Our May Masterclass for the Connect Gazelles West & North Yorkshire group took place on Tuesday morning and featured the fascinating story of Sheffield Forgemasters and the obstacles it overcame to go from a loss making business to an international business turning over in excess of £100m.
Originally, this story was to be told by Sheffield Forgemasters CEO, Graham Honeyman (one of 61 ‘Entrepreneurs in Residence’ for Connect Gazelles), however a very important client meeting meant that Dr Martin Kearney stepped in for Graham and did a fantastic job. The customer should always come first!
Martin began with the history of the business and what changed once Graham Honeyman joined Sheffield Forgemasters. Graham joined Sheffield Forgemasters as Technical Director in 1988. Graham led a management buyout of the business and was appointed Chief Executive in 2005. Since then he has guided Sheffield Forgemasters through the booms and busts of the last 10 year and helped to make it a major international player.
By the time Graham took over as CEO, the business had run into a lot of trouble and he said to its US owners: “You can either shut it down or transfer it to me.” Graham’s confidence in his own ability and that of the people around him meant that he had no doubt that things could be turned around. Martin said: “Confidence in your leader is the main thing”.
Employee ownership
Forgemasters pride themselves on growing home owned talent have a fantastic apprenticeship program in place, which most often takes on youngsters from the Sheffield region.
Once the business was restructured, the 10% of the shares owned by PWC, the administrators of the former parent company, and 20% owned by the pension payment protection fund were bought back and divided between the staff. However, they had to want them and be prepared to pay for them – if only for the cost of a typical holiday. Today, the business is 70% owned by the directors and 30% owned by staff – making it the only privately owned big forging company in the UK!
Sheffield Forgemasters’ growth strategy is and has always involved 3 parts: Research & Development, Equipment and People. All money goes back into the company and its people. To read more on the story of Sheffield Forgemasters, visit the history section of their website.
Connect Gazelles is first and foremost a learning group for Yorkshire entrepreneurs and our Masterclasses aim to provide golden nuggets of information on growing a successful business. I, for one, learn something new at each event. Please visit our events calendar to see which inspiring Yorkshire entrepreneur will be speaking at our next event.
