St Ives plc SP Group Sales Director Candidate Brief

1. BACKGROUND St Ives plc is one of the UKs largest print businesses which operates in a range of market sectors including: books; multi-media; magazines; direct response; large scale graphics; exhibitions and point of sale. Group turnover in 2008/9 was 387m with a profitability of 30m (EBITDA). Business units within the group include: Media Products Division: Clays Ltd, the UKs leading printer of monochrome books. St Ives Web, printing high quality magazines, catalogues and direct response material. Commercial Products Division: St Ives Direct, one of the largest commercial print and fulfillment businesses with 48% of Commercial Products revenue. This Division includes Westerham Press, producing high quality prestigious print, including annual reports, corporate literature and fine art. It also includes St Ives Music & Multi-media, the leading supplier of print, packaging and promotional material to the Home Entertainment industry. SP Group, the UKs leading Point-of-Sale and retail solutions provider; 38% of Commercial Products revenue. Service Graphics, the largest source of large format digital print products; 14% of Commercial Products revenue. The three business units of the Commercial Products Division, as above, provide a high quality service to a broad range of blue-chip businesses, national accounts, and small, local businesses. Much of this turnover is either contracted or part of framework agreements, although the unique nature of Service Graphics output means that its revenues are mainly generated via ad-hoc, non-contract work. Total turnover of the Commercial Products Division was circa 232m in 2008/9, being 60% of Group sales All of the above markets are highly competitive and the group has been affected by the recent downturn, although no more so than any of its competitors. The business has won a number of major, national accounts in recent times, and the biggest customers are now Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer, Royal Mail and Wilkinson. St Ives has over the past 12 months been restructuring its operations and management of the businesses in order to take advantage of its market position and to better sell its wide range of products and services across divisions and markets. In previous years the businesses have operated as separate entities with limited interaction and cross selling between them. The broad strategy is to bring together the collective power of the St Ives group to take advantage of the group opportunities and to add value to the businesses production offering by providing a consultancy and partnership approach. An increasing focus is now on markets and customers that have a requirement for added value services and

bespoke solutions rather than just print. St Ives aim is to migrate its offering from one that is reliant on print production to that of a business that offers a complete service based around print and visual display, providing a vast array of creative added value and consultative marketing services that enhance the core offering.

2. SP GROUP SALES DIRECTOR

St Ives is in a unique position and has the opportunity to win and manage major business contracts due to its diversity of product, financial stability and size. This puts it in a very small group of businesses that can actually win contracts in excess of 20m per annum. a. Main Purpose of the Role: To drive the strategic direction for SP National Sales & to direct and manage the key account sales development strategy. b. Key Responsibilities Reporting to the Group Managing Director, Commercial Products, the jobholder will: Develop, agree and set the sales and marketing strategy for SP Manage the National Accounts pipeline, being active in delivering sales pitches to this group of customers Lead the sales generation functions for SP. Set the SP Divisions national sales new business strategy Ensure that this achieves new business during quiet times of the year, and maximises margins on new accounts Focus on business that generates work across as many of the divisions as possible Visit and negotiate with the key accounts at a senior level on a regular basis Train and improve the sales ability of all commercial sales people in SP.

3. JOB PARAMETERS Based: Report to: Staff reporting: Redditch. Group Managing Director, Commercial Products Circa 35 including: Customer Services Director, and team Sales Director, SP Group Extensive UK travel envisaged

Travel:

4. REMUNERATION Salary: Bonus: Negotiable, circa 120,000 75% of salary, based on performance against budget

Car/Car allowance Contributory pension scheme available.

SP Group Sales Director Person Specification

Essential skills: A top quality sales and customer services professional Experienced trade marketer; accustomed to managing blue-chip national accounts, probably in the fmcg sector Highly organised, intelligent and articulate Previous experience of managing across divisional teams in a matrix structure A well-developed understanding of retail businesses, and of sales in B2B environments Experience of selling solutions utilising a network of product/service types Must have demonstrable sales/customer services team management track record Highly commercial; sales focused; able to spot strategic partnership opportunities and added-value customer solutions Essential personal characteristics: Inspirational; capable of leading the business into new areas Extremely capable; likely to have a track record of exceptional achievement in business Possessing the stature and gravitas to be able to negotiate at senior levels Politically astute; street-wise An energised personality, bright, dynamic and smart Well grounded and balanced; will set new standards in the business Highly ambitious; likely to have the capability for further promotion Personable; likeable; flexible; adaptable Able to build and develop internal and external business relationships; an outstanding networker; personable, credible and collaborative Desirable skills/characteristics: Comfortable with leading from the front Creative; intuitive; adaptable