Sayonara, Pilks — we’re short of owners with their hearts in the business

A sprig of the Pilkington family was saying goodbye to his hosts. ‘I’ve an early start,’ he explained. ‘I’ve got to be at the bloody glassworks in the morning.’ When he arrived, he found that the chairman, Sir Harry Pilkington, was there before him and had left a note on his desk: ‘My boy, it seems to me that your heart is not in the business…’. Family businesses need enough sprigs to allow for such pruning, and this one was a model. Then some stray aunts and cousins wanted a price for their shares. Now Pilkington is just another public company, and in Sir Harry’s place sits Sir Nigel Rudd, a serial non-executive chairman, Pilks is on the receiving end of a bid from Nippon Glass, and Sir Nigel’s board is recommending it. Nippon is half Pilks’ size and seems to have troubles of its own, but the bid is in cash, and so long as the cheque goes through the Sumitomo Bank and out again, Pilks’ shareholders will not worry.