Young blood ‘changing the face of UK label industry’

A wave of new appointments at the top of the UK’s largest 440 labels companies is set to prompt a radical change in their behavior and put even greater pressure on those with ageing boardrooms, according to industry analysts Plimsoll Publishing.

There have been 282 new appointments at director level in the last 18 months in an industry with 963 directors in total. According to Plimsoll, new blood represents a transformation of the industry, with new ideas, renewed focus and different ways of working.

Senior analyst David Pattison says: ‘There has never been a more important time to take note not just of the companies you are doing business with, but of the decision makers behind those companies. We all know that companies don’t do business with companies – people do business with people. But the people are changing, and firms will be caught out and lose business as a result, simply because they took a customer, competitor or supplier for granted on the basis of an older management style.’

Plimsoll’s detailed analysis has investigated each company’s financial performance and offers firm views on the challenges the new directors face, as well as the strategies they are deploying to stamp their mark on the industry.

It finds that for 60 of them the challenge is to keep the company afloat, while for 222 others it is to deliver industry-leading performance. In both cases, a change in the way of doing things looks inevitable.

David Pattison continued: ‘The reasons for the new appointments are varied. Some have been taken on with the direct objective of finding a buyer for the company, while others look as if they have been appointed to see through a management buyout. Whatever the reason, this wave of new blood is simply the start. Almost a quarter of directors are over the age of 60, and we will see yet more evolution in the not too distant future.’