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“Des, please All my friends call me Des As you know, h since I sold the co in the odd property deal But as I still find ht be fun to work under a woman chairman”

Enored this “If you were to become a member of the board, ould be your attitude to a hostile takeover bid?”

“To begin with, I’d pretend I wasn’t interested and see how much I could milk them for The secret is to be patient”

“There wouldn’t be any circu on to the company?”

“Not if the price was right”

“But when National Buses took over your coht happen to your staff?”

“If they were half awake they oing to get another chance like that”

“But if the FT is to be believed, within a month of the takeover, half your staff, some of whom had been with you for over twenty years, were made redundant”

“With a six-month salary bonus And a nu eton’s”

“But within another month, National Buses had dropped your name from the company masthead and, with it, the reputation you’d built over many years”

“You dropped your name when you married Harry Clifton,” said Des, “but it didn’t stop you becoton’s”

“I wasn’t given a choice, and I suspect even that e in the future”

“Let’s face it, when it comes to the bottom line, you can’t afford to be sentimental”

“It’s not difficult to see how you’ve becoht firm, you’d make an ideal director”

“I’lad you feel that way”