THE point he’d like to get across, says Andrew Roberts in his soft Australian accent, is that Multiplex is a far bigger business than just Wembley.
“We’re the biggest construction firm in Australia, we are one of the largest owners of office buildings, we do twice as much office development as anyone else, but people don’t recognise that. Wembley gets coverage just because of its profile.”
He sighs. Short and compact, sitting in his Gucci suit and double top-buttoned shirt in a swish boardroom overlooking London’s Berkeley Square, he looks anything but the boss of one of the biggest construction companies in the world.
Yet as chief executive of Multiplex, Roberts, still only 39, has a weight of worries on his relatively young shoulders. Problems over the £750m construction of Wembley, the highest-profile stadium project in the world, have dogged his company for two years. The reputational damage and financial losses have been huge.
Perhaps that’s why, behind the affable front, he seems edgy. Words are carefully chosen, his dark eyes dart anxiously. He appears uneasy in the spotlight, but fully focused on what he wants Multiplex to do.
As the elder son of John Roberts, the company’s rumbustious founder, he has more to prove than most. It was Roberts Sr who cut the deal to build Wembley. It is Roberts Jr who has to sort out the mess six years later. He has been chief executive of Multiplex since 2002 — his father stepping back into a part-time role — with all the pressures that inheriting a listed company can bring.
He makes a face when I bring it up. “My being the son of the founder is not an issue,” he says crisply. “We have a large international investor base. If they were unhappy, they’d have many avenues to express it.”
That was two months ago. Then Roberts’s father died, this interview’s publication was postponed, and the Multiplex chief executive, based in London since 2004, returned to Australia to bury his dad. After the aggro and angst over Wembley — which has forced the company to put out a series of profit downgrades — it must have felt like the final straw.
Since then, Multiplex’s problems with Wembley seem to have worsened, with another row over its completion date. Yet conversely, away from Wembley, the Multiplex group is going from strength to strength, broadening its foundations in Roberts’s drive to make it more than just a builder.
Last week it announced surprisingly good financial results for the year to June, net profit up 157% to A$216.8m (£87.5m) on the previous period, despite a loss of A$364m on Wembley. Roberts’s point, it seems, is proven. And without his father, the son really is now in full control.
Updating me by phone from Sydney, he says that Multiplex, with its property development, property trust and property fund-management arms, and A$3.2 billion in revenues, is ready to put the Wembley problems behind it.
His vision of an “integrated property model” for the group is coming good. “To be able to create our own investment product, from conceptualising, building, developing and ultimately reaping the reward of ownership and fund management, that is at the heart of these results.”
That, however, will be little consolation to Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL), the company set up to oversee the building of Britain’s new national stadium. WNSL now seems permanently at loggerheads with Multiplex over delays and changes to the Wembley project. The latest release suggests Wembley will not now be ready for next May’s FA Cup Final. Roberts confirms this, but adds a twist.
“What’s left are handover issues, and many of those are within the remit of the client. Based on the information we have, our best estimate is a June 2007 completion. Earlier is possible, but that would require,” he pauses for effect, “a change of tempo from the client.”
It’s the kind of dig that gets a sharp response from Wembley insiders. They point to a series of private adjudications over the disputes between builder and client. Some are due imminently and may tell a different story — even if the outcomes are not revealed to the public.
How did such a prestige development get to this? Roberts takes a deep breath. “The Wembley that’s being built is not the same one that all parties originally contemplated. Engineering calculations changed and there were also changes and improvements made by the client to make sure they got the first-class stadium they wanted.
“Then we had a very unfortunate incident with a subcontractor who walked off the job, and they were unlawful in doing that, and ultimately it caused us and the project significant loss.”
Some of the wrangles go back to the cutting-edge design by the architect, Lord Foster. Multiplex implies it was close to unbuildable. WNSL thinks Multiplex’s Australian gung-ho style created a multitude of problems.
“They couldn’t see the truth, and seemed incapable of saying they were wrong when they made mistakes,” says one WNSL director.
