Mair’s chief executive to end 9-year term

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 41

Mair’s chief executive to end 9-year term

The chief executive of Christchurch’s largest listed company (with the move of Waitaki International) steps down this week. Mr Alan Shadwell, managing director of Mair Astley, who is 56, says he has always believed a chief executive should step aside after between eight and 10 years in a position. He is doing just this on Friday, and will be succeeded by Mr John Edwards. The son of a Central Otago farmer, Mr Shadwell was educated at Hutt Valley High School. He joined the North Island stock and station agent, Newton King, and served two years as a stock clerk at Hawera before going to Wrightson’s wool department in Wellington. Part-time study of wool classing led to his becoming a lecturer in wool classing at Massey University. ,He also qualified as an accountant in parttime studies. Mair and Company acquired him as an employee when the wool firm; Andreae (N.Z.), Ltd, became an associate company in 1962. He was put in charge of the Kaputone wool scouring plant at Belfast. Under his management the scour became profitable. Mr Shadwell became a director of Mair and Company in 1971, and was appointed managing director of Mair Com (N.Z.), Ltd, in December, 1976. In May, 1979, he was appointed managing director of Mair and Company. His and the company’s goal was to develop Mair as an international commodity trader, where possible processing the products it exported.

Mair has grown spectacularly, taking over Colyer Watson, and merging with the Auckland tannery firm, Astley and Sons. The headquarters has been firmly anchored in Christchurch. This, says Mr Shadwell, is no disadvantage with modern telecommunications? In 1980, the company had shareholders’ funds of $5.9 million. Last year they were $80.9M. The staff has risen from 247 to about 800. The turnover has risen from SISOM to $559M. Mair’s is the country’s biggest wool exporter, exports 35 per cent of the country’s venison (most deboned in cuts ready for supermarkets and restaurants), and is the largest hides and pelts exporter. It is in fishing as well. The company had developed its manufacturing side, spinning carpet yarn in Christchurch, nlaking carpet in the United States, and finishing leather for overseas fashion markets. Mair Astley is now an impressive international trader. It sells wool to Russia and to many other countries, including Iceland, where it no doubt

goes into the renowned Icelandic sweaters. Mr Shadwell has travelled widely while chief executive, and says he will enjoy the break from this. He has traded with many nationalities, and reached conclusions about the business traits of various countries. The Germans, Japanese, and Chinese, he has found, bargain hard but then keep strongly to an agreement. Traders in some Mediterranean countries reach an agreement much more readily, but often cavil later. In the Middle East, there are traders who can be less than honest. During Mr Shadwell’s “reign,” Mair’s made the first bulk tallow and bulk wheat shipments. It increased the compression of wool shipped out. When the shipping companies, he and the former chief executive of Waitaki, Mr E. J. Neilson, battled the Shipping Conference, and opened up the freight market to more shipping lines. The floating of the dollar has given Mair Astley one of its toughest tests. The company now has a staff of about 10 in a treasury department which monitors hourly the group’s exposure in foreign currencies. Companies within the group have had to become expert in the field, too. Only someone with specialised knowledge of the company’s field, say, yarn, can thoroughly assess the effects on its industry of currency movements, Mr Shadwell says. The Government has used as one of the justifications of floating the dollar that it has saved the taxpayers millions in the cost of meeting a fixed rate. But Mr

Shadwell says much of this cost has just been transferred to the private sector, which now has to spend much more monitoring currency movements and hedging. The floating currency forces international traders such as Mair Astley, which have manufacturing arms, to hold some of their assets overseas, Mr Shadwell says. There is no other effective way to hedge fixed assets. Products for export (or import) can be hedged, but how do you hedge against the falling value of a factory if it becomes uncompetitive because of currency movements? Until recently, the chairman of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, Mr Shadwell has been critical of the speed at which tariffs have been reduced under free-market policies. He says that it is the aluminium smelter and Think Big projects such as the petrochemical plants which are keeping the balance of payments figures up at present. Traditional manufacturing has been hard hit. He believes economic recovery will be slower than many expect. Mr Shadwell is not retiring to a life of bowls and golf. He has plenty of work as a director of PDL, the Futures Exchange, the Lyttelton Harbour Board, and other organisations. He will take part in a project to bring the Manufacturers’ Federation, the Employers’ Association, and the Chambers of Commerce closer together. He also will do work for the Manufacturers’ Federation in Wellington. But he has no plans to mpve home from Christchurch.