City entrepreneur tightens his belt
Mr Steven, who just three months ago announced he was putting his gastro-pub chain into administration, has blamed the general downturn in trading and the current economic climate.
The latest restructuring of his North Hill-based business saw him place Wykeham Group Ltd into administration on August 18.
The company, one of 23 individual entrepreneurial ventures he runs, dealt with ‘central services’ such as secretarial and administration work, project management and payroll services.
Mr Steven said its seven or eight employees have taken up employment in his other businesses, and the move will not directly affect any of his subsidiary, joint venture or associated companies.
Mr Steven said: “It is sad when a company ceases, but we move on. It is all about tightening up the organisation to deal with the times we are in.
“When times are good it is easy to be an entrepreneur, but when times are bad things are very different. You have to make changes and adapt.
“You have to have that flexibility.”
Speaking from Portugal, Mr Steven added it wasn’t “all doom and gloom”, revealing he is planning to launch four new businesses in the coming three to four months.
These will be based in the UK and in Portugal.
“The decision to cease trading or close the business down can, ultimately, only be one person’s decision, and that, as chief executive, is mine; whatever the reasons, the responsibility must lay with me,” he added.
“It is not good enough simply to blame the market or the economy.
“There must be other reasons, from management to a poorly conceived initial concept.
“What it is important to recognise is being a chief executive of an entrepreneurial business, there will be some businesses that, for whatever reasons, simply do not work.
“But also there will be many others which achieve great success.
“Over the last few years we have won many awards and had some remarkable successes.
“The critical point is not to lose or inhibit the entrepreneurial and creative aspect of the business as a whole.”
He admitted “several” of his businesses in the residential development sector were experiencing very difficult times, but added on the flipside he was now seeing “real growth” in some of his trading businesses.
In January, Mr Steven described the nightmare year which saw his company encounter serious financial problems.
He described 2007 as his “annus horribilis”.
The Wykeham company was founded in Plymouth in 1996.
Mr Steven’s business empire employs between 600 and 700 people.
In May he reassured his employees the decision to place the gastropub chain into administration was simply “part of the process”.