The Friday interview:For a man who owes about €100 million to the bank, BWG chief executive Leo Crawford is remarkably relaxed. Sitting in the Grand Canal Hotel in Ballsbridge, he says it doesn't give him too many sleepless nights. "I don't wake up every day thinking that I owe the bank €100 million," he says with a broad grin.
How does his wife feel about the debt? "She trusts me," he says.
"Besides, there's nothing wrong with having some debt."
Indeed not, and the good news for Ms Crawford is that her husband and his fellow BWG shareholders - John Clohisy and John O'Donnell - have already managed to pay down €40 million of the €312 million debt pile they took on from AIB when taking control of the group last year.
Crawford and his partners have big plans for BWG over the the next three to five years. The company's bread and butter is its cash-and-carry business, which last year generated €267 million in turnover.
The jam topping, however, is provided by the chains of Spar and Mace convenience stores that are operated by the group. BWG generated €735 million in revenues last year from its retail businesses and Crawford says it has had a strong start to this year.
The Dubliner is quietly confident that the company can grow at a rate of 6 per cent or more annually over the next five years.
Under a plan called Destination 10, he's also working towards increasing the number of Spar outlets from 444 at present to 520. Mace will also expand, albeit at a slower pace.
A key part of this expansion will be a 50 per cent increase in the number of Eurospars around the country. Eurospar is the closest thing to a supermarket that BWG can offer and the company has upped its game in this area of late.
A 7,500sq ft shop opened in December on Barrow Street in Dublin, next door to Google's European headquarters.
The shop is flying. It uses a new store format with an emphasis on offering freshly baked goods, a top-class butcher's counter, an extensive off-licence, and a deli, coffee dock and juice bar.
It's a step up from anything Spar has offered in this market to date and seems to be popular with the locals. Crawford says the shop is handling about 16,500 transactions a week and is taking about €125,000 through its tills each week.
About 35 per cent of its sales are from fresh goods. "It's going really well, we're very happy with it and we have big plans for Eurospar," he says.
Barrow Street is a step up from the so-called "Golden Spar" on Dublin's Merrion Row, which has turnover of about €110,000 a week.
BWG is planning to open 24 new Eurospars by 2010 and expects revenues from the business to increase from €240 million to €440 million over the period. Like-for-like sales in the first quarter of this year are already up 8 per cent.
Crawford led a management takeover of BWG last October, buying out Electra Partners' 65 per cent stake in the business in a deal that valued the company at €390 million. Crawford, Clohisy and O'Donnell each own one-third of the business.
While economists are paring back their growth forecasts for the Irish economy and the property market is on the slide, Crawford is optimistic that retail will continue to grow.
It will be driven, he says, by the continued growth in our population and our demographics, which mean we have more under-19s, proportionally speaking, than any other state in Europe.
"The demographics are good and, once there's a lot of cranes around, business will continue to be good for us," he says.
Crawford accepts that Dublin is probably reaching saturation point in terms of the number of convenience stores and supermarkets that it can support, but says the capital's growing number of satellite towns provide excellent opportunities. "The commuter belt is getting bigger, which is where we see growth," he says. "There's huge potential there for Eurospar."
He cites the example of Ratoath, Co Meath, where a 2,500sq ft Spar opened recently. It is already achieving turnover of up to €50,000 a week. "It's performed really well," he says.
Competition is stiff, however, with the likes of Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Superquinn, Aldi and Lidl competing aggressively on price.
Crawford accepts that convenience stores have a reputation for being "slightly" expensive, but says things are changing. "What we find is that when we get the consumer in they find that we've got good products at competitive prices," he says.
The emphasis is also moving away from ambient grocery items to fresh foods that offer higher margins and for which customers are willing to pay a premium.
Crawford began his business career with Irish Distillers in 1981 as a trainee accountant. He became its finance director a decade later, and its parent company Pernod Ricard gave him the reins at BWG in 1999. He was part of the buyout of BWG in 2002 along with Electra and Clohisy.
While he claims to "love the business", he doesn't pretend to be at his desk at the crack of dawn and there until the bus lanes no longer operate in the evening. He lives in Howth, while BWG's head office is close to the Walkinstown roundabout.
To avoid the traffic congestion, Crawford usually arranges an early-morning meeting in the city or a visit to a shop. He tries to keep his weekends free. "The phone is always ringing but that's alright," he says.
As to the future, the smart money is on Crawford and his colleagues cashing in their chips over the next five years.
"As shareholders we've never discussed that," he says. "I'd only be in my early 50s by then so I'd be too young to give up work. There's no [ sale] plan but that's not to say that in two or three years time there won't be a plan. But we're only six months in from our takeover and we're very committed to the business."
ON THE RECORD
Name:Leo Crawford
Born:1959
Position:Chief executive of BWG and one-third shareholder in parent company Triode
Family:Married with two sons
Career:An accountant by trade, he became BWG chief executive in 1999 and has been a part owner since 2002
Something that might surprise:Spends spare time at major sporting events, including Manchester United games.
Some things you might expect:President of Spar International and a non-executive director of Stafford Holdings and Lifestyle Sports.
Outside interests:Football, golf (he has a 14 handicap), tennis.
Why is he in the news?Was guest speaker at PwC/Foresight Business Breakfast at Trinity College on Wednesday, where he outlined Spar's plans for growth over the next three years.
