Photo: Chief executive of Noble Foods Michael Kent
www.theranger.co.uk
The man now charged with the biggest job in the egg industry very nearly carved out a career as a medical surgeon.
With A-levels in biology, chemistry and physics and a place booked at Guy's hospital in London, it was only a last minute change of heart that led Michael Kent to follow his family into the poultry industry.
But a return to the successful egg business his parents had built up in the West Country didn't come about until he had completed a four year degree course in business studies and spent several years working for other companies in the egg industry.
"My father told me to go away for five years and make mistakes for other people first," said Mr Kent, now the boss of newly-formed Noble Foods created from the merger between Deans and Stonegate. "As it happens I stayed away for fourteen years."
In fact his first job was for his new business partner Peter Dean, a position that paid him £1,800 a year.
"I turned down a better paid job—£2,000 and a ford car—with JW Thomson which was the trading arm of the huge poultry business of Eastwood. Based in an office in Smithfield market I would have been selling eggs when what I really wanted to do was produce them."
Mr Kent, who is 56, describes spending his first year at Deans Farms "shovelling muck, collecting eggs and repairing things". Promotion quickly followed and he spent the next five years running four of Deans' packing centres where he replaced the 20 case per hour graders with Moba 60 case machines. Both Deans and Stonegate now operate machines capable of grading 330 cases every hour.
Ironically, in his last year with Deans when he was responsible for new projects, Mr Kent put together a plan to purchase Stonegate but the idea was rejected by bosses at feed compounder Dalgety who owned Deans at the time.
His next job was with Stonegate where he oversaw the company's move into egg production from a position of solely packing and marketing eggs. This included producing the first free range eggs for Sainsbury's in 1983 from sheds that were 8' wide and 40' long and turning out eggs only two months after Andrew Parker, who was Stonegate boss at the time, announced that they needed some free range.
In 1984, with his father Clifford wanting to retire, Mr Kent returned to takeover the family business based at St Cleer in Cornwall. Back then the company was packing eggs for Stonegate but in 1987 Clifford Kent Ltd commenced marketing eggs independently under the Horizon name. But this foray into egg marketing coincided with a time when the market was weak and Mr Kent admits it was one of the few times he has lost money—nearly £200,000 that first year.
The following year the company gained valuable supermarket business on the back of an investment in new egg packing facilities. But by late 1993 margins were tight once again in the face of stiff competition between packers and Mr Kent decided to abandon the marketing project and agreed a lucrative deal to once again supply Stonegate with eggs.
A few good years followed but another downturn in the market in the late nineties saw profitability tumble for Stonegate and Mr Kent was invited by the packer to "come and sort the job out". He used the opportunity to buy shares in Stonegate and had soon purchased sufficient to gain overall control. Keen to gain more supermarket business, in 2001 Stonegate purchased packer Thames Valley.
Mr Kent did turn the business around but describes it as probably the toughest time in his career, not helped by the fact it coincided with his father having an accident whilst abroad on holiday.
"Thames Valley had lost money three years in succession and had liabilities greater than its assets," he explained. "It really needed my 100 per cent attention but I've always been there for dad and I visited him every day during his lengthy stay in a London hospital. They were tough times but we survived and thankfully so did dad."
Under Mr Kent's leadership Stonegate is now firmly on a sound footing and he believes the merger with Deans offers a fantastic opportunity.
"This isn't one packer taking over another struggling packer. This is two profitable companies expert in the business of producing and marketing eggs coming together to drive sales forward.
"We'll be able to offer retailers an even better service and the economies achieved will ensure a bright future for producers."
Mr Kent's rise to what is arguably the most important position in the egg industry is in no small way due to his drive, commitment and unrelenting appetite for work. His working day starts at 4.00am—pretty much seven days a week—when he'll be found reading notes, adding up figures and dictating letters, usually from the bedroom of a Travel Inn for he is often away from the home in Cornwall he shares with wife Tracy.
His key players also need to be reasonably alert first thing in the morning for it's not unknown for him to make contact with them as early as 6.30am.
"I try not to ring everyone at that time but if there's important information I need, yes I may give colleagues a call. Tracy does tell me off though if I try ringing someone at 7.00am on a Sunday!"
He has no permanent office for he believes it isn't from behind a desk where he makes the difference but out seeing customers, suppliers and staff. He's no fan of emails either which caused him to impose some strict rules on their use within Stonegate.
"They're a useful tool but have now become misused and as for people sending them to each other within the same office I just think it's plain rude."
But then Michael Kent does believe in doing business face-to-face which goes someway to explaining his preferred mode of transport—a private helicopter.
"Last week I left the head office near Aylesbury at 6.00am. I visited four of the company's sites and got back by 7.15pm in time for dinner with a major customer at 7.30pm.
"If I'd attempted that by road I'd have made two visits at best and returned in the evening exhausted. It is a tool for work and nothing more."
He sees his immediate role as chief executive of Noble Foods as integrating the two businesses as smoothly as possible. He says that process begins with concentrating first on the areas of the business where the biggest gains are to be had.
Clearly that involves taking cost out and he's earned a reputation for this which some would describe as ruthless.
"I wouldn't put it like that. But what I can do is add up figures and decide what needs doing and take the necessary action. But I always work on the principle that any action must be explainable—if it's not, then it shouldn't be taken."
And his message to those producers who may be feeling less than comfortable now they've seen one more outlet for their eggs disappear.
"Just wait and see, I'm confident that there's a better future ahead and I hope producers won't be waiting too long to see that for themselves.
"Noble Foods will be a fantastic company that's worth sticking with for the rewards will be there. In fact the Ranger can interview me again in 12 months time when I'll be delighted to say 'I told you so'."
