Atkins: back on track with new chief

Atkins, the consultancy and support services group, has successfully "got out of idiot things" and has brought an end to its loss-making era.
During the period when Robin Southwell held the reins, Atkins' policy was to rack up turnover despite the fact that this led to negative operating margins.
Explaining the turnaround in the group's fortunes, new chief executive Keith Clarke, appointed in October, said: "We've got out of idiot things we didn't know how to do. The business plan was purely growth-orientated. Now, Atkins has stopped chasing volume."
Latest interim results (six months to 30 September) show a pre-tax profit of £18m compared with a loss of £33m in the same period last year. Turnover was higher at £500m (£450m).
Net debt has been brought down to £26m, well below the peak figure of £120m, without the need for a rights issue. Atkins has a £65m shortfall in its benefit pension scheme and has upped annual payments by £5m to counter this.
Clarke declined to take any credit for the turnaround in the trading performance. "The group had got itself out of the pit when I arrived," he said. "When Atkins people pay attention they make good money.
"My push will be to see the group take the next step. We've all the skills in house, so that's not going to involve major surgery.
"We have done a lot of small projects to the detriment of bigger ones. But we have the nerve to move up. I want to add larger, complex projects to our range. Atkins was organised so that by default we didn't chose those [major] opportunities.
"Two years ago, the company issued a growth mandate. Hence it chose smaller schemes because they offered a quick turnaround. But now, when we discussed moving into another sphere, the suggestion was well received by our staff."