No half measures for new Allied boss

Philip Bowman is a man who by his own admission likes a challenge. "I'm not very good with routine and things that run too smoothly," he says.

That could be taken as an under-statement: the 47-year-old Australian has demonstrated an uncanny knack of finding himself at the centre of some of the most turbulent episodes in recent corporate history.

In 1995, he was fired as finance director of Coles Myer, Australia's largest retailer, sued the company for wrongful dismissal and eventually walked off with a Aus$1.4 million (€914,000) payout and his costs. In 1998, he became chairman of Liberty, the London department store, where he had to rebuild the management team after a shareholder revolt led to the departure of most of the directors and advisers.

Then last year he became finance director of Allied Domecq, the world's second-largest drinks group, and was quickly embroiled in one of the biggest UK corporate brawls for years as two companies fought a five-month battle for its pubs and off-licences. The Allied board emerged from the fray in August with £2.75 billion sterling, or £400 million more than the price it had agreed in an exclusive deal signed with Whitbread in April.

Mr Bowman became chief executive with a mission to play a leading role in the long-awaited consolidation of the global spirits industry. Mr Bowman is not new to the drinks business. After a series of jobs in Iran, Australia and the US, he joined Bass, the UK brewing group, in 1985 as commercial director of its embryonic leisure division. He spent 10 years at Bass, including a spell as finance director and another running the retail division, before his dislike of routine set in and Australia beckoned in the form of Coles Myer.

What followed was what he now describes as "a very unpleasant and bloody skirmish", which led to his sacking for wilful misconduct three months after joining. His suit against the company referred to differences over corporate governance after he raised issues about a Aus$20 million loss on a deal that benefited interests associated with the company's then chairman.

"I regretted ever taking the job but once you've signed up you have to go through with it. In one 24-hour period I was cut adrift and you never know what will happen when you go to litigation.

"Fighting the largest employer outside the government with its almost limitless resources was an incredibly lonely process. I was forced to reappraise my friends, relationships and priorities, it was a seminal experience I wouldn't wish on anybody."

But his willingness to stand up for shareholders and take tough decisions did him no harm on his return to Britain. When Sir Christopher Hogg, Allied's chairman, approached him in 1998 about becoming finance director, he saw it as an opportunity to make a difference in a company that had got into difficulties. There was also the likelihood of a vacancy at the top, with Tony Hales, the chief executive, seen by many in the City as the wrong man to restore the group's fortunes.

"I wouldn't have joined if I had not believed there was a reasonable prospect of becoming chief executive," he says.

The combination of spirits and one of the UK's larger pub estates never seemed able to match competitors in either sector. As Mr Bowman joined the group, it issued yet another profits warning and he had to set aside his plan to learn about spirits to sort out the retail estate. "The moment of truth was discovering the level of investment needed to catch up with the competition. The board wasn't willing to invest more capital, so it was a relatively straightforward decision to sell it."

The Allied board came in for criticism for its handling of the subsequent sale, particularly when it continued to back a lower offer from Whitbread than that tabled by Punch Taverns. Mr Bowman believes it was important to have a firm offer on the table and that an open auction could have damaged the ailing pubs business. "Time will show we generated very good value for shareholders," he insists. The departure of Mr Hales in August, shortly before the pubs sale was concluded, gave Mr Bowman the top job he aspired to. His aim during the next few years is to raise the group's returns on its "bloody good assets" to put it in a position of strength in any future industry consolidation.

In November, he closed the group's London headquarters as part of a blitz on costs, moving it to the drinks base in Bristol. Several new products are in the pipeline and a deal signed with Jinro in South Korea gave Allied a partnership with the country's leading spirits distributor in the market with the world's second-biggest per capita alcohol consumption. Mr Bowman is interested in filling the gaps in the Allied portfolio and has a white rum and a vodka on his shopping list. Also, marketing campaigns have been launched for the four core brands: Ballantine's Scotch whisky, Beefeater gin, Sauza tequila and Kahlua, a liqueur.

There is a new emphasis on marketing effectiveness: "If we can get 10 per cent more out of our advertising and promotion budget of about £300 million a year, that is £30 million to spend on greater exposure of our brands or to drop to the bottom line."

Unlike Diageo, the world's largest spirits group, Allied is in no hurry to cull smaller regional and local brands that provide much of the group's sales but a smaller proportion of its profit. Brands such as Whisky DYC in Spain and Presidente brandy in Mexico are big in their markets, says Mr Bowman, while smaller brands can still be highly profitable with little promotion.

They also help cover the overhead costs of distribution and marketing of the international brands and help complete the Allied portfolio. Nor is he planning to sell the Quick Service Restaurants division, which owns Dunkin' Donuts and the Baskin Robbins ice-cream parlours.

As for consolidation, he believes it is inevitable in a relatively mature industry. "The merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness to form Diageo brought cost-savings of almost £300 million a year. That represents a significant number of years of organic growth."

His own preference would be for a deal with either Bacardi, the privately owned company that makes the white rum, or Seagram, the Canadian entertainment group that is number three in the spirits league table. Either would involve less overlap in products or markets than alternative tie-ups. "The ownership situation of the majority of players is complex with most being private companies or relatively bidproof. This makes the process and timing relatively unpredictable," he says.

"There will be consolidation but the task is to make Allied Domecq as strong as possible and maintain a dialogue with other drinks groups to shape the process." In other words, Mr Bowman will have to content himself with a routine agenda of stripping out cost and improving sales until the families that dominate the two most likely candidates are ready to do business. Allied shareholders must hope this is sufficient challenge to hold his attention.