The dastardly Mr Deedes's Big shot of the week
KATE SWANN, 53 SSP CHIEF EXECUTIVE
KATE Swann is Britain’s best regarded female boss you may not even have heard of. She saved WH Smith from the High Street graveyard, trebled the share price of her current firm SSP and in the struggling world of retail she has continually found growth where her contemporaries have encountered only despair.
She has the glossy looks of an extra from Dynasty yet eschews the jet-set lifestyle (she loathes flying, if you must know), speaks to the media only when necessary and never, ever struts.
In words of the BBC’s late, great Olympics commentator alan Weeks: ‘Isn’t she marvellous?’
Investors certainly think so. When Swann announced this week she was standing down from SSP – which runs food outlets such as Caffè Ritazza and Upper Crust –in six months time, the company’s share price tumbled 8pc.
While she says she has nothing lined up, she insists she’s not retiring. a host of plum jobs will soon become available – Rooney anand’s corner office at Greene King; the John Lewis chairmanship Sir Charles Mayfield relinquishes in 2020. MIGHT any of them appeal? ‘I’ll see what comes up,’ she says nonchalantly. Born in Hertfordshire, Swann was the first member of her family to go to university, undertaking a business degree at Bradford. Clearly she looks back on her time there fondly. She’s currently the university’s Chancellor.
after starting her career in 1986 as a trainee at tesco, she took a string of marketing jobs where she displayed a knack for innovative thinking. at Coca-Cola, she pushed the company to use plastic, resealable bottles. at Curry’s, where she learned at the knee of Dixon’s mercurial chief Stanley Kalms, she drove the move into megastores, a trick she repeated in her following job at Homebase.
When Swann landed the top job at WH Smith in 2003 aged just 39, having just served three years as managing director at argos, the newsagent appeared to be heading down the same plughole that Woolworths was about to vanish. In her first results call, she announced losses of £72m, one of the worst performances in the retailer’s history. Vultures hovered.
But where most turnaround plans mean flogging assets and stripping out half the work force, Swann decided to show a bit of imagination.
She separated the news distribution from the shops, concentrated on the store’s core sales of books, stationery, newspapers, magazines and greetings cards and began to focus openings on airports and railway stations. Before long, she had converted those heavy losses into treble digit profits. But it was a demanding role and 14-hour days were not unusual. the return trip from her home near Stansted to WH Smith’s Swindon offices was over 250 miles. With two young daughters to care for, her husband Michael ended up quitting his job selling fruit and vegetables at the local branch of Sainsbury’s to become a house husband.
When Swann announced she was off nine years later, with some £13m in her back pocket, she was hot property. Many thought she was tailormade for the top job at ailing Marks & Spencer or, at the very least, a high profile FtSe 100 position.
So it came as a surprise when it was announced she was joining the unglamorous world of travel-hub catering. But like at WH Smith, she saw a company where improvements could be made and she’s certainly achieved that.
In her five years at SSP, she’s returned over £350m to shareholders via dividends.
this year’s profits have leapt 26pc to £182.9m. Having earned over £16m in her first four years there, her personal shareholding in the company stands at £29m. Until she decides what to do next, there’s a non exec directorship at england Hockey which can keep her busy.
She told the times she got the role following years of watching her daughters play from the sidelines and decided to email the chairman with a few suggestions. It’s hard to escape the notion this is a one woman ideas factory.
Can’t wait to see what her Swann song’s going to be.