Business Diary: October 4

IT’S a commonly held view in the business community that the public sector is riven by bureaucratic jobsworths, while the private sector is populated by thrusting, dynamic individuals who are able to cut through the nonsense and deliver great returns for investors. You get the picture.

But that’s not always the case, according to the former chairman of HSBC, Lord Green, who is now the Minister for Trade and Investment.

He told Diary how the two worlds of banking and government contrast.

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“I’m tempted to say they don’t contrast as much as all that.

“I’ve retired from the bank, I was honoured greatly to be asked to do this job, it’s a thrilling job. I’m personally enjoying it enormously, I think it’s very stimulating, I think it’s important work that collectively we’ve got to do.

“Sometimes civil servants say to me, ‘doesn’t it all seem rather bureaucratic compared with the private sector?’ And I say ‘just remember that large private sectors have a certain amount of bureaucracy as well’.

“But overall, my abiding, very striking impression from now nine months of this is how friendly everybody is and how consistent the focus on [trade and investment] is.

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“Coming out of the crisis what we all know is this is something we have got to do. There is no alternative way forward.”

Lord Green was less diplomatic about the UK prospects than some of his more political colleagues might have been.

He said: “The domestic market is not going to be a source of growth for the foreseeable future as we rebalance the economy. If there’s one thing we all know about the British economy, it can’t go on growing the way it was before the crisis.

“It can’t grow on the basis of consumption fuelled by debt and it can’t grow on the basis of growing government spending. The only alternatives are investment and trade.”

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There, you’ve been told. Now get to it and don’t forget to report back to us once you’ve cracked the export market.

Going head to head over a pint

a PUB is catering to the tastes of students from the North and the South – by pouring their favourite beer just the way they like it.

Cask ale brewer Greene King, which owns Woodies, in Leeds, has tapped into the idea that Northerners like their beer smooth with a tight head and a creamy finish, while Southerners tend to prefer their pints with a clean, crisp, hoppier finish and a looser, frothier head.

Punters can now choose between the two styles at the twist of a lever.

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The Greene King IPA Revolution pump was announced as National Cask Ale Week was celebrated this week.

Cuddle proves cold comfort for the hacks

Many chief executives have a hard time with journalists – impertinent questions, a tendency to focus on the wrong things and, more often than not, plain ignorance are recurrent problems.

So a number of them have adopted mechanisms to help them deal with the more pesky members of the journalistic species.

However, Diary has to hand it to Morrisons’ chief executive Dalton Philips, who has been hit hard by a summer cold (no man-flu in Yorkshire, please note).

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In a briefing to City journalists he said if any of the hacks present became too difficult he’d give them a cuddle and pass on the germs. As chairman Sir Ian Gibson gave a snort at the prospect, Mr Philips informed us swiftly that Sir Ian had already irritated him that day, hence the sniffles.

Surviving ‘back me or sack me’ moment

SERIAL value investor Peter Gyllenhammar can be a controversial shareholder at times, but 600 Group chief executive David Norman recalls surviving his “back me or sack me moment”.

Mr Norman joined the Leeds-based engineering group in August 2008, but was forced to restructure when its market for machine tools crashed shortly after.

Meanwhile, the Swedish investor, whose Yorkshire investments include Chapelthorpe and Leeds Group, took a liking to 600 Group and by November 2009 had amassed a 28 per cent stake.

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“He was quite attracted to the asset base of the company,” said Mr Norman.

Fortunately, Mr Gyllenhammar “understood what we were trying to do and was very supportive”.

“It was a kind of back me or sack me moment,” said Mr Norman.

Mr Gyllenhammar sold his stake to Haddeo Partners in March 2010, netting an estimated £1m.

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