Sir, – I wish to respond to John McManus’s article, “Hearing will tell if Musgrave shelved its good values in Superquinn deal” (Business Opinion, July 25th).
In his article, John correctly points out that any business that seeks to make ethical business standards a core brand value had better live up to them. He also implied we were in danger of compromising our values in pursuit of a business objective – ie, the acquisition of Superquinn.
From our side we were surprised John felt the need to lead with the obvious – that all businesses with strong values are in daily danger of compromise – without developing his specific case through a realistic assessment of the circumstances.
Receiverships are unpleasant and deeply personal processes. At the beginning of the process, we had no option but to let the joint receivers do their difficult work. Of course, we were fully aware of the hardship the Superquinn receivership would bring for deeply challenged small businesses across Ireland. This is why we said, as an interim measure, we would provide small Irish suppliers – North and South – with access to Musgrave’s retail network. It is also why we spent the end of last week working with the banks to establish a €10 million fund for Superquinn suppliers, should the courts and regulators allow us to acquire the business.
My point here is simply that at the time John wrote his piece, the courts were still trying to establish whether or not Musgrave would have any role at all to play in Superquinn’s future – let alone that of its suppliers.
In fact, we still await approval for the acquisition from the Competition Authority.
In the meantime, all we can do is lay out our ambitions for the Superquinn business, its people and suppliers backed up by our expertise, our track record and, yes, our company values.
At a time of deep cynicism and distrust of many of Ireland’s core institutions, I believe that it is important to point out that there are large Irish businesses that do seek to do the right thing. Musgrave’s success throughout this recession and back through its 136-year-history is rooted in values that not only define our business but serve to guide our decision-making, particularly in challenging times when difficult decisions have to be made.
And while none of us is perfect, I genuinely believe that over the past couple of weeks we have done the best we could under very real legal and practical constraints. – Yours, etc,