Culina Group chief executive Liam McElroy believes his forward strategy will streamline the business, drive out costs, improve efficiency and generate organic growth.
The former DHL and Wincanton director is just three months into the role but said he had already begun simplifying Culina’s value proposition amid a major transformation process aimed at remaining competitive.
“The priority is driving integration and synergies, becoming more unified and unlocking cost to reinvest,” he explained.
“We’ll switch our focus from M&A to organic growth and more customer intimacy. The previous leadership have given me that platform. I want to write a new chapter in the Culina storybook.”
Asked if the new strategy would involve job losses, he said: “We are streamlining the business without a shadow of a doubt, yes. I’m three months in and I’m looking at all the options that we’ve got on that.”
Liam McElroy’s appointment came after a period of management turmoil at Culina, which last October saw group chief executive Thomas Van Mourik and group deputy chief executive William Stobart both depart. Van Mourik’s replacement, Ian Smith, then left the company after just three months.
“My understanding is that Thomas and William will pursue other interests and be enjoying retirement,” Liam said. “And I totally respect Ian’s decision having spoken to him. There are always rumours in the market. I’m parking those and focusing on what I need to do here.”
He added that parent company Müller shared his vision for the group and had total faith in his new senior leadership team.
“The key looking forward is how I create that one Culina Group identity with more unification, and increased share of wallet,” he explained.
“We’ve got so much more opportunity that we’ve not necessarily had before because we’ve operated as a conglomerate.
“I want to make it easier for our customers to transact with us. I want a more centralised and holistic view on things like property and procurement.
“By doing that we also leverage our scale, to drive better pricing for example. Going round the site, I’ve seen examples of where we’ve got common assets but why would I have five different manufacturers?
“Why don’t I have two and leverage the scale of the pricing I can get off the back of that? For me that’s a really important aspect.
“I also think you’ve got an interesting time because of the global and UK economy. The CEO of one potential customer I visited recently said he was bunkering down because of the Labour government.
“He had a £2.90 tax levy on alcohol and his tax bill was £100 million, so he’s got to get £100 million through the door before he even starts making profit. I think that brings it home.”
He recently launched a major transformation programme to address the group’s financial ambition and has already identified £75m in savings initiatives to reinvest.
“That’s year to date so I expect a lot more,” he said. “It comes back to that single Culina Group identity and I want all the senior management team to have a contribution.”
Further automation is another key focus for the Group. “If you’ve got rising costs, automation brings enhanced performance, the ability to optimise space and to improve agility,” he said.
“Automation needs to be first and foremost on the agenda. Because If you can drive cost efficiencies you can reinvest that saving into the pricing that you need to remain competitive. That’s really key.
“You’re seeing the evolution of technology at the moment and seeing better pricing on automation and therefore better return on the investment. A prominent grocery retailer told us recently about their first humanoid robot. That’s coming in the next two or three years, and it shows how far technology has advanced.”
