VT ship 長，率いるing to foreign waters

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 00:00 BST, 19 February 2004

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THERE is nothing glamorous about 存在 an engineer. So it comes as something of a surprise to discover that the （警察，軍隊などの）本部 of the EEF - 以前は the 工学 雇用者s' 連合 - are 現実に やめる smart.

What is more, Paul Lester, 長，指導者 executiv e of VT Group and 大統領，／社長 of the EEF until last year, is 利益／興味d in talking about football and 無所属の政治家 投資家s - such as his friend, Alchemy's Jon Moulton - rather than nuts, bolts and widgets.

At the end of January, VT - once the わずかに いっそう少なく trendily 指名するd shipbuilder Vosper Thorneycroft - slipped out an 告示 to the 在庫／株 交流.

It had 完全にするd the £10m 取得／買収 of some American 政府 契約s 価値（がある） 年次の sales of £56m, from JA Jones Services Group, which is in 破産 保護.

The 人物／姿／数字s 伴う／関わるd were a 減少（する） in the ocean for a company with a market value of about £450m, but this is a 重要な step for Lester who is 18 months into his 役割 at VT.

Not only is this his first 取得／買収, more importantly it is the first step に向かって 達成するing his 目的（とする） of building the US market to be 価値（がある） $500m to VT.

'The US is the 重要な market of 専門的知識,' he says. 'We are too reliant on the UK, which is about chasing big 私的な 財政／金融 率先 事業／計画（する）s. 'These are getting very political and the 失望／欲求不満 is that some of the 契約s we are chasing are getting very big - £1bn 加える.

'The US market is the counterbalance to that. We find out whether we have won 契約s there in six months - 反して in the UK it can be two years.' The US move is part of Lester's repositioning of VT, which is a curious mix of a company.

VT began life as a shipbuilder, but has tried to reinvent itself as a support services company and is now 伴う／関わるd in 持続するing ships and training people. It has also moved into 航空宇宙学 through an 取得／買収, which 持続するs 軍の 航空機.

The 成果／努力s to diversify have paid off. 'Shipbuilding has been overtaken by support services in size and profitability,' says Lester. 'We made three or four ships in the heyday and now typically build two a year.'

価値（がある） about £250m at its 頂点（に達する）, the 商売／仕事 has halved. In contrast, support services is 価値（がある） about £500m a year.

In all, VT's 暫定的な 利益（をあげる）s, 報告（する）／憶測d in November, rose 11% to £20m. にもかかわらず all this, VT remains best known as a shipbuilder.

Lester's biggest challenge is 'taking VT from a company that almost had a family feel to it' to something more commercially ruthless.

At the same time he wants to 保存する VT's 'old-fashioned' 質s. 'VT gave the 顧客 base a really warm feeling that it was 熱烈な about 配達するing on time and about good 業績／成果,' he says.

He 相続するd a company that 猛烈に needed to move up a couple of gears and to grow and become international - 特に in the US.

'It had to make the step up and I started to make the pace of change without 損失ing the company. You have to manage change. Many people enjoy change and it 伸び（る）s its own 勢い.

'We still have a long way to go, but the company is growing.' In 2002, 歳入s rose by 26% and last year by 18% through 取得／買収 and 有機の growth.

This year, 株式市場 予測（する）s are for 15% 歳入 growth. Six years ago, VT had 年次の sales of £200m. This year it could be as high as £650m.

Sitting in the office he has （軍用に）徴発する／ハイジャックするd at the EEF for our interview, Lester explains that he spent his first 18 months bedding in the 12 取得／買収s VT made in the five years before he （機の）カム. Now he has to 証明する his mettle. Making inroads into the US market is the first step.

'The goal is a 10% 改良 for three years and we are halfway through it. We have 配達するd for 18 months and for the next 18 we will continue to grow,' says Lester.

This growth will 伴う／関わる more 取得／買収s, but only 'sensible ones'. Lester says the 商売／仕事 is in good 形態／調整 and 'in a position to bolt on' 購入（する）s.

But he 追加するs: 'We don't have the sense of 緊急 that the 1990s 需要・要求するd. We don't have to make 取得／買収s now.'

VT is strategically important to the UK defence 産業. The MoD is its biggest （弁護士の）依頼人. Its 契約s can be 大規模な.

The 現在の order 調書をとる／予約する is £2.2bn, w hich 含むs building 屈服する, funnel and masts for the 王室の 海軍's Type 45 破壊者s under 契約 with BAE Systems.

Some of the 契約s VT is chasing are 価値（がある） £15bn over 15 years. This brings with it a host of political sensitivities and red tape.

'They become political because whoever 勝利，勝つs them is there for 15 to 20 years and it will 除去する some companies from those areas of 商売／仕事. So they all fight tooth and nail to 勝利，勝つ,' says Lester.

If VT 勝利，勝つs part of a 契約, 職業s are 安全な・保証するd for many years and the order 調書をとる／予約する looks healthy. But winning can take time. 'In the next 18 months we have got the order 調書をとる／予約する to 焦点（を合わせる） on. As soon as we 勝利，勝つ a 契約 we will move up the league,' says Lester.

'My 見解（をとる） is that we 港／避難所't won until we've won. We 準備する our 予算 on the basis of what we have got that needs attention to cost and 底（に届く）-line 業績／成果.'

It is not only UK politics that VT has to understand, it also plays in the 円形競技場 of foreign politics. Although Lester 述べるs its 全世界の presence as like 'a pimple on an elephant', he says it punches above its 負わせる.

The 変形 into a support services 会社／堅い has to be 加速するd because history 示唆するs that shipbuilding will dwindle again.

'In four years' time, shipbuilding will be 支援する to its hiatus and will be there for eight to 10 years,' says Lester. 'And there is going to be consolidation in the defence 産業. At the moment only BAE and ourselves in the UK can design and build ships. We have to keep an 注目する，もくろむ on that.'

Lester's 旅行 to VT was 公正に／かなり straightforward. He was headhunted from Balfour Beatty where he was managing director.

He chose VT over a 職業 with Jon Moulton's 投機・賭ける 資本／首都 会社／堅い Alchemy. Lester has remained an 助言者 to Moulton's 会社／堅い, 述べるing his 役割 as having 'the best of both worlds'. The consultancy helps to 上げる his income.

'I run two families, so I need the money coming through the door,' he says. He has three children and lives with his second wife Karen and daughter Samantha.

At 54, Lester has held 上級の 職業s in Schlumberger and Dowty Group, and was 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of electronics 器具 会社／堅い Graseby.

He was there at a time when 小型の-複合的な／複合企業体s were going out of fashion so he was 仕事d with selling off parts of the 商売／仕事. He sold about 60% of the company and met Moulton, who has made his 評判 by 支援 some of the most 議論の的になる 取引，協定s in the market.

Lester says he told the headhunter who approached him about Balfour Beatty, which is in 工学 and building, that he 'knew nothing about construction'.

But the company 手配中の，お尋ね者 him to manage change - something about which he knew a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定. For him the 職業 現在のd a chance to see if he could manage something much bigger than he had ever done.

'There was a culture change happening. It was a 分割 of BICC and went through 劇の change to become a 引用するd company.'

It is 半端物 how things work out. Lester 収容する／認めるs he is not the best engineer にもかかわらず doing a degree in the 支配する and working for BICC, Dowty and VT, which he calls 'some of the 最高の，を越す-notch 工学 職業s'.

He （人命などを）奪う，主張するs ignorance about construction, yet ended up steering Balfour Beatty to the 株式市場. And while doing all this, he 設立する his forte was in 管理／経営. 'It is やめる 利益／興味ing how life moves on,' he says.