Page 7 - Stakis B Case Study

The licensed premises, which were to be concentrated in
the West of Scotland, would trade under the name of Eagle

Taverns and would be similar in style to that of Stakis'

premises. This they said was the part of the market they
knew well. Moreover, it could well be, agreed Jenkins, they

could find themselves in similar locations to Stakis and in

direct competition. A Stakis organisation spokesman

commented, "We wish them every success."
All four directors have, indeed, been highly successful in

their subsequent business ventures.

The Aviemore Centre for which there had been much hope
was sold and a new hotel, The Dartford Bridge,opened in

February 1992, bringing the number to 30. Operating

margins during 1992 continued to improve and occupancy
rates were sustained.

Businesses are about people in particular, about the

decision makers. It is they who colour and shape the
organisation. For Stakis, Sir Lewis Robertson brought one

overwhelming ability to bear when he joined the

organisation. The ability to bring order out of chaos.

Sir Reo and his family owned some 23% of the shares in

Stakis. The result of the family’s purchase of an

additional 4 million shares at 130p per share taking his
shareholding to 27% meant that when the share price fell

to its low of 19p the share value of Sir Reo’s holding

suffered a massive loss with the result that the banks

could have declared Sir Reo bankrupt had they called in
their loans. To his credit Sir Reo grasped the nettle and