Tony McDonough meets ALLAN LAING, chief executive of Pentagon Chemicals

IT HAS been some years since chemical giant ICI packed up and left Runcorn for good, but the iconic British company’s influence on the local sector remains strong.

Like many now in senior positions in the industry, Allan Laing cut his teeth there, working for the industrial behemoth for 13 years.

Laing is now chief executive of his own firm – Pentagon Chemicals – which employs 200 people at Halebank, in Widnes, and Workington, in Cumbria, manufacturing organic intermediates for use in the life science, petrochemical and speciality chemicals markets.

More specifically, it supplies chemical ingredients that are used for agro-chemicals to assist crop growth in developing countries, molecules used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and for additives in products such as paints and coatings.

“The agro-chemicals side of the business is becoming the largest of the three divisions,” said Laing.

“This is because, over the past five years, the sector has enjoyed a period of unparalleled growth due to the increasing demand for food products in developing countries.

“We are manufacturers and 75% of the products that we make goes to European markets, 20% to the US and the rest here in the UK, where we actually buy and sell very little.”

Laing has been at the helm of Pentagon since he led a management buyout of the business in 2002, and it currently turns over around £40m a year.

The Halebank site, where Laing himself is based, concentrates mainly on the agro-chemical and pharmaceutical markets, while Workington makes fuel additives, and it is the latter that is being hit the worst by the current downturn.

“Because of the recession, people are not buying as many cars and those who do drive are not driving as much as they did – this means demand for fuel additives has fallen,” he added.

Halebank is doing much better, but as recently as 2006 the site was in serious trouble and Laing and his team had to implement a turnaround strategy.

He explained: “In 2005 and 2006, Halebank was fighting for its survival. One of the major problems was that we got sloppy and we found we were keeping far too much stock.

“Now we make to order and that helps to keep the stock levels much lower. We have worked hard to turn it around and now I think we are quite a lean organisation.