STRIPPER

Mr John Bentley, the 32year-old multi millionaire seems certain to win the nomination as Mr Asset Stripper, 1972.

And judging by the speech he made last week to shareholders in his company, Barclay Securities, it is a title he will carry with pride. "The job of modernizing and rationalizing inefficient companies is probably the most important job to be done in the UK today-and the most immediate, he said. 'Most of the problems we are suffering today could easily be solved by proper use of labour and resources. It is only because there are too many people carrying out worthless jobs which consequently mean too low salaries all round that the country is reaching a collision point between management and unions where nobody can benefit.

Chairman Bentley also went on to explain his basic ception in outlining plans for next year: 'Barclay is undergoing transformation this year in which it demonstrates its catalyctic policy of acquiring smaller companies, modernizing them over a period and floating them or selling them off again as far more efficient and streamlined organizations, usually under newly-promoted energetic and proven managements to pursue their own initiative.' Already this year ex-Harovian Bentley has won considerable notoriety in trade union as well as financial circles as a result of major deals in property, pharmaceuticals, toys, advertising and the British Lion film-making company.

In an interview to the press last month, soon after he had announced the closure Triang's toy factory at Merton, Surrey, in which 1,200 will lose their jobs, he explained:

'We are not a sharp bunch of operators: we do not go round in big Rolls-Rovces. smoking cigars, making cynical comments. Our compensation rates to redundant workers are probably one of the best the ig companies We will be as generous as possible to the Merton workers.

Mr Bentley may not ride round in a Rolls. We do not know. But it is certainly not because he lacks the where with all, Last year, apart from his £10,000 salary as chairman of Barclay Securities, he also received £60,000 in dividends and had a major stake in the vast increase in capital values which occurred in his empire. His personal fortune is reckoned to be between £2.5m and £3m.

What is Barclay Securities? It was originally formed in 1896 as Barclay and Sons and for 70 years traded as a normal pharmaceutical company until it fell victim of one of the many bids made by the Slater Walker empire.

Slater Walker is the banking and property concern headed by Mr Tim Slater. Until his appointment as Environment Minister in Heath's Tory Cabinet, Mr Peter Walker was deputy chairman and actively involved in the company's affairs. It was in 1969 that Slater Walker began its move into banking. It then formed a number of satellite companies, often headed by former Slater Walker executives. One such company was Barclay Securities. Others included Sterling Land and Cornwall Property Holdings. Under these arrangements Slater Walker acted as banker for the new companies as well as retaining a considerable minority shareholding.

John Bentley had been a key figure in the Siater Walker outfit. He had been Slater's henchman in the many breathtaking bids and takeovers which had characterized the rapid growth of Slater Walker conglomerate.

Certainly this experience was not lost on the now 'independent' Bentley.

Here is a summary of the main takeovers which have produced the enormous growth of Barclay Securities. In almost all cases the bids have been financed by an exchange of shares and some little rolling power from his ex-mentor, Jim Slater.

1969 :

J. T. Morgan (Swansea) — Pharmaceuticals.

W. Hinds (Holdings) -Pharmaceuticals.

Jaynox — Pharmaceuticals.

J. H. Haywood — Pharmaceuticals.

1970 :

D. Sebel and Co — Toys.

Mills and Allen -Poster advertising.

Leon and Ripley — Poster printing.

Interfile -Computer print outs.

1971 :

Chad Valley -Toys.

Reynolds and Bransen -Pharmaceuticals.

North Staffs Poster Services — Poster advertising.

General Poster and Publicity — Poster advertising.

Dorland Advertising Holdings — Poster advertising.

Osborne Garrett Nagele — Hairdressers' Suppliers. Triang Pedigree — Toys.

Europe Poster Services — Poster advertising.

1972 :

Bellair Cosmetics -Cosmetics.

British Lion — Film production.

The growth of the company is a result of these deals can e seen from the following financial returns :

Sales Profit DividendEmployed 1968 2.6 0.1 0.02 0.5 1969 8.2 0.5 0.09 3.1 197017.6 1.7 0.41 10.2 197132.2 3.1 0.61 17.8 This growth is reflected in the company's labour force. In 1968 only 150 people were employed by Barclay Securities. In 1971 this had grown to nearly 6,000.

After taking over a company, Bentley organizes it into one of three divisions: pharmaceu-ticals, toys and outdoor advertising (media). Bentley's ultimate aim is to make each of these divisions into independent companies, quoted on the stock exchange, with Barclay's retaining large minority holding.

A good example of Bentley's techniques can be seen in the takeover of the outdoor advertising firm Mills and Allen for £4.1m in 1970. Within a few months the sale of property and some minor subsidiaries had raised over £2.75m so that Barclay Securities was left the main part of the company for a net cost of only £1.3m. As the remaining sectors of Mills and Allen were making a pre-tax profit of about £750,000 a year, this was clearly a highly-profitable investment.

A similar process was applied to Dorland Advertising Holdings, which was obtained in 1971 for £2.3m. During the following months Barclay Securities sold off land and subsidiaries for £3m and was left with assets valued at £600,000. It had made a profit of £1.32m. (55 per cent) on the deal.

In the case of takeovers in the pharmaceuticals field, Barclay's completely reorganized the four subsidiaries bought in 1969 by establishing a central, computer-controlled system, to control sales and stock.

