Insiders were predicting that SFI Group would name its new chief executive by Christmas. It seems the search may be taking a little longer than planned.
That is not necessarily a reflection on the high street pub operator, rather on the difficulty in finding talented, strong leaders for ambitious companies. They are few and far between.
The job at SFI has its own particular challenges: taking over the reins from the man that essentially created the company, chairman Tony Hill, and fulfilling his big ambition of building it further into a FTSE 250 player.
One company that has successfully brought in a new chief to take over from the founding fathers is Regent Inns, where former Scottish & Newcastle executive Stephen Haupt has brought greater focus and improved performance to a once star performer that had come off the rails. Others in similar positions have not been so fortunate.
But the real issue is why would anyone want to take the top job of any publicly-quoted company at the moment, not least one in the leisure sector? The role of FTSE 250 chief executives is now being likened to that of a football manager. The tenure is likely to be short and the pressure intense as fund managers and analysts bay for quick success and ever greater growth rates.
As Martin Bolland, a partner at Alchemy Partners, mused at Martin Information's hotel seminar in December, why would anyone choose the public markets when they could be running a private company where the rewards may well be even greater and the spotlight certainly less intense?
The financial package has to be right. Alan Jackson certainly negotiated an attractive
personal deal before taking on the chairman's job at City Centre Restaurants and with it the relatively short-term brief to turn the company around.
It also won't be peanuts that has tempted Giles Thorley from Unique to take charge of Punch's expected market float this year.
Whether SFI will want an industry insider or fresh blood from outside the sector will be interesting to see. Certainly a strong leader will be needed as SFI sets itself to be judged against the big boys of the sectors.
It is perhaps no accident that the most successful players among quoted pub and restaurant groups are still headed up by the entrepreneurs that so successfully built them up û the likes of Steve Thomas at Luminar, David Page at PizzaExpress, Tim Martin at Wetherspoon and Ted Tuppen at Enterprise.
Of course, SFI is not alone in seeking a new boss. This weekend's press speculation is that S&N's chief Brian Stewart is about to step down. His successor must have the qualities to lead a group with major international ambitions, which in itself raises some interesting questions for the future of the company and its individual parts.
For both SFI and S&N, getting the right person will be vital û and probably rightly will take time.
That is not necessarily a reflection on the high street pub operator, rather on the difficulty in finding talented, strong leaders for ambitious companies. They are few and far between.
The job at SFI has its own particular challenges: taking over the reins from the man that essentially created the company, chairman Tony Hill, and fulfilling his big ambition of building it further into a FTSE 250 player.
One company that has successfully brought in a new chief to take over from the founding fathers is Regent Inns, where former Scottish & Newcastle executive Stephen Haupt has brought greater focus and improved performance to a once star performer that had come off the rails. Others in similar positions have not been so fortunate.
But the real issue is why would anyone want to take the top job of any publicly-quoted company at the moment, not least one in the leisure sector? The role of FTSE 250 chief executives is now being likened to that of a football manager. The tenure is likely to be short and the pressure intense as fund managers and analysts bay for quick success and ever greater growth rates.
As Martin Bolland, a partner at Alchemy Partners, mused at Martin Information's hotel seminar in December, why would anyone choose the public markets when they could be running a private company where the rewards may well be even greater and the spotlight certainly less intense?
The financial package has to be right. Alan Jackson certainly negotiated an attractive
personal deal before taking on the chairman's job at City Centre Restaurants and with it the relatively short-term brief to turn the company around.
It also won't be peanuts that has tempted Giles Thorley from Unique to take charge of Punch's expected market float this year.
Whether SFI will want an industry insider or fresh blood from outside the sector will be interesting to see. Certainly a strong leader will be needed as SFI sets itself to be judged against the big boys of the sectors.
It is perhaps no accident that the most successful players among quoted pub and restaurant groups are still headed up by the entrepreneurs that so successfully built them up û the likes of Steve Thomas at Luminar, David Page at PizzaExpress, Tim Martin at Wetherspoon and Ted Tuppen at Enterprise.
Of course, SFI is not alone in seeking a new boss. This weekend's press speculation is that S&N's chief Brian Stewart is about to step down. His successor must have the qualities to lead a group with major international ambitions, which in itself raises some interesting questions for the future of the company and its individual parts.
For both SFI and S&N, getting the right person will be vital û and probably rightly will take time.
