CEO INSIGHTS – KAREN LUCAS MANAGING DIRECTOR VIKOMA

CEO INSIGHTS – KAREN LUCAS MANAGING DIRECTOR VIKOMA

The early days ‘ Clean-Up Team’ Vikoma

Karen Lucas MD/CEO Vikoma

Vikoma have been in the industry as long as there has been one, formed initially by BP who sought solutions to managing oil spills following the loss of the Torrey Canyon in 1967.

Following this significant incident, BPwere under considerable pressure todeliver spill management, containmentand recovery solutions to ensure they werebetter prepared than they had been for thisincident.

They created a ‘brains trust’ in Sunbury torapidly develop developing solutions.Whilst some of this was spill management,a lot of effort went into spill solutionsto contain and recover lost product. Aproduct development and trials team wereestablished to work with the spill responseand management side of the developmentteams.

Picture of Sunbury office building

From this initiative, eventually, Oil SpillResponse Ltd were formed to provideresponse and spill management andmanufacture of the containment andrecovery equipment commenced whichsoon moved to Wootton Bridge Industrieson the Isle of Wight. This was an ideal

location as on the Isle of Wight there existed experienced trades and skills which could be applied to the manufacture of booms and skimmers with easy access to the water for trials. In 1976 this became BP Vikoma Limited and then Vikoma International Limited in 1979. The name Vikoma allegedly originates from the North Sea market and Vikings combing the seas, but there are other theories too.

Today Karen Lucas, its MD/CEO, lead a business with 60 employees and around £10 million sales, based in one purpose built modern factory in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Vikoma has an extensive facility manufacturing most of its equipment in house with very little now subcontracted and has a high level of expertise within the knowledge base of its employees many of whom have worked in the business for many decades.

Karen exudes energy and passion for the business she leads and is also a shareholder. A qualified accountant brought up near Southampton in Hampshire she spurned the traditional route of A Levels and university as she wanted to get real work experience while studying. She started at Eastleigh College to do an OND in Business and Finance which included a 6 month industrial placement at IBM, and then after a year in accounting practice went into the finance department of Conder Group plc, a successful national construction group. Whilst there she developed a wide range of experience culminating in appointment as company accountant of their fabrication division, Conder Fabrication. This experience helped her gain her ACCA which she had done by day release at Southampton Institute of Higher Education.

As the 1991/2 recession hit, Conder Group struggled and was eventually placed into administration. However Karen was retained by the Administrators and helped them recover as much from the assets and debtor book as they could. However difficult this was it provided valuable learning as parts of the business were sold off to realise best value from its assets. Following an interim role at Meridian Broadcasting while she finished her ACCA exams, she went to Beckenham Ductwork as Company Accountant working with the former Finance Director from Conder Group plc leading the finance function of this mid-size business.

Karen’s strategy to gain hands on work experience while qualifying paid off and at age 26 she joined Strainstall Group, a group who manufacture specialist load and stress monitoring systems for the oil and gas industry, as Finance Director. These systems keep oil rigs and pipelines safe, measure load on critical lifting equipment, anchors and risers. It was a £2M t/o, 50 employee business. During this time, Karen married and had a son. Strainstall was part of the TT Electronics Group plc and deemed to be non-core and put up for sale. In 2000 although timing was not ideal as her son had just been born, along with the Managing Director, Karen seized the opportunity to lead a Management Buyout, raise finance and become a shareholder. With supportive funders, a few acquisitions, coupled with better sales and marketing the business grew well to over 200 employees and £25M sales. During this time, it attracted interest from larger businesses in the industry and was sold to James Fisher Group PLC in 2006. Karen stayed with the business as it integrated into the James Fisher Group and continued to grow. Being owned by a PLC, does

14

place a lot of additional management on Directors and the senior management team a lot of which falls on the Financial Director as financial reporting is essential.

By 2011 Karen felt it was time for a change and became UK Director of Finance and Administration of Liz Earle Beauty, which had 300 employees on the Isle of Wight, the company’s home, with 300 on the mainland. It was an interesting business that had been purchased from its founders by Avon in 2010. It manufactured high quality beauty products, with a strong ethical and sustainable background. However, it sells in a cluttered market so requires a strong sales effort and sophisticated marketing which includes a strong online presence. She joined as UK Director of Finance and Administration, a role that soon grew to Global Director of Finance.

While loving the Liz Earle products, Karen’s heart remained in manufacturing and engineering and she was thrilled when approached to join Vikoma by the two owners of the business who wanted someone with her experience to restructure the business and take the business on it’s next journey for investment and new ownership.

