Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Keith Attwood, who has been chief executive at London-listed e2V for almost ten years, fields this week's questions.

e2v is a leading designer, developer and manufacturer of specialised components and subsystems, falling within two product groups: Electronic tubes; sensors and semiconductors. These products enable some of the world’s leading OEMs to deliver innovative systems for medical and science, aerospace and defence, and industrial and commercial applications.

01.You have been at e2v almost 10 years. How has your approach evolved over that time?

02.What have been your greatest achievements and toughest encounters over that period?

Since the flotation we have doubled sales largely through an aggressive acquisition programme. There have certainly been tough periods, negotiating the MBO at a time when Marconi was financially vulnerable and was concentrating on its own survival comes immediately to mind. Overall it is a period of my life of which I am extremely proud.

03.There has been significant growth in R & D spend as a whole and as a percentage of sales. At what level does this need to be for e2v?

There is never a simple answer as to what the level needs to be, as some very important projects can include customer funding, reducing our direct costs, whilst others are 100 per cent funded by us.

What we can say is that research and development activities are the lifeblood of high technology companies like e2v and we do not see that changing.

04.You floated on the LSE three years ago. What has this enabled the company to do that it otherwise wouldn’t have been able to?

We are now also in the process of establishing a global procurement structure, with regional procurement offices to ensure that we keep in close contact with our global supplier base. How much of this would have been possible without the flotation is difficult to say, but it would certainly not have been achieved so quickly.

05.As industry consolidation continues, e2v’s sensors and semiconductor group is growing through acquisition, but not organically. How can this be improved?

It should also be noted that, within the sensors and semiconductors group, e2v continues to be one of the world’s leading suppliers of CCD imaging technology into the space and astronomy markets. Following 50 per cent organic growth in this area last year, we have maintained that high level of sales through to 2007. So the sensors and semiconductor group is actually consolidating a position of solid organic growth.