oratories were being kitted out. By 1982, Fisons was the largest non-
American supplier of scientific equipment anywhere in the world. Two
years later the purchase of Curtin Matheson Scientific Inc., a distributor of
laboratory products, firmly established the division in the important US
market – home to around 40 per cent of the world’s research activity.
The tiny Horticulture Division (a recent spin-off from fertilizers) was
also searching for complementary acquisitions both at home and abroad.
Fisons already dominated the peat and lawn fertilizer market in the UK,
and had acquired 30 per cent of the North American peat market with the
acquisition of Western Peat Canada. The division was now working hard
to develop added-value peat products to launch into the US.
The best managed company in its sector
By mid-1984 the turnaround was complete and, in recognition of his
achievements, Kerridge was appointed to the newly merged position of
chairman and chief executive. He had by now established a reputation as
a strong and determined leader, whose aggressive ‘hands-on’ style was
respected and admired (from a distance) by the investment community of
the City of London. The City’s approval was underlined in January 1986,
when a poll conducted by stockbrokers James Capel voted Fisons the best
managed company in its sector. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Fisons
turned in impressive year on year increases in profits, while making sig-
nificant acquisitions in all areas of its business.
As the 1990s dawned, Fisons was generally regarded as a superbly
managed company; highly skilled in the art of mergers and acquisitions,
and very efficiently run. The company’s director of finance, Roy Thomas,
was widely acknowledged as the best in the sector, if not within the entire
FTSE 100 list of companies. Under his guidance, the company’s financial
function had been transformed from a pedestrian book-keeping operation
staffed by accountants into one of the slickest finance divisions in British
business. Thomas’s financial wizardry had consistently kept the
company’s tax charges at an enviably low level, and had made substantial
profits from currency hedging and treasury management. Thomas was a
popular figure with the City, and while many commentators struggled to
follow his financial manoeuvrings, he was usually forthcoming when
asked about the financial management of the company. The same could not
be said for Kerridge. At his rare forays into the public arena, Kerridge
tended to concentrate on an overview of the business, showing a marked
reluctance to be drawn into detailed discussions. Though widely respected
for his management abilities, he was known to be extraordinarily sensitive
to criticism. Kerridge’s personal distaste for high profile management was
in sharp contrast to the regime he had displaced. In the early days follow-
270 Relationship Marketing