Vikoma was at the time a busy company split over two locations on the Isle of Wight. Having moved in 2010 into a new multimillion pound purpose-built design and manufacturing facility adjacent to the River Medina in East Cowes. However, as the Deepwater Horizon incident occurred the company was flat out to meet demand. It was a good time for the business, like all in the industry.

Various potential investors emerged, but Karen wanted to be sure of the

right partner to suit the culture of the business who understood its ethos and Brexit was not too big a challenge for the important role it plays in the local

Vikoma as it was already accustomed to community and to protect it’s location and exporting worldwide with the paperwork team on the Isle of Wight. Consequently and challenges that brings. Opportunities in 2015 the company undertook a have been taken since the pandemic and management buy-out led by Karen and Brexit and the Engineering and Operations the Sales Director Paul Rayner with the teams have analysed their supply chain support of Agathos, a family backed and risk managed each component and investment firm. At the same time Vikoma decided to limit risk by bringing in house retained it’s banking relationship and more of the manufacturing capability funding with Santander. with investment in new manufacturing equipment and building stock to ensure The combination of new investors and an continuity of production and therefore experienced and ambitious management supply to customers. This enables the team has helped modernize and transform company to have increased resilience Vikoma. Talking with both Karen and Paul, should shocks to the supply chain arise in it’s clear that their investors, who the future. bring a helicopter view of the business, provide them with a useful sounding board and sourceof support as the business grows as well as access to capital to invest in the future. An important feature of the Vikoma-Agathos relationship is an alignment of both business objectives and values. Agathos is a family firm with strong principles and from the start of the relationship, the Agathos team has taken pride in their investment in Vikoma and in the principles Vikoma follows.

Vikoma has spent the last 7years growing and developing. Steady and profitable growth has enabled the business to invest in new products, new people, improved marketing and subsequently sales. They managed to weather the storm of COVID by maintaining manufacturing as an ‘COVID free island’ within the business. Everyone else worked remotely but with regular lateral flow testing, manufacturing continued pretty well uninterrupted to the benefit of the business and its clients.

Vikoma’s current factory

These changes have led to increased manufacturing technology but also optimization of the manufacturing space and a move to more flexible manufacturing. Staff, most of whom live on the Isle of Wight, have decades of experience with the business and therefore a lot of knowledge. This has enabled the company to become a very versatile manufacturer with good delivery times as well as the ability to manufacture some items for stock in any lulls in production that reduce customer delivery times which helps the sales team win business. The company has also broadened its range with products tailored for inland spills, smaller spills and to suit recovery of lighter fuels and focus on booms that can protect infrastructure. It has also increased its focus and capabilities for industrial applications such as refineries and 24/7 oil separation from waste outputs.

Karen Lucas beside a Komara Skimmer

Karen believes that Vikoma is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities a strong oil price gives to oil companies to invest in their resilience and therefore in spill prevention, containment and recovery. The expanded senior management team have settled well into their roles giving more scope for expansion of the business and to seize manufacturing opportunities that keep the company busy.

15

They continue to recruit and support their local community through careers events at schools and colleges and apprentice schemes. As a Director of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce, as well as giving back and supporting the business community, Karen gets a feel of how local businesses are managing the assaults on the economy the country is seeing. She can see Vikoma is well placed for future growth particularly as it exports so much of its production and is now well placed to continue its current period of growth. Karen is also a mentor for Santander’s Women business leaders program.

She is certainly enjoying her time at Vikoma and when pushed on her future was keen to stress that she feels there is more potential to grow Vikoma and continue the great success that the business has already enjoyed for many decades.

Karen on the water doing Paravane trials – Isle of Wight in the background!

KAREN’S CEO INSIGHTS

IF LOOKING FOR AND WORKING WITH PRIVATE EQUITY:

Ensure goals for the business are aligned and spend time exploring and committing to these Very open and honest communications

Total transparency Seek support whenever needed Invest time in developing trust

INSIGHTS FOR SENIOR MANAGEMENT:

Work life balance essential for employees and senior managers – people do not work well if worn out! Value experience within the business and ensure it is accessed and employees feel they can contribute their knowledge to improve the business of which they play a key role.

Access to accurate and timely financial information is essential to running any business whatever its size. Must understand the nuts and bolts of the business through spending time in each department of it so one knows how to make it work easier and ‘take its pulse’.

PASTIMES:

Work hard, play hard and get as much out of life as you can.

Walking locally on the Isle of Wight

Travel – Karen loves sampling local foods and wines – eat where the locals eat! Travel is a great way to recharge and it broadens the horizon and also makes us appreciate how fortunate we are

Spending time with family as one never knows how long they will be there.

COVID impacted so many.

Do take measured chances and do not rigidly stick to a fixed plan Invest time in being well organised

16