Friday 5 December 2008

Sir Lewis Robertson CBE

Sir Lewis Robertson, Chairman of Havelock Europa 1989 - 1992, died last week four days before his 86th birthday. He was one of Scotland's most distinguished post-war businessmen, who made his name first in the Dundee textile industry and then as one of the country’s best known “company doctors”.

Sir Lewis – described as the most methodical man in Scotland and at times the most powerful – rescued and built up Havelock Europa during the period May 1989 – December 1992. Arriving at Havelock in a “blaze of gun smoke”, following a profits warning and a collapse in Havelock’s share price, Sir Lewis cleared the Boardroom, dismissing all of the company's Non-executive Directors and three of its Executive Directors. Within two months, following a comprehensive recruitment search, he appointed Hew Balfour as the new Chief Executive from a shortlist of six and together, and with the help of Ian Godden of OC&C, a strategic consultancy group, they set about restoring the company’s fortunes.

This involved the initial closure of nine of the company’s thirteen store fitting premises and a drive to identify and bring on board new shareholders and new customers. Sir Lewis’s team of advisors (known colloquially as the Robertson gunslingers) included Noble Grossart and KPMG, who remain today as the Group’s principal financial advisors.

Within a year the medicine started to work and the company’s profits recovered significantly before the onset of the 1991 to 1993 recession.

Sir Lewis retired as Chairman before the full effects of his restructuring began to show in 1993, accompanied by a sharp rise in Havelock's share price, peaking at 376p in 1996, but there was no doubt that the foundations he laid were of great value to the company.

He was meticulous in his preparation for shareholder meetings and he went through every dot and comma in the Annual Report. Every business letter he sent in his life had a unique code to enable subsequent identification; a practice no doubt stemming from his days at Bletchley Park. Unfailingly courteous, he made it his business to remember people’s names and to read up his notes on previous meetings with them, however insignificant such a meeting might have been. He was, in every sense, a remarkable man.

Sir Lewis helped turn around numerous other ailing businesses in a manner that won him much acclaim. These included Grampian Holdings, F H Lloyd, Triplex, Stakis and FJC Lilley. He was a Non-executive Director of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, and was the first Chief Executive of the Scottish Development Agency - a job which he liked very much, but, irritated by political interference, from which he resigned four years later.

A classical music lover and fluent Italian speaker, he served on the Scottish Arts Council and was an active supporter of Scotland's museums and galleries. His organisation and attention to detail were legendary, evidenced by a Filofax that used to unfold like a giant accordion on his various board tables. His eye for methodical detail led him to wartime intelligence work with the Royal Air Force and German and Italian code breaking at Bletchley Park.

With every company he was called in to sort out, his approach was the same: he insisted on being chairman, and is famously quoted as once saying - "I must have absolute authority." Born in Dundee, Sir Lewis was educated at Ardvreck Preparatory School, Crieff, and Trinity College, Glenalmond. He went on to train as an accountant with the family firm Scott & Robertson, but within a few years following what he called “the revolt of the pigmies” he left Scott & Robertson and struck out on his own in the textile industry – and never looked back.

Hew Balfour, Chief Executive, said: "Sir Lewis's approach to business was organised and meticulous. He instilled confidence both within Havelock, its shareholders and the banks and we owe our survival at that time to his strong leadership and pains-taking stewardship."