Alistair Houghton meets BRIAN JARDINE, chief executive of clay pigeon trap firm Promatic

WHEN Brian Jardine first took aim at a clay pigeon fired from a Promatic trap, he could not have realised he would soon have the whole company in his sights.

But the Cheshire entrepreneur enjoyed the shoot so much he soon found himself following in the footsteps of US tycoon Victor Kiam.

Kiam memorably declared that he loved Remington shavers so much “he bought the company” – and Jardine was so impressed by Promatic’s products that he ended up buying the business and moving it to Cheshire.

Promatic makes, sells and installs the automatic “traps” that shoot clays into the air ready to be shot at. Today it is a market leader in the clay pigeon shooting world, with its Hooton-built products being exported to 70 countries and used in tournaments worldwide, including this year’s US and British Opens.

In 1995, lifelong shooting fan Jardine was between jobs when a friend took him to a shoot that used Promatic traps.

He was so impressed that the same day he vowed to start negotiations to buy Promatic itself.

“I was like Victor Kiam – I loved the product so much I bought the company,” he said.

“Our customers range from the aristocracy to businessmen, right down to the guy with the dog who shoots clays with his local gamekeeper.

“But, since I took the business over, I haven’t had as much time to do as much clay pigeon shooting as I used to do. I still go when I can but I haven’t been since last August.”

Jardine moved to Wirral, aged 10, and after school joined Wirral Precision Engineering as an apprentice toolmaker.

After learning his trade, Jardine spent 22 years at Ellesmere Port corrugated board company SHS Systems, where he became chief executive.

His youthful ambition to own his own business came true in 1990 when he led a management buyout at the firm, then called Simon Handling Systems.

Jardine left SHS in 1995 and took some time out, during which he discovered Suffolk-based Promatic and decided to buy the firm.

In January, 1997, Jardine bought Hooton engineering company FE Robinson, to give him the technical back-up to ramp up the production of Promatic machines. Finally, in August that year, he bought Promatic itself and moved the eight-year-old business to Hooton.

Jardine and his team focused on designing machines built around the same interchangeable parts, meaning the firm can offer a large and expanding range of different traps and can quickly adapt its products to tap into different markets.

“If there’s an opportunity in clay target shooting, I want to do it,” he said.

“I want to be able to supply the machines for any discipline in the world.”

Promatic has a network of agents around the world and sells to countries from Colombia to Kazakhstan. Sales are growing in emerging markets such as China and India, but half of its sales are in the US, where the company has 15 staff.

“This is probably the fastest-growing sport in the US,” said Jardine. “Shooting is bigger than golf and tennis put together.

“In rural areas, hunting, shooting and fishing are part of everyday life.

“It’s so exciting. If you took six people who’d never played golf or shot before on a corporate day out, I could guarantee that at least four or five of them would take up shooting, not golf.”

The bulk of Promatic’s raw materials come through local suppliers, including laser cutters Micromet in Birkenhead.

JARDINE, who lives near Chester with his wife of 32 years and their 15-year-old daughter, says he is proud to be a British manufacturer and says he can compete on price and quality with any rival in the world.

“The biggest tragedy for British manufacturing is how people in financial circles lost faith in our ability to finance things,” he said.

“But our costs are comparable to anyone else’s. I’m selling to China now.”

The company is this year set to turn over up to £8m, and Jardine says the shooting market remains relatively strong.

Jardine says Promatic has a strong relationship with its own bankers at Yorkshire Bank, but says that the credit crunch is hitting some customers across the Atlantic.

“Shooting is buoyant at the moment,” he said. “People are not going to give up their favourite sport. It’s surprising how people will do without other things to maintain their hobby.

“The way it has affected our business is that some of our clients can’t get funding – not so much in the UK, but certainly in the US. People are starting new courses but can’t get finance.

“But I see the green shoots of recovery in the States. People are fed up of talking themselves down and they’re saying ‘let’s get on with it’.

“There’s a new President and it feels different. Shooting people in the States are generally Republican, but even they’re saying ‘let’s get on with it’.

“Once the money supply is solved and the banking system is stabilised, then we’ll be OK.”

A fifth of Promatic’s business is still done in the UK. Like many in the shooting community, Jardine feels the sport in Britain has been ignored by the Government and sportswriters, and has also suffered as gun control laws have inadvertently made life harder for people who use guns for sport. “The legitimate shooting fraternity is made up of very responsible and law-abiding people,” he said.

“The worry is crime and guns getting into the wrong hands. Even if they banned our sport completely, it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to the gun crime figures.”

Jardine is also hopeful that more homegrown success at the 2012 London Olympics will raise the profile of shooting as a sport.

“I hope that, by 2012, we’ll have a little more appetite from the Government. They were lukewarm on our success at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

“In this sport, we have some of the best athletes in the world, including George Digweed, 15-time world champion. We could go across to any tournament and give the Americans a good thumping.”

alistairhoughton