|
Q.What has enabled the success you have achieved this year? A. For the last two years we have been rejuvenating and reorganising our activities. Our entry into the stock market in 1999 meant that we invested considerable financial sums in new sectors such as electronics, which caused a number of problems for us. Thus we had to evaluate who we are, what we can do and how well can do. We had to take some painful yet essential decisions to get out of the cycle we had gotten into. We prepared a plan to disengage ourselves from some of the loss making activities, which had no profit-making potential in the near future.
It was painful because we had to pull out of activities that yielded about 30 percent of our total turnover. However we were very well organised. In October 2003 we forecasted that by February 2006 we would have finished this process. Some activities we sold at a price that was tempting to the buyers. Other activities we shut down, others we fragmented to hold on to the profitable parts. The biggest problem the executive board, led by the President Mr Mallouppas, the Executive Vice Presidents Mr Papacostas and me, the Managing Director, Mr Yiannis Antoniades and the Director of the fashion department Mrs Mallouppa faced, was the human factor. There were many people who had worked with us, to the maximum of their capabilities to contribute. We had to safeguard those people. I personally feel very proud because in this disengagement process, because as we pulled away from 9 million pounds turnover, of the 130 staff employed in those loss making activities not one of them lost his job. They were transferred to the new employers with the same or even better employment terms. We ensured that the jobs of these individuals were safeguarded.
Changing direction was difficult and we also had to face the opinions in the business community. People did not believe us, yet we were firmly convinced because we had calculated the outcomes of our efforts. It was not easy persuading banks that we would be profitable in 2006 when in the previous years we had made a loss of 3.3 million in 2004 and 1.3 million in 2005 and that it would be achieved by cutting off parts of the company that brought in around one third of the revenue. It was very frustrating for me and I spent a lot of time speaking openly with these people showing them our budgets our goals for 2006. We are very proud that we have achieved these goals, and exceeded them. Q.What about the people who stayed on, how did they feel with all these changes?
A. We are in a people focussed company. We say that, and we mean it. We do not read a vision that has been written by some clever person . We say not what comes from our brain but that which comes from our souls . We believe without any reservations that this company has the best, personnel in Cyprus, who is 100 percent committed, 100 percent united, and 100 per cent willing to take steps forward, and move with the development of the company. When all these changes were happening and people were leaving, we earned the respect of the remaining staff, because they saw how we handled their colleagues who were moving. There were situations where the new owners of the businesses, did not want to recruit our people. In those circumstances we undertook the responsibility, to provide compensation to these employees if they were made redundant within six months by the new employer. This was to give our employees the opportunity to show their capabilities and how well they were suited to their new employers. With great joy I can tell you that not one of these employees has left the new owners. The remaining staff saw that we were not cold-blooded executors. We tried to raise the morale of those that stayed, by explaining to them that our company was going through some difficulties, but with the appropriate help and support from them we would manage to resolve these problems. Indeed we have managed that. Also we proceeded to reorganise our structure and we recruited some very good people in the higher echelons of management and today we have seen the results of those actions.
We also introduced incentive systems that are not only based on monetary rewards. We have given people more responsibility. I believe that one of the biggest incentives is responsibility. Give someone a challenge and he will do whatever he can to meet that challenge. We believe that at least in our type of business, everything depends on people, from the Executive President who sets the direction and the strategy to the front liners in the stores, selling our products. I must say that we are never complacent and we are constantly developing our Human Resources. We are working with PeopleAchieve to develop the fingertips of the organisation. The management have never believed that there is a cost of personnel. The cost is part of the total formula that leads to the net benefit. I believe in the value that staff can add, and we recruit the best.
Q.What attracts the best to you? A.There is a terrific climate in our company. The existing staff influence people outside to come and work here. They speak about the company with great enthusiasm. We have created a superb climate because we stand by our staff, in many different ways. In terms of remuneration we are considered to be amongst the best employers with a variety of incentives. Apart from the provident fund, and medical scheme, we have incentive systems for targets, and sometimes we create an atmosphere of euphoria. For example to help with the Xmas period this year we prepaid a bonus to the staff of our stores, because we knew they were going to work very hard during those days. Our staff really appreciated this because we did not wait for the Xmas season to end in order to reward them. Of course we will also do that, however we anticipated their success and decided to give them bonus vouchers, as a message of recognition from management. They will also get rewarded according to the systems we have for overtime, commissions and bonuses.
We aim to be very close to our staff and I personally have the expectation for people to develop and rise to their maximum potential. There are people in our company who have not just taken steps forward, but they have taken huge leaps forward, in the last two or three years. By cutting down on the non-profitable businesses we have more time for our people. One of the things that satisfies us, as management, is to attend seminars where budgets are presented and to watch people who had nothing to do with figures, stand up and present their forecasts for the following year like professional accountants. Coming from an accounting background, myself I feel tremendous pride that we have reached this level.
Q.And naturally these people are committed to their forecasts.
A. Certainly and there is daily follow up. It is surprising how much a company can benefit by daily budgets and having people that care about those budgets. The project managers convey this climate to the store managers who in turn convey it to the sales assistants, who can celebrate their achievements everyday. We have monthly incentives , if you have achieved over your budget in a particular month there is a reward, if the next month you have not achieved the budget then there is no punishment. So we have a good climate and participation from all towards realising the goals. And this is the main reason behind our notable result this year. Our results are exceptional, no matter what financial indicator is used; profitability, gearing, cash flow. And this is just the start.
Q.How did you remain true to your vision throughout the many difficulties you faced as the company was undergoing the turnaround change?
A. The driving force behind this company is the executive President Mr Polys Mallouppas a person of tremendous vision. A practical type of vision, that comes from within. He wanted to progress and have made such moves in the past. For example when in the past our company was primarily engaged in the Satellite business, Mr Mallouppas decided to diversify and not just remain within that field. He expanded into other areas of retail trade. We entered the fashion industry with very good franchises and other retail sectors with great success. Therefore the company has a history of continuous growth and extremely clever moves. When we were undergoing the recent changes, we firmly believed in the end result. We had carefully studied our plans and we were able to progress according to them exactly as we had predicted, down to the last detail. We met the deadline we had set ourselves, February 2006, by which time we had forecast we would have cut away all the loss making businesses. We achieved everything we had set out to do. On the announcement of our six monthly results for 2006, we had forecast around 1 million pounds profit for 2006, and we have exceeded that by more than 25 percent. And this profit is sustainable and will be increased every year.
And yet at the time we announced our target, some found it hard to believe us. They said that at Mallouppas and Papacostas, people have talent in persuading. So I replied that if that was the case they needed to be patient and wait till the end of 2006 and then we could talk with figures and not words. That is what has happened. Today we can talk with figures and regarding financial indicators there is no one better than us in Cyprus and I also dare say we are among the best by any international standards. There is a lot of positive energy in our company which starts with the top and reaches the fingertips. We believe in competition, we do not want it all. We are low profile people. Our priority is to do a good job, and we believe the results will follow. We are in a company where people have entrusted their money to us, so we want to do our job in the best possible way, respecting our shareholders, and we believe the results will follow. When nobody believed our forecasts, we were not 99 percent sure but 100 percent sure. There was no slightest trace of doubt. And this was transferred to the rest of the staff.
|
