Based in east Belfast, the MSO Group was formed in 2002 after a management buyout of MSO Cleland Ltd.
In the last five years, the group has acquired a further three companies: MSO Cartonmaster, Storey Evans and Hannibal Labels of Leicester. The group offers a complete range of packaging solutions to a customer base throughout the UK and Ireland, serviced from the four manufacturing companies. At a time when manufacturing in the UK and Ireland is viewed as dying, MSO has not only bucked the trend, but is opening up and dominating new markets. Today, the four companies in the group achieve a total turnover of €60 million and this is expected to increase by €18 million in 2007 through acquisition and organic growth. The company employs 457 staff.
Products/Services:
The MSO Group specialise in the design, manufacture and supply of folding cartons, self-adhesive labels, information leaflets and presentation boxes. The company also offers a packaging design service - from the construction design to full graphics and sample service. An area of growing importance is brand protection and through joint research with several key partners MSO has developed ways to help prevent the counterfeiting of packaging.
Customers:
Customers are mainly focused in the pharmaceutical, textile and food and beverages sectors and include names such as Johnson & Johnson, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Moy Park, Victoria's Secret, Diageo, Almac, Oki Data, Reckitt Benkiser and Hewlett Packard. Orders range from millions of packs right down to short runs of a few thousand cartons supplying, for example, local cake producers or farmers markets. Products are shipped to customers across Ireland, Great Britain, the United States, Italy, Spain, Canada and Turkey.
Are there any interesting or unusual circumstances surrounding the inception of the company or its evolution?
In 2003, I went over to Cartonmaster in the UK to buy a printing press. I spent the whole day in the showroom running trials. At the end of it, I told the owner that it would be cheaper to buy the showroom and the company rather than the printing press. So I did. Now it has the best profit turnover of all our companies.
Environment, CSR and Fairtrade - what role have these played in your business strategy. How critical will they be in the future?
We work closely with all the big retailers to minimise packaging without diminishing impact. We use recyclable materials and very little plastic. We even use biodegradable starch instead of plastic as a coating. We have just become the first company in the UK to produce biodegradable metallised board packaging. As for the future, we are working towards a Forest Stewardship Certificate and will be carbon neutral by 2008.
Express the biggest challenge you see your industry facing.
Firstly, I see one of our biggest challenges as becoming environmentally acceptable to people. Secondly, we have to maintain a strong manufacturing base in Ireland. We must not allow our manufacturing base to disappear completely. We are already competing on cost with eastern Europe; we can react much quicker to changing fashions; we can guarantee excellent service and we have an excellent lead time to market.
What is the best business advice you ever received?
When buying a business if you can't do something that is going to improve it and to make it better than before you acquired it, then put it back on the conveyor belt. And to treat everyone equally, fairly and with total transparency, then hopefully, they will do the same.
