Blackfriar: The name's Dalton and he's already loved by the bookies

Four years ago the Bradford-based retailer plucked Marc Bolland from Dutch obscurity and appointed him as chief executive in a move that took the market completely by surprise.

Now four years later it's gone and done it again with the appointment of Dalton Philips, who is a big name in Canada apparently.

The bookies are rubbing their hands in glee. Paddy Power didn't even mention Philips as a possible runner. In fact Denise Van Outen, who has appeared in several Morrisons ads, was seen as a more likely candidate at 500 to one.

Once you get over the fact he's only 41 and sounds like he must have played James Bond at some point in his career, Philips has an impressive pedigree.

He worked for Asda's US parent Wal-Mart for seven years and was poached by its rival Canada's Loblaw three years ago where he worked closely with Allan Leighton, the former Asda chief executive.

Apparently Philips is used to working twelve-hour six-day weeks which should go down well with former chairman Sir Ken Morrison.

In fact Blackfriar has just one worry about Philips' appointment: He doesn't like staying in the same job for more than a few years.

Yes he stayed at Wal-Mart for seven years but during that time he had three different jobs working in Brazil and Germany.

This could be a thorny issue for Sir Ken who famously said following Marc Bolland's departure: "It turned out he's not a stayer, he's a sprinter. I've got greyhounds so I know the difference."

Come 2013, Morrisons will be hoping that history does not repeat itself.

IT'S becoming an all-too-familiar story. Another week passes and shareholders in yet another Yorkshire company look set to be hung out to dry.

This time the spotlight falls on Dyson Group, the 200-year-old Sheffield high tech materials group.

The company, whose shares are suspended, is at the mercy of its banks.

It owes them around 39m, and with assets which have plunged in value, and sales eroded by the recession, it has little way of paying them back.

The only viable option remaining is a debt-for-equity swap, which Blackfriar believes is imminent.

But as we saw with Leeds consultancy WYG recently, shareholders are the biggest losers in debt deals of this kind. In WYG's case, they were left with just 15 per cent of the company, with banks taking 60.5 per cent.

In the case of WYG, it entered the recession with 88.7m net debt. This unwieldy burden came home to roost as revenues and profits fell, forcing it down the D4E route.

Dyson's debt pile was also far too big on entering the recession.

The last reported net debt of 38.8m might have been perceived as appropriate when the group was earning profits of 6.5m on revenues of 64m.

But when automotive manufacturing and sales collapsed, Dyson's sales and profits were driven down too.

It made underlying losses of 2.2m on sales of 53.5m in 2008/9.

When it came to refinancing the debt, banks didn't want to know.

Shareholders will want to know why debt was allowed to get so far out of control.

Chairman Christopher Honeyborne this week insisted shareholders will have a stake – albeit reduced – in the company's future.

But he was silent on whether this will mean a delisting, and said a set of proposals will be sent to shareholders when talks with banks are concluded.

This update on Dyson's future cannot come soon enough. Its shares were suspended last summer and banking talks have dragged on for a year. Shareholders have been kept in the dark far too long.

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