if you would like a more healthy option with your Christmas lunch this year, send him an email to woodford19@btinternet.com for more details and to arrange collection.

Call Sign Home Page

Page 31