Cherry Professional

As an introduction can you give us a potted history on you and your company?
I began my career in accountancy in 1992 at a local firm of accountants in Long Eaton. I answered an advertisement in the Nottingham Evening Post for an Accounting Trainee, went for the interview and was very lucky to get the role.

Over the next few years I worked for a small number of practices in the Midlands, dealing with all sizes of businesses in all manner of sectors and qualified whilst in practice as well.

In 2004 I moved into industry as Group Finance Manager for a group of company's based in Derby, which delivered Government backed training and Welfare to Work programmes. About a year after I joined them they were taken over by a Plc and shortly after the acquisition I was offered a much larger role as a Divisional Financial Controller, staying with that group until Christmas 2007. Following a couple of interim roles I joined Hilton in November 2008 as the Finance Director for the Midlands.

The Midlands Cluster is the largest within Hilton, with eight ‘full service' Hiltons, such as the one at EMA where I am based plus two Hampton by Hilton hotels, which the industry refers to as focused service. My cluster covers from Nottingham down to Northampton and across to Shrewsbury and Tewksbury.

2009 was a tough year for most businesses, what were the major issues affecting your business and how did you handle these?
2009 was a very difficult year but it is clear that the difficulties began towards the later part of 2008.

When I joined Hilton we were starting to see deterioration in the market and even those hotels which had performed well (and in line with plan) in early 2008 were starting to see some worsening trading conditions.

In addition to reporting numbers which were often adverse to expectation, the biggest problem through 2009 was producing forecasts with the level of confidence you would wish to have within your business. Within Hilton we produce a rolling forecast each month to the end of the financial year and time and again we would re-assess expectation (downwards) only to find the market had fallen even further.

The trading issues were clear to see, reduced rooms occupancy and worsening rate levels. Lack of demand for C&E space and quite often shorter lead times for the business which was coming through. The key priority was to remain competitive and ensure we continued to provide the level of service expected from Hilton, looking after our guests and ensuring that we retained their business for when the economy improved.

Turning to this year, in January 2010 we had the snow which resulted in a bad start to the year. Since then we've had mixed performance across the 10 hotels in the Midlands.

For the first quarter of this year our occupancy has been virtually on plan. The issue we have seen concerns rate - it's about what people are prepared to pay and like many other companies we have to decide whether or not the price that people are willing to pay is reflective of our brand.

We are in the midst of the General Election - today! What are your views on the current political scene and how that may impact on the economy and perhaps Hilton in general going forwards?
It is clear that the next government will have to handle the countries deficit as one of the most pressing priorities. Within this, public sector cuts will be inevitable which will flow through to impact those private sector businesses which deal with the public sector.

The public sector makes a significant contribution to Hilton's revenues, whether directly or via the private sector companies we both deal with. We devote substantial resources to engaging with our public sector customers and any reduction in their spending will impact us.

It is also pretty clear that in the current climate, any reduction in public sector business will not be offset with increased demand from the private sector.

Hopefully a bit more stability and a bit more certainty for all?
If you look back over the last year, there have been times when Gordon Brown has looked like he might be pushed to call an Election or pushed to a position where he may have been forced to resign. I think we need a period of strong leadership and some clear direction. Whoever wins needs to actually deliver a number of things that directly relate back to their manifesto. People need to see a tangible link between what they said they were going to do and actually what they do.

How do you think the East Midlands is faring as a region compared to the UK as a whole?
I get to see Hilton's numbers from around the country and so far this year the southern regions have performed better, pointing to a southern lead upturn in the economy. They have been reporting performance which is marginally better than last year and marginally better than expectation in terms of occupancy and rate.

For the first quarter we described trading in the Midlands as ‘particularly difficult', I have more belief that we will see better performance in Q2.

What could the East Midlands do better?
I believe the East Midlands does many things very well. If you look at the number of blue chip organisations who have bases in the region it is clear that we are an attractive place to locate.

Through out our Midlands properties we receive business from some of the most recognisable companies in the world, all here doing business in the Midlands.

We benefit from our location in the centre of the country, good road and rail links to the rest of the country and are serviced by a number of airports.

Throughout my career having the Midlands as home has made travelling to any point of the country very easy.

What do you do outside of work / what makes you tick?
My new passion is golf so a lot of my time at the moment is spent playing that. I've have two young children, a son aged 7 and a daughter aged 5 so they take a lot of mine and my wife's time. My son is a huge Forest fan so we go to Forest a few times a year and the rest of time is taken up with whatever else the kids are involved in, trying to look after the house and see family and friends.

If you hadn't followed your current career path what would you have done?
Whilst taking my A levels I did a weeks work experience with the police force, which I thoroughly enjoyed but for some reason (that I cannot remember) I decided not to apply to join. A couple of years in to my accountancy career I was keen to join the Navy and took the entrance exams etc. to become an Officer. With cut backs in the armed forces, the number of places available was limited and I didn't quite get high enough up the list to get in!
That said I am in a career that I enjoy and particularly in my current role for Hilton.

Anything else you'd like to tell us or comment on?
With regard to business I would ask everyone to keep an eye out for the new Hilton brands that are popping up in the UK. Across the world Hilton has nine trading brands, more of which are now coming to the UK. Keep an eye out for Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton and Doubletree.

They all offer something a bit different, all supported by the Hilton brand.