July 31: Nick Pringle, the former cricketer from UK and Chief Operating Officer for Sula Vineyards has decided to make as surprising an exit as an entry 14 months ago, with August 2 being his last working day with Sula, writes Subhash Arora who feels the decision will put spokes in the plans that Rajeev Samant might have had for himself and the company and until he arrives from London next week, we shall have to wait for the reorganisation details
Grapevine has it that there were some marketing related issues that fermented trouble though it could not be substantiated. Without saying much, Nick says he is working till August 2 after which he plans to take a short vacation and then come back to pack his bags and return to UK. Confirming his resigning from Sula, he cryptically informs delWine, ‘ No comment as of now. I am going on vacation now, so perhaps I will speak in a couple of weeks.’
The decision had been informed to a few senior managers last week but was kept well under wraps even within the company. Though the staff was not surprised and shocked with the sudden decision, one staffer with the promise of the identity not being siclosed, said that despite a talk with him earlier this morning, he did not disclose his decision to quit.The company staff was informed by Rajeev Samant with a short email from London.
No one is clear about his replacement. Rajeev is expected to be in India on August 6 when his successor would perhaps be picked out and announced. Apparently disturbed by Nick’s sudden decision to call it a day at Sula, he tells delWine, ‘it was an amicable parting. Some personal reasons. No replacement for now as it happened fairly suddenly. That’s all I can report right now.’
Something strange and surprising that! Usually, at such senior positions reasonable time of a few months is contractual to enable to find a replacement and even groom in most cases and the charge is formally handed over. In the meantime, since June 4, 2017 when he took over and August 2 which is his last day of working, things have not changed much within the Indian wine scene.
‘Bombardment of legislation and bureaucratic procedures,’ was his instant response when I had met him in July last year. ‘Seriously speaking, there are many problems in doing business in India. But there are problems everywhere today and in every business. If there is a new challenge, we need to huddle and make our new strategy and move on. So we have problems in dealing with 33 States as 33 countries out of which - we are already present in 30. How is that different from the USA with similar system? India is a very dynamic place. I also know that it is challenging to maintain 20% growth when you are selling nearly one million cases a year,’ was his comment then.
Nick had been in the driver’s seat for a little over a year, for 14 months to be precise. During his tenure, Sula did make progress at several fronts. According to unconfirmed reports, it touched a sale of Rs. 455 Crores (4.55 million) in 2017-18 indicating a jump of over 20% from previous year’s sales. It also broke the jinx and crossed the sale of 1 million cases. The growth in value was achieved primarily by increasing the sale of premium wines and reducing the sale of cheaper brands. The current year is also seeing a growth upward of 20% during the first quarter (April-June 2018).
He was responsible for the tie-up between Sula and Brindco for the distribution in Haryana for the current year, earlier this month as reported in delWine
One wonders if there is a clue in the Article written in delWine last week announcing the launch of Sir Ian Botham wines; both Ian and Nick are friends and Botham and his partner Paul Schaafsma have one thing in common-they are all three ex- Accolade colleagues!
Only time will tell! But we wish Nick Pringle the best for his next assignment.
Subhash Arora
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