Thomas van Mourik 2020

Thomas van Mourik collecting the MT Service to Industry Award 2020

Motor Transport caught up with Glyn Davies recently and amongst other things the subject of Culina came up. Davies was quite clearly upset and disappointed by what had taken place last year. In his view there were a number of ill-judged decisions which undermined the hard work and commitment of a fantastic management team and their efforts spanning 30 years.

He says: “I was a non-executive director with Culina Group for fifteen years from 2009 to 2024. Prior to that I was a key supplier of transport services to the group for eight years so I knew the business pretty well. I had a good working relationship with Thomas van Mourik and the senior management of both Culina and the Müller parent company.

Glyn Davies 2016

Glyn Davies won the Service to Industry Award in 2016

“Thomas launched Culina in the UK in 1994, developed the business and had remarkably won distribution contracts with a number of Müller’s direct competitors. The business gained huge momentum in both the chilled and ambient sectors specialising in food and drink. I joined the board in 2009 shortly after the acquisition of the Wincanton chilled division. There was huge drive with a strong management team under Thomas’s leadership.There was great success in both organic growth and acquisitions, notably Cert, Great Bear and Warrens.

“Confidence was high as the revenue and profits grew. In 2020 Fowler Welch was acquired and there was an opportunity to purchase GWSA, the parent company of Eddie Stobart, TPN The Pallet Network, iForce and The Logistics People. The team worked tirelessly and successfully harnessed these major acquisitions by selecting best practice along the way. The enlarged group pretty much doubled the turnover to around £2.2bn. A new Advisory Board was established with five representatives from V Switzerland including the chairman Volkert Mett. The board was complemented by five of us from Culina and led by Thomas, the driving force as CEO.

“After two years of successful trading, thoughts began to turn to succession planning. Three of the Swiss directors including the chairman were looking to retire. Thomas and William Stobart, the deputy CEO, were looking to step back a little from the front line and I needed to retire at 75 years of age! The search began for a new CEO and after an external reach into the market it was decided to appoint Ian Smith, one of four divisional CEOs from within the business. That was in February 2024. His appointment seemed on the face of it to be sound enough and was supported by the Advisory Board and the entire senior management team.

“By May of last year it began to be apparent that the decision to appoint Ian Smith may have been a mistake and the Advisory Board were put on alert. Over the following couple of months concerns were heightened when both David Pickering, CEO of Stobart, and Paul Thirkell, CEO of iForce, expressed concerns about the lack of leadership and direction. Their concerns were communicated to Smith.

“Thomas, who was planned to take over as chairman, reported ongoing concerns to the shareholders and at that point suggested we should face in to the problem and that the previous structure be reinstated for a further year whilst the problem could be contained and rectified. Despite this the shareholders decided to support the appointment of Ian Smith, making Thomas’s ongoing position untenable. This resulted in both Thomas and William leaving the business. I was due to go by way of retirement.

William Stobart 2022-572

William Stobart took the Service to Industry Award in 2022

“Ian Smith then proceeded to terminate the employment of both David Pickering and Paul Thirkell, claiming that a new structure was to be introduced. These were top class operators with David having worked for Stobart for 34 years. Remarkably, less than two months later, Smith was gone and without notice. Culina under the leadership of Thomas van Mourik was a well-ordered, well-run business which became one of the leading logistics companies in the UK.

“Decisions taken around succession have not helped, particularly as we have entered far more challenging trading conditions. This is a time when the very strongest and experienced senior management is needed most. With the departure of Thomas, William, David, Paul and indeed myself the company has lost valuable experience. Expressed in years, this amounts to a remarkable 230 years.

“In difficult times those years of experience could have made a huge difference. Sadly these events could have been avoided.”