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Bibby Line Group Founding Business
Trafford Park, the raft of Costcutter shops it owns and the Toyota parts it delivers to dealers, in the ACL container ships it manages. The Union Jack-bearing welfare vans by the side of the road, and businesses all round the country surviving on cash from its thriving financial services division. Where you haven’t seen much of the historic Bibby stamp in recent years is where it all began - on the side of actual ships. The company jettisoned most of its ocean going assets in the latter part of the last decade. A sad day? Not a bit of it, says Steve Potter, who in his role of associate strategy director supports group managing director and scion of the founding clan, Sir Michael Bibby, and who acts as a non executive director on all of the operating boards. “The business divested its marine assets in 2005 and 2007, and with the benefit of hindsight that was a very good decision because that was the height of the market,” said Steve. “So we went into the recession with cash and no debt. “Because we are a family owned business we are much more able to take that long term view, unlike larger corporations who manage shareholders expectations on a quarterly basis. We sell high and buy low. “At the moment the number of vessels we have is quite low but now that we are at the bottom of the market we’ve started to reinvest in that sector. Last year we ordered a 57,000 tonne bulk carrier, the Cheshire, to be delivered in China as a sister vessel to the Shropshire launched in 2009 – which will be launched in September this year. “Investing in ships,” he added, “is not an emotional decision. It’s very much a business decision.” The real stamp of Bibby, you sense, is the shrewd, logical and entirely unsentimental thinking at work behind every commercial decision its executives make. And it’s no doubt in no small part thanks to this that the company was able to ride out the recession in such impressively buoyant style. While other businesses were still floundering, Bibby Line Group recorded pre-tax profits in 2009 of £21.8million and in excess of £30million in 2010. Steve is justifiably proud of the achievement.
“We had really good performances in financial services businesses, distribution and Garic, which is our construction asset rental business, and Costcutter performed well,” he said, “but most of our marine business reflected the economic cycle as it was, with excess supply of vessels and reduced demand. “We had a pretty tough time in
industry with their woodland burial business. They now have three sites and are looking at planning permission for more. “It’s a good illustration of how we are prepared to use our imagination for what would be a long term business.” For now though, says Steve, the company has enough opportunities
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Investing in ships is not an emotional decision. It’s very much a business decision.
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supple structure and aggressive growth strategy has seen it diversify across a wealth of eclectic but cannily picked sectors, and its tentacles extend round the globe. The empire has expanded to include a powerful distribution arm, a financial services division, retailing, marine services, shipping and offshore services, floating accomodation and even a woodland burials business. Bibby is invisibly stamped on all kinds of everyday items. It’s on pints of milk at Tesco - Bibby-run tankers collect milk from farms across Wales and Scotland - the Kellogg’s cereals it delivers from
our marine businesses. So to achieve that level (of profit) was very pleasing.” The Bibby family still own 88 per cent of the business but each division is run by its own board and chief executive who have a substantial degree of freedom to make their own decisions. The brand value underpinning each sector’s drive to exploit opportunity, says Steve, is titled ‘restless momentum’. It surged first during the 1980s when the shipping world was struggling, and the company ventured successfully into distribution and financial services. “We were looking for more service based businesses that would generate cash and ride out the longer term cycles,” he explained. “In more recent times rather than traditional shipping we’ve diversified into off shore business like oil and gas project management and deep sea support vessels, and retailing in 2007 with the acquisition of Costcutter. Forecast to grow by six per cent until 2015, their new convenience retail sector is something the company is now “very focused on”, said Steve, adding they were looking to investing in it and possibly add other brands. Though they might seem an eclectic mix there’s plainly a shrewd business sense at work when it comes to BLG’s acquisition strategy. Convenience retail taps into current customer demand for low cost, local shopping. BLG is tapping into another recession-proof
to explore within existing divisions and holdings. With those comes the distinct possibility of spotting a Bibby vessel from Liverpool Bay again. A naming ceremony was held recently in France for a 28-metre vessel called SV Bibby Tethra, which will be under charter to a Birkenhead-based company called Osiris Projects. “It’s called a hydrographic survey vessel and it surveys the sea bed prior to and during installation of off shore wind turbines and it will be working in the Liverpool Bay,” said Steve. “It’s a potential niche sector for our marine business.” Old John Bibby would no doubt approve.
Bibby Line Group File HQ: 105 Duke Street, Liverpool. Major Interests: Ship management, off shore services, distribution, financial services, holdings, retail. Employs around 3,500 people around the globe, including 222 in Liverpool. History: Founded in 1807 by John Bibby. He was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, in 1775. He was murdered in 1840 in a still unsolved attack, his body left in a pond in Aintree. MOVE COMMERCIAL 43