Jim Armitage: Don’t fear seeing the future through Melrose-tinted spectacles
What a shame the once-proud GKN has come to such a pass.
For years, it has said keeping both the car and aerospace sides of its business together is its greatest strength; the one balances the ups and downs of the other.
The strategy made sense for investors wanting a less cyclical slice of British engineering.
But it only works if neither side of the business is utterly torpedoed by incompetent management. When that happens, rather than being a subtle counterweight, the more successful side becomes a resentful crutch, its valuation suffering too much for shareholders to bear.
Sadly, the fiasco at its defence arm has inflicted that fate on GKN. No more can it make the argument to its long-suffering shareholders that it’s better together. Now we’ve come to that pass, it only remains to be decided who should do the break-up job.
Lib-Dem leader Sir Vince Cable says a takeover by Melrose would damage British industry. I can’t see how it would make things worse than where we stand. Melrose has done such deals countless times. If the price is right, it seems as good as anyone to do the job.
Fakes a real problem
Like José Mourinho, the new chief executive of Chelsea FC does not bring harmony wherever he goes. Guy Laurence’s former colleagues and competitors rate him highly, but talk of his tricky relationships with the Rogers sports family in Canada, and Vittorio Colao at Vodafone.
Where he does hit the right notes is with his family’s firm, John Broadwood & Sons.
This thriving business is the world’s oldest piano maker.
The Laurences and Broadwoods launched it back in 1718. Its instruments’ ivories have been tickled by Queen Victoria, Haydn and Mozart.
Two hundred years ago, Beethoven played one at a concert in London.
But John Broadwood, which boasts a royal warrant, faces one of the biggest challenges in its history: fakery.
An outfit in China has been ripping off its pianos and brand, making low-quality copies and flogging them at half the price.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the Chinese then applied for a patent here.
Luckily, eagle-eyed folk at the Intellectual Property Office spotted the knock-off. They tipped off Broadwood, which objected. The Chinese vanished and their trademark application lapsed.
Chinese counterfeiting is one of the biggest threats to British brands. While it’s great that our IP mandarins spotted this rip-off, it won’t stop it happening in China.
If we’re to become the post-Brexit exporting nation we all want to be, the counterfeit culture must form part of our trade negotiations in Asia. Chelsea, whose merchandise gets ripped off more than most, knows that only too well.
