Reorganizing Standard Triumph

From Our City Editor

Mr A. S. Dick, managing director of Standard Triumph International since 1954, is to resign from the company, according to a statement from Leyland Motors last night.

Leyland Motors, which took over Standard Triumph in May, stated also that they had asked most of the other Standard Triumph directors to leave the board. Sir Henry Spurrier, chairman and managing director of Leylands and chairman of Standard Triumph, said in the statement: "Leyland Motors have decided that they must streamline and integrate the Standard Triumph organization into the parent company at an early date. Mr A. S. Dick is to resign from the company, and Mr. S. Markland is appointed managing director of Standard Triumph International from today ".

Mr Markland is deputy managing director of Leyland Motors, and at present a director of Standard Triumph and managing director of Albion Motors Ltd., a subsidiary of Leylands. The statement continued:

"Further, Leyland Motors have asked Messrs. K. Aspland, E. Brimelow, M. T. Tustin, H. S. Weale, M. Whitfield, and L. A. Woodall to retire from the board of Standard Triumph International, some of whom will be retained with the company in an executive capacity."

Two of the three directors who remain on the board of Standard Triumph are Mr S. Baybutt and Mr D. G. Stokes, who are also directors of Leyland. Mr Dick, who is 45, has earned for himself the reputation of being one of the bright young men of the motor industry. He joined the Standard Motor Company as an apprentice in 1934 and succeeded Lord Tedder in the managing directorship. Shortly before the takeover this year Sir Henry Spurrier told Leyland stockholders in a letter that substantial losses were being incurred by Standard Triumph which would not be made good by the end of the financial year to August. Later in the year, however, the company expected to be operating at a profit.

In Coventry last night trade union reaction to the Leyland statement was swift. Mr D. Fairbairn, district organizer of the Transport and General Workers' Union and district secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, said:

"Any attempt in the Leyland plans to reduce wages or alter conditions at Coventry will be strongly resisted. The unions are not so much worried about the management of the firm and its make-up, but we would ask for protection of wages and conditions which have been steadily improved over the years. We would expect no interference in the negotiating procedures that have been established nor changes to agreements without proper consultation."

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Last night Mr Alick Dick's wife said: "My husband heard the news only on Sunday night. It came as a great shock. I cannot tell how he took it--he is away somewhere in Britain. I know that I am still very shocked."

Meantime, a chapter in the Alick Dick story has come to its close.

His career with Standard started as an eighteen year old apprentice on the factory floor.
It was a career that began at a wage of 18s. 6d. a week, Now comes the blunt statement of his resignation from the company's boardroom as managing director. His success story has often made headlines.

At twenty-three he was chief buyer for Standard's shadow factory. During the war he was in charge of the company's production of engines for Lancaster bombers. After the war—still in his thirties—he was personal assistant to Sir John Black, then boss of Standard’s.

When Sir John was forced to quit after a car crash in 1954, the day-today running of Standards passed to Alick Dick. And it was he who pushed the firm's profits up from £3,000,000 in 1956 to a record £6,861,000 four years later. Whatever reasons have removed Dick from the Standard boardroom, this is sure—he is unlikely to be out of a top driving seat in the industry for long, .