Embattled Interserve once had some serious bragging rights 鈥� but perhaps more caution would have come in handy
Bull
Sometimes, a whole story can be encapsulated in a single headline, writes Deborah Duke. In this case, March 2008鈥檚 article that announced: 鈥淚nterserve boss bullish as turnover soars to 拢1.7bn鈥�.
好色先生TV鈥檚 piece 11 years ago this month tells a tale that 鈥� when considered against last week鈥檚 shareholder vote that sent Interserve into a pre-pack administration 鈥� now sounds somewhat hollow.
Those were the good times indeed. After appointing a 35-year-old Adrian Ringrose as chief executive in 2003, and subsequent years of getting stuck into PFI jobs and riding the Middle East construction boom, Interserve clearly felt on form.
A blip with an accounting scandal in its industrial services business in 2007, and the company was back to its bullish best. As the story stated: 鈥淗eadline profit rose 26% to 拢73.4m, largely thanks to the performance of its restructured facilities management division.鈥�
And why else was it so very successful? Ringrose kindly explained: 鈥淥ur skills are in areas that are resilient when the economy comes under pressure.鈥�
Tell that to the shareholders.
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