THE DOMINO EFFECT
When Jardine Matheson’s CFO retires in March, the knock-on effect will be felt throughout the company.
By Jennifer Lee

The Jardine Matheson (JM) group of companies tends to promote finance talent internally. This laudable practice is why the company retains staff for so long – and is the reason behind a curious, in-house phenomenon: the Jardine domino effect.

The top domino – or, more appropriately, kingpin – is Norman Lyle, one of the most respected CFOs in Asia because of his work at Jardine and leadership in the accounting community. He joined the Hong Kong conglomerate as group finance director in 1997 from pharmaceuticals company Zeneca (which a little more than a year later merged with Astra to become AstraZeneca), where he was general manager of finance for four years after leading the team to demerge ICI’s bioscience business to Zeneca in 1993. Before that, he spent 26 years with ICI, a chemicals conglomerate that creates flavors and fragrances, starting in 1971 as a management accountant, and finishing as group treasurer. He is a chartered management accountant, a fellow of CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), past president of CIMA, and a fellow of ACT. He is a director of Jardine Matheson, Jardine Strategic, Dairy Farm, and many other Jardine group companies. He was also chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong for two years, from 2002 to 2004, and in 2004 received an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his work promoting British business interests both in the UK and in Hong Kong.

It was not always smooth sailing for Lyle at JM. He had to face the Asian currency crisis, SARS, and a nose-dive in Hong Kong property prices. His strategy was to use economic value-added (EVA) to better manage capital, and to strengthen the JM companies’ regional focus. As a result, the rapid expansion of key subsidiaries Hongkong Land (JM owns 42 percent) and Dairy Farm (79 percent) is part of his legacy, as well as delivering value to the company’s shareholders (in the last year-and-a-half the company’s stock, which is listed on the Singapore, London, and Bermuda exchanges, soared to US$18 from US$6). Lyle also cites the introduction of the CIMA training scheme to the Jardine group as part of his legacy there. Under the scheme, JM takes four or five new graduates each year who spend three years with the company, acquiring finance skills and eventually taking the CIMA exams. Says Lyle: “This is an extremely successful scheme; I highly recommend other companies use it.”

Lyle, who at 58 reached JM’s mandatory retirement age last year, plans to stay in Hong Kong. Although he is a keen rider, and says he would like to spend more time with the horses, it is unlikely he’ll have much time on his hands. What is more probable is that companies hoping to benefit from his wealth of experience will be vying for his input.

Replacing Lyle is James Riley, 44. This is an internal appointment from Jardine Pacific, the holding company for many of JM’s non-listed companies, where Riley was finance director since 1999, and director since 2001. Before joining Jardine Pacific Riley was CFO of Cycle & Carriage, and was appointed to its board in 1995. His first position with JM was as executive assistant to the managing director in 1993. Rumors around the market are that JM will be restructuring the finance function under Riley – the company has extensive cross-shareholdings, developed in the 1980s when the company was a takeover target – but Riley declined to comment on what he plans to accomplish as CFO.

Before joining JM, Riley spent seven years in the mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance departments at Kleinwort Benson, and four years at Price Waterhouse in London immediately after graduating from University College, Durham University in 1982. He is a chartered accountant.

Riley will be replaced as director responsible for the Jardine Pacific businesses by Ben Keswick, who has been the company’s finance director since 2003. Taking Keswick’s spot as finance director is Chris Ip, who, as an outsider, represents the end of the domino chain. Ip comes to the position from Hopewell group, where he was most recently an executive director of Hopewell Highway Infrastructure.

On March 17 Lyle will announce his departure by firing the noonday gun in Hong Kong, which in the 1800s was used to announce the arrivals and departures of Jardine’s taipans. The others will start in their new positions on April 1. JL