Twisted Love and Money by Thomas Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

thousand acres of vegetables sown
throughout Cork and other parts of Munster. We hope to employ about
two hundred people at the peak. For your information the peas went
in starting St. Patrick’s Day. The sowing will end with beans
around mid may,” John added.
    “That is
Dermot’s area,” Peter threw in, aggressively addressing John. Keep
the new finance man in his box, he thought.
    “True,” Dorothy
said agreeably realizing her brother was attempting to put John in
his box but she remained friendly on the surface, “but,” she added
with a smile, “All roads lead to Rome, the Finances. Explain
John.”
    “Well, Peter it
is very simple, we have to pay cash to our suppliers. We then have
to carry stock and finally we sell. Which is of course your
department Peter, yours and James’s. Obviously we must sell and
then wait to get paid and our cash back. Our markets, mainly
supermarkets, require credit on our sales. The end result is there
is a large funding requirement to cover the time between paying the
Farmer and our getting out cash back from sales to our customers.
We also have to cover running costs such as wages etcetera until we
get the proceeds of our sales back into the bank.”
    “Well O.K.”
Peter conceded, “I had not thought it through. How much will we
have tied up?”
    “Working
Capital, net about ten million.”
    “Big money,”
Peter agreed.
    “By my
calculations, if we sell over sixty-five percent we will be above
the break even line,” John explained.
    “Excellent,”
Michael sounded satisfied with his Board.
    “Home Trade
Peter?” Michael asked, switching the subject.
    Peter startled,
seeing that he was in the limelight. “Mr. O’Driscoll, I mean James,
has taken me through the scenarios in Ireland and Britain,” Peter
began.
    “And I have put
O’Malley and Riseley in to help Peter, “ James interjected.
    “Two very good
men,” Michael agreed, pleased James had given his son the best
backup available.
    Dermot O’Rourke
relaxed. Either of O’Malley or Riseley could carry the home trade
area. They would carry Peter if he had the sense to listen to
them.
    “I have put the
team through their paces,” Peter went on, “they seem sound
enough.”
“Good, good, Peter,” Michael interjected.
     
    Peter took a
big breath. His appointment to the Board had been announced to the
public on Friday, alongside that of John O’Malley. It had been just
an announcement in the Irish Times, but some reporter had done a
small item on O’Byrne’s and given a run down on the new Board.
    To Peter’s
surprise he’d had a follow up call on the weekend from a
representative of one of the Company’s major customers. Peter had
been flattered. Papers arrived and he’d briefed James O’Driscoll.
Together they’d had several phone calls in preparation for the
Board Meeting.
    As he began to
speak he knew he was going to surprise them.
     
    “I have had
contact from a major U.K. group of customers through their parent
company Associated Finance,” Peter said and paused, looked around
and let the silence grow for a minute. He savoured their
attention.
    “Associated
Finance,” he continued, “are a very decentralized organization, a
holding company with a good growth record. They usually leave their
subsidiaries alone once they hit profit targets.”
    “Do you think
there is trouble Peter? I would not have expected a contact from
the HQ,” Dorothy interjected, feeling that Peter was becoming too
self-important at his first Board Meeting.
    “ I was in on this, Peter contacted me immediately the contact
was made. We know Associated Finance better under the names of
their supermarket chains. However recently they appear to have
consolidated some aspects of their procurement. They are intending
to do significant buying through a central procurement
division.”
    “ Dorothy I think you will find that they have a new procurement
policy,” Peter said by way of rebuttal.
    “Associated
Finance has