Overall ranking: 65 (28)

Pubs ranking:  5  (6)

Ralph Findlay - Snapshot
Ralph Findlay is the chief executive of brewer and pub operator Wolverhampton & Dudley (W&D) which has nearly 2,400 pubs and brews the Marstons Pedigree and Bank’s beer brands.

Its estate includes more than 1,800 tenanted pubs under the Union Pub Company and nearly 550 managed venues under the Pathfinder Pubs division (which includes brands such as Pitcher and Piano, Bostin’ Local and Service That Suits Me).

In the year to 1 October 2005, the group boosted pre-tax profits (before goodwill and exceptional items) by 0% to £90.1m on sales of £597.3m.

Ralph Findlay - Career guide
Ralph Findlay was born in Edinburgh in 1961. He worked as an exploration geologist for a year after completing a BSc in the subject before joining Price Waterhouse in Nottingham and qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1988. He then worked for two years at the company’s London office in financial services and technical accounting. 

Findlay joined Bass as treasury manager in 1990 and moved to Geest plc in 1992 as financial controller.

In 1994, Findlay moved to W&D and was promoted to finance director in 1996 and chief executive in 2000.

Ralph Findlay - What we think
W&D was formed in 1890 from the merger of three family brewers – the Banks family business and Fox Brewery in Wolverhampton and the Thompson family brewery in Dudley. Since floating in 1964, the group has grown from a regional operator into a major national player.

Ralph Findlay took the helm between two periods of turbulence in the company’s history.

In 2000, W&D was saddled with a £550m debt from the rancorous takeover of Marston, Thompson and Evershed (which attracted a disruptive counter bid) and of Mansfield Brewery in 1999.

This vulnerability soon triggered one of the UK’s longest takeover battles. Hostile bids from entrepreneur Robert Breare, Pubmaster and then the two combined dragged on for 14 months until shareholders rejected the improved offer of £425m in August 2001. The cost of fighting the bid, along with pub disposals, slashed 50% off the group’s profits for 2001.

With this long period of uncertainty brought to a close, Findlay was free to refine and build up the group’s estate and, in May 2004, he announced he was on the takeover trail after securing a new £420m five-year banking facility.

The buying spree started in June when W&D snapped up Wizard Inns for £96.7m. This acquisition netted W&D 63 managed pubs, primarily in the south.

In January 2005, it completed the £119m acquisition of Cheshire-based Burtonwood, which operated 460 pubs in the North West and West Wales.

It followed up in May with a £46m offer for Jennings Brothers’ estate of 128 leased and tenanted pubs in the north of England (nearly half in Cumbria) and, for dessert, swallowed up 14 managed pubs from English County Inns for £13.4m in the autumn.

This March, the group added 70, mostly tenanted, pubs to the W&D estate after buying Celtic Inns for £43.6m.

W&D’s focus on freehold community pubs has protected it from the fierce competition on the high streets and the group has built up its food offer to account for 29% of revenues from its managed pubs – rising to 60% at the food-led brands.

Last year, W&D was voted the fifth most respected hospitality company in the UK in the peer-reviewed Britain’s Most Admired Companies 2005 rankings, where it rose from 74th to 44th position in the pan industry top 220 table.

Company profile on CatererSearch

Wikipedia profile on W&D