Page 49 - Articulate Files

Over the period the relationship with the press had been

strained this, combined with the hostility of policy holders,
forced Standard life into a new communications

relationship. To this end Crombie, Grimstone and the other

board members embarked on a series of ‘roadshows’ to

inform stakeholders of what they were doing and why.
Essentially, they were creating a climate of transparency

with no black-holes and one moreover that would

encourage support for the IPO. To this end a new head of

media relations was introduced.

This support duly materialized and the IPO was achieved
with two thirds of the register comprising small

shareholders. A success for the ‘roadshows’, the

management and the brand? However, Standard Life now

had to display a fleetness of foot that the organization pre
2004 did not have nor saw any need of. Examination of the

board (Standard Life.com) broadly, pre and post 2004 shows

a change in board make-up that is fundamentally

heterogeneous in nature. The old guard had been
progressively replaced with new blood and concentration of

power and authority centralised.

By the end of its first year as a plc, 30 November 2007,

Standard Life had provided a dividend of 3.8p per share

representing a growth rate of 5.6%.”

On the run up to the IPO Standard Life has emphasized

organic growth as the main platform of its strategy.
However, earlier in the year Standard Life had team-up with

Swiss Re to acquire Resolution which had proposed to

merge with life insurer Friends Provident which would have
created a substantial competitor to Standard Life.