Roberts remains unruffled. He only came to Britain, he says, to help sort out Multiplex’s takeover of the Duelguide property group, and its range of development interests here. Even after Wembley, Multiplex is not scuttling back to Australia. “We have billions of pounds worth of property development and construction opportunities in Britain. We have the business exactly as we like it.”
That includes developments in High Wycombe, Newcastle and London’s Cricklewood and Elephant & Castle. More sports arenas? He shrugs. “No. Wembley was always a one-off, stadia are not core business for us.”
He insists, however, that Multiplex will eventually be absolved of any stigma over Wembley. “As more facts come to light on the complexity of Wembley, and the involvement of various parties in why it was delayed and cost as much as it has, then people will realise it is not just about Multiplex. Frankly, there are many things that Multiplex can be proud of.”
Not least, he adds, that the company hasn’t walked away from the construction project, despite losing millions on it. “And when people get the chance to experience Wembley complete,” he says quietly, “they will be enthralled.”
Roberts’s dapper, determined stance is a generational jump in style from his father’s rumpled bullishness. So, too, is his insistence that he will continue to run Multiplex from London, where he has brought his wife and children, despite the group’s stock-market listing in Australia. And that it will do much more than just construction.
It’s a change his father had already approved of, when he handed over control. “Construction will remain a core skill,” says Roberts, “but a skill in combination with others. Dad was always supportive of that.”
That firmness of purpose is a Roberts family trait. Like his dad, the younger Roberts is, according to others, “ferociously dedicated” to the company cause. “It’s always difficult when you’re following on from your father, and when you are a major shareholder as well,” says James Tuckey, Multiplex’s UK chairman, “but Andrew understands all aspects of the business. He’s good at numbers, good at detail, and he’s more than just a construction boss.”
The 26% family stake in Multiplex could prove crucial, too. Andrew Roberts’s younger brother and sister also have roles in the group — they will be watching intently from the wings. All three were brought up in Perth, Western Australia, and educated at local schools, but learnt what they know about property from their father.
“Dad was self-made, but warm and generous,” says Roberts. “We spent our holidays on property projects, and took it all in round the kitchen table, or by osmosis. He always encouraged us to get involved.”
That involvement is going to be severely tested in the near future. If Roberts can keep producing good numbers, and guide his group beyond the Wembley debacle, and rebuild its reputation, then he will have shown that the new-style Multiplex can work. But as one WNSL director puts it: “It’s certainly been a baptism of fire so far.”
Vital statistics
Born: October 4, 1966
Marital status: married, three children
School: Christ Church Grammar, Perth
Universities: Western Australia, New South Wales, Berkeley
First job: construction supervisor
Salary package: A$1m
Homes: Kensington and Sydney
Car: charcoal Range Rover
Favourite book: Atomised, by Michel Houellebecq
Favourite film: Gandhi
Favourite gadget: Blackberry
Last holiday: Chamonix,France
Andrew Roberts's working day
THE Multiplex chief executive gets very little sleep. “One of the perils of a business with activities in Australia and Britain is that you have long working days because of the 11-hour time difference,” says Andrew Roberts.
So he generally wakes early at his house in Kensington, London, often after working late the night before on conference calls. He eats toast and Vegemite, before catching a cab to Multiplex’s Berkeley Square office. He is in conference again by 7.30am.
“Our man who runs construction here is running the whole UK business, so there is not much point in me meddling. I get involved in more strategic issues.”
Despite his London base, Roberts tries not to visit the Wembley site too often. “I’m not sure me turning up is going to bring it home any earlier.”
Downtime
ANDREW ROBERTS loves to ski, play tennis and engage in “casual” jogging. “And the only thing I miss from Australia is the water: the swimming and the boats. Otherwise I love it in London.”
He dismisses the idea that he was seen as a playboy when younger. “That is a myth,” he laughs. “I had a wonderful educative father who found plenty of things for me to learn about on construction sites.”
Following his father’s death he intends to keep his London base. He is also looking forward to using Multiplex’s hospitality suite at the new Wembley. “To sit in a seat, get a beer, see a great game of football ... that will be great.”
He spends his money on travel, his family and nice clothes. His suits come from Gucci. “But I shouldn’t have told you that. I’ve a feeling it’ll come back to haunt me.”
