Jo Tacon talks to Gerry Moon, newly-appointed commercial
director of Zenith Vehicle Contracts, about changing sectors, the
Provecta acquisition and offering clients a total mobility
solution
The concept of ‘transferable skills’ is one that has many fans
in the business world. It is a given that Gerry Moon, the new
commercial director at Zenith Vehicle Contracts, is one of them, as
he moved recently from the position of CEO of Fortis Lease UK, a
significant bank-owned lessor, to Zenith, an independent vehicle
management and fleet leasing company. “I was familiar with Zenith’s
business before my move from Fortis Lease,” he says, “as Zenith was
one of Fortis Lease’s clients. But the fleet business is something
I am enjoying very much, and there is a need to learn quickly due
to the developments taking place in the business.”
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Added to the tricky task of learning the intricacies of the
fleet business, there is a further challenge: integrating the
operations of Provecta, the employee car ownership (ECO) scheme
specialist that Zenith acquired in mid-May, only a few weeks after
Moon joined the company.
The management of Zenith has wasted no time in beginning to
absorb the operations of its new prize, a process that Moon hopes
will be relatively straightforward as “there is such a good fit of
culture, people and outlook between the two firms”. He adds: “The
deal was done on Thursday [May 8] and the integration process
started yesterday [May 12]. We’re all very excited.” Moon clearly
relishes the task ahead of him – he has been put in charge of
“seamlessly” combining Provecta’s range of ECO services within the
wider Zenith structure. The newly-merged entity will be the largest
independent fleet management and leasing company in the UK, with a
fleet of over 26,000 vehicles.
Total mobility solutions
“The Provecta deal makes sense in so many ways,” Moon enthuses.
“For a start, there is a significant cross-selling opportunity
within the existing Zenith and Provecta client bases. We can roll
out our contract hire and other service offering to Provecta’s ECO
clients that might have a need for it, and we are now able to offer
a total mobility solution to Zenith’s corporate customers –
whatever they need, in fact, to be able to offer a full suite of
car options to their employees.”
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By GlobalData Moon points to the increased level of regulation and the
recent taxation changes affecting fleets as critical factors in the
decision to extend Zenith’s product range into the area of ECO and
cash-for-car schemes. “The rules governing, for example, capital
allowances are changing all the time, meaning sometimes contract
hire is not always the best option for certain clients’ needs. Now,
following the acquisition of Provecta, we are not excluded from any
part of the market.”
At a time when many mergers and acquisitions have been
scuppered because of the increased cost of capital in the wake of
the credit crunch, Moon believes that Zenith’s success in raising
funds for the buy-out is “a huge coup, and sends a very strong
message to the market”.
Thinking of customers
With “around 90 per cent of our business coming from our top 40
clients”, Moon pronounces himself “confident” in the face of the
credit crunch. “Our largely blue-chip client base is more likely to
be able to ride out the current difficulties than smaller
companies, due to the strength of their balance sheet,” he
observes.
Moon says that the “quality” of Zenith’s client base is a
testament to the lessor’s levels of customer service: “If you win
clients of the calibre of BP and Asda, you must be doing something
right.” Size plays a role, too: “Our approach means we are more
flexible,” he says. The management monitors levels of customer
service through monthly KPI and CSI reports at board level.
Zenith does not use call centres for customer enquiries; each
client has a “personal touchpoint”, able to give an “instant”
response. Moon is also keen to praise the software houses that
provide Zenith’s “market-leading” IT offering: “For accounting and
admin we use FleetWare from International Decision Systems, and for
client delivery we use epyx, which is a fantastic system. We
developed the web-based front end in-house, and it also works with
the epyx system,” he explains.
Future growth
The Provecta deal will “help Zenith go to the next level,” Moon
believes, and there are several other “highly exciting”
developments in the company’s near future, although he is not at
liberty to disclose more detail at the present time. Provecta’s
Reading office gives the lessor, a proud Yorkshire firm, a base in
the South from which to expand.
And as if the challenge of getting to grips with the fleet
business and integrating a new acquisition were not enough, Moon, a
keen runner, reveals that he has set himself another goal for the
next year: to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his two daughters. He
has less physically taxing – and more traditional – interests, too,
namely golf and motors, the latter of which should stand him in
good stead in his new role.
Motor Finance Issue: 43 – May 08
Published for the web: May 27 08 11:18
Last Updated: May 27 08 14:27
