Ken Murai on a more stable Kwik Fit future

“Let me be clear; Itochu is in this for the long term. And by long term, I mean an investment horizon of 10 years; whatever is necessary for an enduring, sustainable business.”

So says Kenji (Ken) Murai, the Japanese group chief executive of Kwik Fit first sent to the UK automotive services sector in 2004 to sort out the Stapleton aftermarket business.

“When we bought Kwik Fit two years ago, our analysis was that here was a company with a brand name that was very well known; but which had endured a very chequered ownership history and which was still suffering from a lack of serious investment.

“We felt there was a really great opportunity to revive it by investing heavily in both modernisation of the buildings and equipment, and to invest in our people through much better training.

“So we are fixing that. Last year we completely modernised 80 of our outlets and we are raising that to 100 a year until we have completed the entire network. And we have intensive training programmes for employees in place. Such an approach is absolutely necessary if we are to meet the proper expectations of those businesses we want to make our customers.”