Alex Turner meets ADRIAN PITT, chairman of fast-growing office fittings firm MG Barkers

AGED 15, Adrian Pitt used to take the bus from his Maghull home, get off at The Strand shopping centre and walk to Dacre Street, near Bootle Docks, to brush the floors at his father’s company, MG Ceilings and Linings.

Aged 34, he returned to the same street five years ago to run the company, having gone via Manchester and Southampton, stopping off in Buenos Aires on the way.

“The easiest progression would have been to come straight to the company after university, but I wanted to do my own thing,” said Mr Pitt.

“I wanted to use my degree rather than go into the family business.”

Managing projects took him around the country and he was working for Online Contractors, in Southampton, when his old company, paint spray firm Haden Drysys, called him up with an opportunity.

“They rang up and said would I like to do a stint in Argentina for six months,” he said.

“People there are a lot more relaxed and quite sociable. The working culture in Latin America is ‘the work will get done – at some point’.

“The company running the project was American so I just had to manage it and the different approaches.”

He returned to the UK after eventually staying for 15 months – and turning down the option of a further period in Mexico – to return to Online Contractors as managing director.

While there, though, an opportunity was being created back home.

MG Ceilings and Linings’ three founders – Colin Adshead, Peter Withenshaw and Adrian’s father, Harry Pitt – had developed it into a £2m business doing partitions and floorings.

“I had heard mutterings from my dad that he wanted to retire,” he said.

“I looked at a merger between Online Contractors and MG Ceilings, but they decided it wasn’t for them.

“Five years ago, I managed to buy out the two shareholders and then three years ago I bought the remaining shares from my dad.”

Despite the transaction, the mooted retirements are still to take place.

Pitt said: “My dad has never retired and neither have the other two. He is the estimating director, Peter is the contracts director and Colin is the group financial director.

“It’s not a bad thing having the three around. They built the company up and I have used it as a springboard.

“I am lucky enough to have their support. But I have had the ambition to take it on to the next step.”

And Pitt’s ambitions for growth have seen the company undergo several changes in the last three years.

“I was moving more into interiors and so set up MG Workspace Solutions,” he said.

“Then we were doing some work for Barkers [office furniture suppliers and fit-out specialists, Barkers Total Office Solutions] and there was quite a natural gel there.

“We discussed a potential merger but in the end we decided to buy it and rebrand, in August, 2007.

“So much has happened. That started the ball rolling – I then channelled everything through MG Barkers.

“In our first trading year as MG Barkers, we did just over £13m and we are on track to do a bit more this year.”

Despite the growth, the company is still having to look closely at its operations as the recession bites.

Mr Pitt said: “It’s now a lot harder to win work.

“We are having to look at our margins a lot more closely and we have had to sit down with contractors and look at their rates.

“People are playing one off against the other. Companies are being more reluctant to pay.”

LAST month, the firm announced it had joined forces with Southampton-based Linear Electrical, with MG acquiring a “significant share” of the electrical services firm to create MG Linear.

MG has worked closely with Linear Electrical for the past six years.

He said: “We have been discussing the deal for about 12 months with Linear.

“I have been acting as a consultant for them anyway. In January, we said ‘let’s get it sorted’.”

And, with talks ongoing with another company, Mr Pitt is moving closer to his goal for the group.

“The plans are to create a one-stop shop so we can offer a service to clients they didn’t have before,” he said.

“We will use other companies outside the group, if it’s the right thing to do so we’re always competitive.

“We have got designers in- house, general builders in-house, but we want to be trading as an interior specialist.

“We are members of the Association of Interior Specialists and we want to represent them as best we can.”

Interior design is also keeping Mr Pitt busy away from work and he says his main hobby is “getting a new kitchen sorted”.

The keen chef also has designs on a relaxing retirement running his own place.

“I’d like to open a little cafe bar or bistro,” he said.

“I wouldn’t do all of the cooking myself, but could jump in if needed. I’d drink some wine and chat to people.

“If I can retire at 50-55 and spend the next 10 years doing some travelling, I would like to get more experience of other cultures, especially Asia.”

But, for the next few years at least, Mr Pitt sees himself remaining at MG’s Dacre Street base and concentrating on a local focus.

“For the next five years, I do see myself here,” he said.

“I have now got good company managing directors.

“I want to get involved a bit more locally, I want to spend more time in the North West.

“We help out with local football in West Lancs – the Bulldogs U15s – and we sponsored the World Firefighter Games.

“I want to give something back.”

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