Two depots were almost immediately shut down and a major warehouse moved to new premises.

In October • 1971 Osborne, largest Garreth hairdressers suppliers, Nagele, the UK's was bought for £750,000. The following March the London headquarters were sold for £1.25m, so that Barclay had already made a profit of almost £500,000 and still kept the many branches of OGN which are currently being completely reorganized. The Rochester factory is being sold and the production of the factory being transferred to another new subsidiary, Bellair Cosmetics.

The entire pharmaceuticals division is now being merged with Weston Pharmaceuticals. The combined company will employ 2,600 people and its 187 shops will have a turnover of around £30m. Weston's is to be quoted on the stock exchange, but Barclay's will still be in control through a minority shareholding and the nomination of key directors.

The entire operation is classic example of the way in which Bentley has so rapidly become a multi-millionaire.

The net cost of Barclay's pharmaceutical division was only £1.7m (through the sale of land etc.). Out of the merger with Weston's, Barclay is paid £3.5m in cash and receives a quarter share in the new company, worth around another £3.5m. Thus the profit from 'floating off' the pharmaceutical division is over £5m.

Toys represent the final part of the Bentley empire. Triang Pedigree was bought from the liquidator of Lines Brothers last December for £5.25m in cash, loan stock and deferred payments. Five of the firm's nine : factories were shut down within a few months. Five hundred redundancies resulted.

Then, last month, the Merton factory was sold for over £5m and another 1,200 workers were thrown onto the scrapheap. Only three months previousiy Bentley had closed the Mobo toy factory at Erith Kent and persuaded 250 skilled workers to move to his Merton factory.

His bicycle factory As a res actions, Bar cash more price of 1 with a largr division w] point no do to raise mo: takeovers.

Barclay

acquisition Bentley's. British Lion certaintirely certainly media divis Dean, Britis subsidiary, the Bentley But the r: tainly the valuable la Lion owns Middlesex. guide, this and another As intere Barclay S *I am not in connecti deal. 'I do also been sold for about £1.2m and the wooden toy division of Triang was sold for £200,000. ¡ult of these transclay will recover in than the purchase Triang. He is left e and profitable toy hich will at some subt be 'floated off' re money for future Securities latest is British Lion. intentions about 1 are at the moment y clear. But it will form part of his sion and Pearl and sh Lion's advertising will fit neatly into ' empire. ichest prize was cer60-odd acres of and which British at Shepperton in If past form is a will be rapidly sold r vast profit chalked esting as the rise of ¡ecurities the of its chairman. t being Nazi' he said on with one recent exactly what I want concerned myself with social problems I could run it for the greater benefit of the employees and lece for the chareholders anu ICOS 1U1 LE SHAICHVIUCIS. I will be generous. It is not my • intention to make people redundant deliberately. I am prepared to go along with any massive retraining programme and pay towards it. But the fact remains, shareholders would not go along , with an unprofitable business.

Certainly he is in the best position to judge the interests of Barclav's shareholders. The UL latest returns show him holding a personal stake of 1.2m shares. Currently valued at 205 pence, his holding is : thus worth nearly f2.5m.

In the last four years an investor in Barclay Securities has made huge capital gains. In 1968, 100 10p ordinary shares cost £15 (15p per share). Since then:

124% dividend 15% 371% 50% ment has paid £11.5 in the last four years and the 100 shares are now worth over £200—a ranital aain of over 1300 ner cent.

Bentley would like to see his philosophy applied throughout the country: 'I personally believe that if it was politically possible to apply our approach to every company in the country you would release one third of the people and one third of the space in factories-they are unnroductive. inst as Lines was have just come back MALINO from Japan and there, if TV sets are not selling, a whole slice of the factory turns over to washing machines. That is the sort of flexibility and adaptability we should be aiming for.' Of course there are a few saving formulae about the need for government retrain1.25 3.75 11.5 Barclay's would be willing to contribute:

am extremely . regretful about sacking workers', Bentley pleaded at the time of the Merton shut-down. It is a traumatic experience for us, but I am trying to get the best return on my money in the best interests of my company and the country' It would be wrong to look upon Bentley merely as a businessman hell-bent on profit, a product of Heath's New Britain.

The point about such enterprises as Barclay Securities is that they actually amass their fortunes as a result of the bankruptcy and disintegration of the capitalist system.

As Bentley's record demonstrates, he is not primarily interested in production. His concern has been built up through shrewd financial deals whose ultimate aim was to bring about a contraction of production, or what Bentley euphemistically calls a 'process of rationalization and streamlining'.

Nearly 60 years ago Lenin and other Marxists ized imperialism as the Millionaire Millunare vulni walks through the Roman temple in the backyard of his newly-acquired office in Curzon Śtreet, Mayfair.

parasitic stage in capitalism's history. More and more it threatened the destruction of the very productive forces which had been built up during its expansionist, progressive phase throughout the last century. Less and less was it able to develop the productive forces.

The boom firms of the 1970s are those whose activities are concentrated almost entirely on share deals, takeovers and asset - stripping, enterprises Marx dubbed over 100 years ago as mere 'coupon clippers' Meanwhile the basic productive industries-steel, coal, rails, engineering—continue to stagnate if not decline.

The mushroom-like growth of firms such as that headed by John Bentley is not a sign of the health of capitalism. It is an indication of its acute crisis, decline and disintegration.

Press,