By Roger Trapp
Published: 17 March 2001
An unusual line of business calls for an imaginative approach to management. Anyone trying to grow a small company that doesn't fit the mould can take heart from the example of Craig Bragdy Design.
From its base in North Wales, the company creates and installs hand-crafted murals for swimming pools, walls and underpasses, as well as decorative items for mosques, supplying to customers all over the world. A couple of years ago it ran into what director Nick Powell calls "a difficult period". The problems mainly stemmed not from inefficient running of the business but from delayed projects that led to cash-flow difficulties. Despite this, Mr Powell and his brother Shon were "invited" by their bank to employ consultants to look at ways of improving the operation.
They duly obliged and the company emerged from its troubles only to be told that the bank no longer wanted it as a customer. "It was a bit frustrating," says Mr Powell.
However, he points out that the news didn't come as a total surprise. The relationship with the bank - one of the big high-street names - had been deteriorating for a while, largely because of changes in personnel. As a result, the Powell brothers had been in discussion with rival banks with a view to making a change.
In the end, they switched to Bank of Scotland, which has been seeking to differentiate itself from other players at a time when small-business banking is under investigation by the competition authorities.
Mr Powell is pleased with the service he has received so far. He and his brother are especially impressed by the international banking arrange- ments made for them by their local branch - a vital facility for a company that receives almost all its sales from overseas.
The financial situation may now be under control but, says Mr Powell, this does not mean the business has no other problems: "There are always things to attend to."
The nature of Craig Bragdy's operation gives rise to two particular issues. First, most of its jobs are one-off contracts, making it difficult to forecast sales and plan for the future. Second, those contracts are almost all overseas - and generally in parts of the world that are culturally very different from the UK - which means that specialist knowledge of foreign markets is required. A great deal of effort has to go into understanding the customer and his or her needs, and getting to grips with the practical aspects of doing business.
Mr Powell explains: "Over the last 20 years [for example] we have grown to have a fundamental understanding of the banking systems of the Middle East. We're always learning about things. We have a very practical understanding of doing business in different parts of the world. You can get it wrong and end up with upset over quite a small issue."
These are clearly challenges to which he and his brother have risen. Though there have been blips, Craig Bragdy has seen steady growth in recent years. Last year it enjoyed a turnover of about ?.4m.
Nor has the company merely grown in financial terms. With a good proportion of its sales in such places as Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong, it has moved a long way from the cottage industry established by the Powell brothers' parents 40 or so years ago.
Rhys and Jean Powell started out making pots and other items to sell to the tourists who visited the area around Denbigh, where the business is based. Rhys is now dead but Jean remains a director.
The transformation of the business started under Shon, who joined from school. Nick, a couple of years his senior, went to college and worked in various parts of the world before returning to Wales.
The brothers have gone on to establish a reputation in the Middle East and in Asia, and are hoping to expand in these markets and replicate their success in continental Europe and the US.
They realise this will require hard work. "We have networks of people, as any business does," says Mr Powell. However, the individual nature of the projects undertaken by Craig Bragdy means that - while repeat business is not unknown - it cannot be taken for granted.
The result is that the brothers have to spend considerable parts of the year travelling to their markets, meeting potential customers, observing the sort of work that is being done and essentially promoting their service. Since the company also installs the murals once they are completed, the brothers often work on site.
Mr Powell and his brother deal with different countries. They try to avoid being out of the UK at the same time - partly because they have young families but also because they take their business responsibilities very seriously. "We have three or four people who are pretty good at managing the factory, but we don't like leaving it for very long," says Mr Powell.
While not being complacent, he is optimistic about Craig Bragdy's future prospects. The consultants brought in at the request of the company's former bank two to three years ago have - along with the firm's accountants - convinced him and his brother to be a little bolder in projecting growth.
He recalls: "They said, 'You have to look at yourselves and look at the business and say you can expect x amount of turnover, never mind that you don't know where the jobs are coming from'.
"We're probably a little conservative," he admits. "It all goes back to the old man - if he bumped into somebody who showed a vague interest in some tiles, he'd say, 'We've got a big job in.' We go in the opposite direction."
URL: http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article247934.ece
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