Sporting chief executive keen to tackle a varied business

Nov 14 2007 By Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

Alistair Houghton meets RICHARD WHITING, chief executive of NWF

HE PLAYED alongside rugby legend Brian Moore at university, but now Richard Whiting is up against the giants of the Stock Exchange.

Whiting, 43, took over as chief executive of Cheshire fuels and distribution group NWF this month.

The company was one of the first to join the Alternative Investment Market in London and has seen its value rise tenfold since 2000. This year, the company’s market capitalisation hit £100m for the first time, which Whiting said was a "significant step" for the business.

This is Whiting’s first job as chief executive of a listed company. Whiting is just the seventh chief executive at the group since 1871 – a period that has seen 23 people become Prime Minister.

NWF, based in Wardle, Cheshire, may be a Stock Exchange minnow, but Whiting is relishing the challenge of building on its success and helping it hit the headlines.

He said: "NWF as a group has grown very successfully over the past five to 10 years.

"In spite of our markets not being that dynamic, our growth is quite impressive. There have been some acquisitions, but the majority of the growth has been organic.

"I could say that all I have to do is the same again. The reality is, I want to develop each of the four businesses and support and drive and lead them through that growth. It’s about evolution, not revolution.

"I can see opportunities to improve the business. But I can see good teams I can build on and develop and grow."

Whiting, who is originally from Lichfield, but has lived in the North West for most of his life, had his first taste of Stock Exchange life as a member of his sixth-form industrial society.

"I had to talk to about 60 bosses from FTSE 250 companies about my views on industry from a sixth-form perspective," he said.

"What I found from people there – and subsequently – is that it’s not all about money. They were working because of the satisfaction they got from what they were doing.

"As a 17-year-old, that was hugely appealing."

Whiting went on to study industrial economics at Nottingham before moving into industry with companies including New World domestic appliances in Warrington and Stockport doorbell manufacturer Friedland.

He was marketing director of the Caradon Group’s plumbing division, which owned brands such as Twyford bathrooms, before becoming managing director of the data networks division of Scottish company Brand-Rex Ltd in 2000.

In 2002, he joined the fully- listed Heywood Williams Group as business development director, becoming finance director in 2004. But, by this year, Whiting was looking for a new challenge.

"I’d been finance director for 2½ years," he said.

"If, after five years, I’d still been a finance director, then I’d have been a ‘finance guy’.

"But then the NWF opportunity came along."

Whiting spent his first month at the business working alongside outgoing chief executive Graham Scott. He also spent time at each of the company’s businesses, including visiting farmers in Devon and helping with a Typhoo delivery in Wirral.

"It worked extremely well because I could get out and really get a flavour of the business without the obligation of running the group as well," he said.

NWF employs more than 1,400 people at its four businesses.

Its distribution division saw sales of about £27m last year.

Whiting says a common misconception about NWF is that it works for the UK’s major supermarket chains.

The company in fact acts as a distribution hub for food suppliers from giants such as Princes and Typhoo to a wide range of smaller companies, distributing goods under the Boughey name.

He said: "Even though we have a large warehouse with thousands of cans of tuna and tea and other products, we don’t own any of it.

"We provide the service – we charge to store the pallets. We’ll then ship it to supermarket depots or cash and carries and we’ll charge for shipping it.

"You drive round the North West and you realise how many Boughey trucks there are. There’s 150 on the roads every day."