Hmmm, I’m not one of those who thinks Poore was all bad. And given his business background, I find it hard to believe he was out of his depth either.
I believe we miss the Meriden effect out of the historical conversation. Poore took over NVT to turn it around. Before he’d really got started the Meriden situation took off. That took 18 months to settle, clearly screwing up two seasons. And when it was done, Meriden and the Bonneville were no longer NVT. Poore could neither sell Meriden for a huge cash injection as he had planned, nor sell thousands of Bonnevilles for cash flow as he had planned. Two massive cards just taken from his hand, but he was still expected to carry on and succeed as if nowt had happened !
But he did get another 4 million from the Govt , his asking price for selling Meridan to the Co-op , and earlierhe got 4 million from the Heath gov to purchase BSA -Triumph , along with a sweetheart deal for BSA shares, and before that , he got a huge pay out for the old AMC factory which was compulsory purchased for a ring road and presumably a big relocation grant t go to Andover,sowhether shrewdmoves or serendipity:he never actually succeeded in 'growing' a business . The Commando did little more than just about break even in financial terms.
He retained profitable BSA assets forthe family parent Manganese Holding company which were the mainstay of Manganese Bronze long after the end of NVT and indeed his premature death. But he missedthe big picture that in the 70s only the public sector was likely to come up with the requisite funds. Boston Consulting Suggested £40 million fr an industry that could compete with Japan.
Certainly not all bad by any means .. without Poore there wouldhave been no Commando but I struggle to see him as being other than out of his depth or for that matter as a 'businessman' . Whatever one might think of or want to say about Poore,it always comes back with a' not proven' verdict
Yes he had a good eye for a product , but not much of an idea on how to see it actually being profitably produced.. The roteries would surely have required a huge investment, and entirely unsuitable for a shoe string operation
And,Meridan was after all a comparatively successful enterprise. It had never made a loss and its products were better known inthe US and had a big following. And it was amuch ,much bigger undertaking than Norton. Even for an industrialist of consumate diplomatic skills it wouldhave been a bitof a headache to handle.Never easy for a sprat to swallow a whale.
NVT let it be known that they were going to closeSmall Heath and sell off BSA but keep Meridan then, after having laid off most of the Small Heath workforce they do an about turn in what probably wouldhave seemed more like a declarartion of war. This was not how to run a business.. especially when you are already embroiled with the DTI.
What really puzzles me is that the then Labour government, were ,a few years later, quite willing to actually spend money to shut the industry down. It would havebeen cheaper to make a further substantial investment.. 9,000 jobs is alot of unemployment benefit not tomention loss of export earnings etc.
Is it too cynical to suggest moral cowardice ? Benn had gone fromthe DTI and placemen and women were inthe ascendency they did not want t o beseen getting involved with ' nationalisation' workers coops etc .especially for nasty oily noisy motorbikes. British Leyland of course would be a diiferent matter
Ironically after the 1979 election and with NorthSea oil on tap it would have probably attracted money either from the jingoistic Thatcher or even the city .
However the Mark Williams . They are a perspective on a troubled Britain at a troubled time. I am not saying he was trying to speak truth topower or even to NVT but worth looking at.
