IN this the year it celebrates its 70th anniversary, things are ticking along nicely at Macfarlane Group.

The packaging firm, which Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden founded as a commercial stationer shortly after the Second World War, has booked nine consecutive years of profit growth. And it is on track to make it 10, having signalled a further upturn in May.

Macfarlane, which today drives most of its revenue from its packaging distribution operations, has designs on European expansion, too, despite the constant background chatter of Brexit uncertainty.

With so much seemingly moving in the right direction, it is little wonder chief executive Peter Atkinson cut a relaxed figure when we met on a sunny morning in Glasgow.

But life was a good deal different at Macfarlane when he joined in October 2003.

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By that stage, the group had diversified well beyond commercial stationery. It had built up to a disparate international presence, with business units spanning the globe, from “Milngavie to Mexico”.

Somewhere along the line, though, it had lost is way. When Mr Atkinson arrived, the business was loss making, its share price was depressed and the firm had ceased paying dividends. So unwieldy had it become that the cost of flying to some of the outposts in the Macfarlane empire equated to the amount of profits they made in three months.

“When I joined the business was badly damaged,” Mr Atkinson reflects. “The ambition of their strategy hadn’t been supported by their ability to execute effectively.”

Morale at Macfarlane was likely to have been bruised by the firm’s failure in a hostile bid for Greenock-based British Polythene Industries in 2000. Matters were compounded, Mr Atkinson recalls, when the people from whom it subsequently acquired National Packaging in 2001 then set up in direct competition with the Scottish firm.

Against that background, the initial strategy of Mr Atkinson, who joined from aerospace and automotive giant GKN, was to cut costs to restore its various business units to profitability. Some of those units have now been closed or sold off, including businesses in the US, Mexico and Hungary.

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“It was far more diverse then,” Mr Atkinson said of Macfarlane in the early 2000s. “In America, we were cutting and shaping foam, for packaging, medical and footwear applications for shoes. We had a business making plastic closures and scoops for baby food.

“It was loosely based around packaging, but geographically diverse and not really that focused.

“But even that stage packaging distribution was the main business [though] it was as not as dominant as it is now. We really did determine that packaging distribution was going to be the focus of the group, and that was the one we started to build.”

For his part, Mr Atkinson had been attracted to Macfarlane because it offered the chance to lead a small cap, listed company. That the business was easy for him to understand and the role matched his own skill set were other factors.

“Despite all the problems the business had, I could see a way through it,” Mr Atkinson said.

“It is easy in hindsight to see what people have done incorrectly, and what’s gone wrong. So, when you come in and you analyse what’s happening, you know what needs to be done.”

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What did impress him was the calibre of people he inherited. “What had happened was a gap had opened up between the board and the guys and girls doing it on the ground,” he said. “I saw some really good people, and all we needed to do was make greater connection between the board and the leadership team, and the guys doing it.”

With Mr Atkinson at the helm, Macfarlane was making money again within three years. Then, following an initial period of retrenchment, it began considering international expansion again around four years ago.

By that stage, Macfarlane was confident about his position in the UK, having seen growth boosted a flurry of strategic acquisitions.

It entered into a European sales alliance, Novupak, focused on northern Europe and the Benelux countries, amid increasing demands from customers to help them expand on the continental mainland.

And it is now actively considering acquisitions in Europe as part of the expansion strategy.

However, Mr Atkinson admits the process will be harder than it has been in the UK, where is has built a good reputation within the industry having pulled off a series of successful deals. Not only is Macfarlane considerably less well known in Europe than it is in the UK, there are are cultural differences in terms of how people do business.

One thing that is certain is that the company will not be using Brexit as an excuse to sits on its hands.

“It’s so easy to create excuses as to why you are not doing things,” Mr Atkinson said. “We have always said there are things that are going to happen that we can’t control. Brexit is one of them. But that shouldn’t necessarily mean we change all our plans.”

He added: “It is customers that are pushing us in this direction. Brexit it or no Brexit, that is going to stay the same as far as we are concerned.”

One suspects Lord Macfarlane is suitably content with the current direction of travel.

Six Questions

Q What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to,

for business or leisure, and why?

A For leisure, I love Italy – for its culture, the beaches, lakes and mountains… and the food. In business, I like the “can do” mentality I experience in the US.

Q When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

A Initially, I wanted to go into banking – but after a year at Barclays pre-university, I realised there were more interesting things in life!

Q What was your biggest break in business?

A I was very fortunate to have a board level mentor who guided my early career with invaluable advice.

Q What was your worst moment in business?

A Being instructed to sell a business we had just done a great job in recovering. That was tough to take.

Q Who do you most admire and why?

A That’s easy – my wife, Karin (who comes from Glasgow), for the sacrifices she’s made and for the support she gave me.

Q What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

A  I’ve just finished “Beautiful Animals” by Lawrence Osborne.  I’m listening to The Cinematic Orchestra’s album “To Believe”.