Route to the top: Mark Higgins, AO World CFO

At University of Newcastle, I gained a degree in maths and accounting. I thought maths was the interesting bit and accounting was the hedged bet at the time. I thought I might end up in accountancy, but in maths also had something to back me up if things changed.

My first role was working at kettle controls maker Strix (that dominates the world market for components that automatically turns kettles off), on the Isle of Man, which is near where I’m from in Cheshire. At the time, Strix was one of the biggest employers on the island, although a lot of the manufacturing has now moved to China. I joined the company as I had decided I wanted to work in industry, after failing to be accepted by Big Five accountancy firm Arthur Andersen- which collapsed about 12 months later following its involvement with the Enron scandal.

I really learned how to do accounting from the former Strix finance director I still keep in touch with today, Gary Lamb, who’s now CEO of Manx Telecom, as well as the chairman of Strix. He was a great first mentor, someone to learn from. He was really patient and he gave me my first good understanding of business and accounting.

Every interview requires taking a flight, when you work on the Isle of Man and want to move on to your next job. By the time I was 24, I had decided I wanted to come back to the mainland to advance up the career ladder and pretty much took the first job I was offered at a training company called Protocol Skills, that offered training apprenticeships.

It was a mistake to take that role, as it was the wrong company to work for culturally. But I got a few things underway whilst I was there, that were useful for my CV. I said I’d do that job for another 6 months, and ended up staying for another 3 years. I learned from that decision that what was important to look for in future roles and hopefully to get it right the next time round.

Another inspirational leader I worked for was Matt Moulding, who ran finance at 20:20 Mobile, part of the group created by entrepeneur John Caudwell I joined as finance manager. Moulding is now CEO of e-commerce outfit the Hut Group. I was effectively looking after finance for two of our UK distribution businesses, and subsidiaries in France, Germany and Dubai. I had lots of opportunities to sink or swim and I swam, and really progressed in the 3 years I was there.

I then became head of finance for the utilities division of support services company Enterprise. From the time I was there we grew the division from about £250m revenue to about £500m, but the group was private equity-owned, and Citibank’s most leveraged deal in Europe. Whilst we grew our division, overall group revenue fell from about £1.5bn to about £900m mainly due to exposure to government contracts.

The group had problems. It had falling profits and revenues as well as high levels of interest cover it needed to meet, making it a very painful place to be despite the fact the division I was in was very successful.

A call came in from a head hunter who said one of the guys who had been at the Caudwell group was looking for a finance director for his business. At the time I wasn’t really looking for anything, but I said I’d meet him.

I spent six months meeting the team of what would become  appliance retailer AO World, whilst I decided if it was right for me, and they decided if I was right for them. I was going to a business that was probably a fifth of the size of the one I was in, albeit for a bigger role. It was border line break even, cash was a struggle, it was a risk but it was also where I realised I wanted to work as the culture was the right fit.

I realised I could add something in this role. At the time it was a privately owned business, the accounting part I was confortabl with, the funding element I understood, and I thought now’s the right time for me to go on and do this kind of role. At Enterprise, where I was part of a divisional management team, there wasn’t really anyone stretching me upwards, so I thought I’d give this opportunity a go. That was 5 years ago- I am now CFO of the now listed group.

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