PATTON
Patton is a subsidiary of NZPM Group, having been bought from Hellaby Holdings in 2001. At that time it was turning over a little more than NZ$20m and making an EBIT of NZ$1.2m. The business was essentially NZ focussed with one small branch in Sydney turning over NZ$1.3m and losing NZ$100k each year.
After several meetings with the management of Patton, Alister challenged them to expand their thinking and set a much more aggressive Vision for the company. He worked with them to develop a plan to make Patton a multinational operation focussing on Australia, ASEAN, India and into the middle East. They developed a detailed plan, gained the support of the Board, and started the expansion. By the time of Alister's departure from NPZM Group, Patton had twelve outlets in Australia (a mix of wholly owned branches and Joint Ventures), a Joint Venture manufacturing plant in Thailand, three sales offices in India (Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai), and a distributor in Dubai covering the Middle East.
All operations were either very profitable or were covering their costs in the initial phase. Patton turnover exceeded NZ$65m with combined EBIT of over NZ$5m.
Patton entered Thailand with the support of the Thai Board of Investment, which has given significant tax relief. In all of the Joint Ventures they hold at least 60% of the shares. This has been a series of start ups at each step of the expansion, and there has only been one JV that didn’t really fly.
The venture in India was greatly assisted by being appointed as Distributor for some very significant global brands, the owners of which had either not been able to find a way to get started or did not have the courage to take that first step into the Indian market. These Agency agreements became an important part of the business and went a long way to covering costs through the first 3-4 years as they got themselves established.
Patton still has huge potential for further growth, and if well nurtured will become a significant regional player in the refrigeration sector.