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The Alternative Investment Market (AIM) would seem to be an unusual place for a company with such high revenues - £215.6 million during 2009. As Aimzine found out during a recent meeting with Pieter Totte, the ebullient Dutch Executive Co-Chairman of Real Good Food Co (LON:RGD), it is a natural habitat for a company such as his. Pieter nurtures an entrepreneurial culture within RGD which comes from an emphasis on operational independence and it is his firm belief that such a high revenue business is perfect for the AIM market.
“That is what the AIM market was setup for in 1995. We are a natural example of such a business type”.
The business
RGD is split into three core business operations:
- Napier Brown – Sugar – Supplying sugar to food manufacturers sourced from the UK, mainland Europe and around the world
- Renshaw – Ingredients – Supplying a range of high quality food ingredients primarily to the bakery sector
- Hayden’s Bakeries – Producing chilled and ambient premium patisserie and dessert products to retail grocery
The Napier Brown business accounts for approximately 74% of total turnover, Ingredients 16.2% and Bakery 9.8%.
The Flying Dutchman
From Pieter’s viewpoint, when he took executive responsibility for RGD in November 2009 (he had been with the group for a number of years in a non-executive director capacity), the business was heavily centralised. His first important decision was to cut away at the centralised structure that had typified the business and he then introduced independent business units which had complete autonomy for their performance.
For each of the three major business units, Pieter introduced their own Chief Executives who reported directly to him and the board. These units were run as profit centres, had their own strategic plans for the next 3 years and all their current and future performance were measured against this plan. Essentially, he was fostering and harnessing the independent nature of all these business units whose creative and business talent had laid latent for some years. copyright of Aimzine Ltd. No part should be copied, without prior consent.
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