The Irish Times Business Person of the Month: Fergal Leamy

Fergal Leamy has been chosen as The Irish Times Business Person of the Month for June, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland.

Leamy is chief executive of Glen Dimplex, the hugely successful Naughton family-owned electrical group, which sold off its Morphy Richards home appliances brand in June in a deal believed to be worth between €175 million and €200 million.

Described by Leamy as “part opportunistic and part planning”, the brand was sold following an approach for the business from Chinese listed group Guangdong Xinbao Electrical Appliance Holdings, which manufactures Morphy Richards products in China, the brand’s biggest market.

Representing less than 3 per cent of Glen Dimplex group revenues, Mr Leamy said the deal for the home appliance group was “very attractive” and represented “a remarkable milestone in value creation” for the business acquired by company founder Martin Naughton in the mid-1980s.

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Mr Leamy, who was appointed chief executive a year ago, suggested the money from the sale would be quickly reinvested in other parts of the group, which employs 9,000 people and is heavily focused on driving growth in its heating and ventilation division, as well as in its flame division that sells decorative electric fires, and its precision cooling business.