Meet the transformation expert who swapped international retail for Yorkshire manufacturing

“I used to look at the different coloured carpet tiles and think how in your face they were. I remember walking around thinking ‘who chooses these patterns?’” he says.

Payne, 49, whose background is in the growth, turnaround and digital transformation of retail brands, joined AIM-listed flooring specialist AIREA as chief executive in August 2022.

Making the move to a Yorkshire carpet tile manufacturer with an £18m turnover was a deviation from a career which had seen him working in key international executive roles, notably within Al-Futtaim Group - the richest private family retail group in Dubai, as chief executive for Home Centre, the largest home retailer in the Middle East, and at Kingfisher as chief executive for Castorama in Russia.

Sitting in a meeting room at AIREA’s headquarters in Ossett, near Wakefield , he admits his latest move looks like an unusual decision.

“Having looked after over £1bn turnover last year, people have asked me on a professional level why I’ve done this,” he says. “Part of it is that I want the PLC director badge. In larger companies you’re a manager or a designated CEO, which is one level down in terms of responsibility. I wanted a company that would give me the opportunity to learn the peculiarities about being a director within a PLC. I want to take this little company and hopefully do something exciting with it.”

The other reason for moving is to provide some family stability. After 14 years of international travel, he wanted to provide a permanent base for his 16-year-old twin sons.

He is married to his Italian second wife with whom he has a third son, age 13.

“At some point you need to decide whether you want to stay international or whether you want to come back to Europe and I decided for personal reasons to return to the UK,” says Payne.

So now he is using his transformational leadership skills to turn AIREA, which trades as Burmatex, into an eco-friendly manufacturing company.

The company, which employs 113 staff, sells its products to schools, universities, commercial offices, hospitals and Government buildings.

Its carpet tiles can be found in offices in Canary Wharf, the Ministry of Defence and major airports.

About a fifth of its sales are international, primarily Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Payne’s main focus, using his previous contacts, is Saudi Arabia because of the ‘sheer scale of investment’ in hotels, offices and education.

“They’re building these crazy projects and there’s a willingness there to embrace advances in technology, which is an opportunity for us,” he says.

AIREA often finds itself competing against firms from the US, the number one market for carpet tiles, but Payne is waving the British flag hard.

“Our product is slightly different and I think we’re more internationally sensitive. We’ll be the first carpet tile manufacturer to translate all our marketing into Arabic, for example,” he says.

The one thing Payne has noticed is that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, environmental and sustainable products are king.

“When I first joined AIREA I realised we weren’t being considered for tenders because our carbon footprint was too high,” he says.

Payne set about overhauling the company’s manufacturing processes, its product range, and its sales and marketing material to reflect what he calls the company’s new ‘eco story’.

“We’re about a third of the way through doing a massive transformation to refresh the product range, get rid of all the old non environmentally friendly products and put the eco story at the centre of what we do,” he says.

In January, the company launched its first carbon neutral range, Arctic.

The company has switched to renewable energy in the factory and found better ways of dealing with waste. It now sells the yarn it doesn’t need back to the manufacturer and receives money back for recycling the cardboard cones that come with the yarn. It also receives an income for recycling the shrink wrap that is wrapped around factory pallets.

“When I talk about the pivot, it’s not just about the product, it’s the mindset of everybody on the site,” says Payne.

“We’ve gone from paying for waste to be taken away to getting revenue back from recycling the waste.”

Looking ahead, he is confident about AIREA’s future, even though economic conditions are difficult. “If we hadn’t done the sustainability work I don’t think I’d be sitting here so relaxed,” he says. “But I believe we have the right strategy and we’re going in the right direction.”

Payne, who was brought up in Chester with a British father and a French mother who ran a candle making business, describes himself as people-focused and fair but a ‘nightmare’ if customer service is bad. “I’m very demanding in that respect,” he says.

“But if I see people trying in life and making an effort I will go the extra mile to help them. I believe in empowering people to do well.”

Ultimately, he says, he is driven by a sense of duty. “A sense of duty to my family and to my colleagues. That drives me more than loyalty and I think with a PLC you have a duty of care to all those you engage with.”