Case Studies

Petards Group plc

	Because the recruitment exercise had to be confidential, the ability of an executive search consultant to get into the business was severely restricted: they had to understand it from afar. Harvey Nash knowledge of the manufacturing industry was critical in identifying the business issues and suitably experienced candidates
	Tim Wightman, executive chairman, Petards Group plc

Petards is a public limited company with two subsidiaries:

Joyce Loebl, which provides engineering systems solutions to the defence and rail industries, and

Petards, which designs and supplies advanced control and command systems and for CCTV and visual alarm systems public and commercial buildings and facilities.

Petards had experienced financial difficulties and the refinancing of the Group was being jeopardised by the cashdraining Joyce Loebl subsidiary. Tim Wightman, executive chairman of Petards, recognised the subsidiary required new leadership if the Group was to survive and successfully accomplish its refinancing project.

Petards Group plc needed to recruit a new managing director for a poorly-performing subsidiary as part of the turnaround and refinancing of the Group

Harvey Nash conducted an extremely confidential search that gave no hint that Petards were replacing a plc Board member at
a critical time of financially restructuring the Group

The newly appointed managing director had an immediate effect and was rewarded with a promotion to the plc Board

Wightman asked Nigel Parslow, theDirector of the Consumer and Industry executive search practice at Harvey Nash, to conduct a confidential search to identify a new managing director for Joyce Loebl.

Confidentiality was essential for a number of reasons: for one, there was a managing director already in post, but, more
importantly, any hint of a weakness in the business could affect the confidence of customers, staff and shareholders.

Wightman and Parslow identified the ideal candidate profile as being a turnaround specialist who had progressed through the engineering and manufacturing management route, and who had experience of either projects-based environments or large capital equipment manufacturing. Experience of general management was essential.

Candidates were resourced through a blind advertisement and an extremely discrete and confidential search was conducted into the manufacturing companies in the North of England, where Joyce Loebl was based. Candidates were approached and interviewed in the first instance by Parslow, without disclosing the client’s identity, and a shortlist of four was presented to Wightman.

The shortlist candidates were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements prior to progressing further, whereupon full disclosure was given. The successful candidate was appointed to join Joyce Loebl and he quickly began the process of putting the company back on track and performing to Wightman’s directives. After three months the newly appointed MD of Joyce Loebl was promoted to the plc Board.