Monsters, Inc

摘要

There Is Always A Bigger Beast Than You - Unless You Happen to be the all-consuming monster that is Atkins. For the second year running, the megaconsultant menacingly casts a shadow over its rivals in Buildings Top 200 consultants league. Truly the Godzilla of the industry, Atkins bares its teeth with an army of nearly 5500 employees, a rise of about 1100 over the past year. The continuation of Atkins' dominance should come as little surprise. Last year it topped the chart following a 600% increase in its share price. This marked a recovery from a 2002 that had registered a loss of £45m. Under the astute leadership of former Skanska boss Keith Clarke and old-timer Mike Jeffries, it completed its turnaround this year by announcing that the company was back in the black, posting a pre-tax profit of ￡62m. Chairman Jeffries announced last month that he is to retire at the end of 2004, after 29 years. Does this mean that there is hope for the monsters of the industry lingering in Atkins' shadow? Probably not -chief executive Clarke has replaced him with another heavy-hitter, Ed Wallis, who was top dog at Powergen between 1990 and 2003. Clarke also has not stopped on recruitment. He recently told Building: "Staff retention is important. It's our key constraint on growth."