Twenty Questions: Luke Johnson, Chairman of Belgo Group

Luke Johnson, 38, is a former chairman of Pizza Express. His company, Intrinsic Value, has holdings in Belgo Group, Tops Tiles and Whittard's of Chelsea

1 What single event or person gave you the impetus to succeed?

1 What single event or person gave you the impetus to succeed?

While I was at Oxford, Hugh Osmond and I went to interview Richard Branson on his houseboat for the university's weekly newspaper. We'd targeted Branson because we wanted to meet him and thought the student magazine was a good way to get to him.

Branson, of course, had started by running a magazine called Student but by 1980 he was the maverick outsider in pop music retail. He was surprisingly shy and embarrassed, but seemed to be thriving. Branson is a chancer, but he's also created a lot of jobs and very successful enterprises.

By some people's standards he's probably cut a few corners. But I think, overall, if Britain had 50 Richard Bransons we'd be a hell of a lot better off. He was definitely a role model.

2 If you didn't run Intrinsic Value, which company would you most like to run?

The business I feel most emotionally attached to is Belgos. I worked for a week in Belgo Centraal for a TV documentary called Back to the Floor and it was one of the hardest weeks I've worked, partly because I had to do my other job as well.

It made me realise what tremendous satisfaction you get from doing an ordinary job well. One of the disadvantages of a job like mine is that it's a bit airy-fairy.

3 What was the worst investment you made, and the best?

The worst was in Pronuptua, a wedding dress retailer, in the early Nineties.

a) I didn't understand the wedding dress market, b) it's acutely seasonal, so you sell dresses only between January and March, and c) white weddings are a declining market.

It was inappropriate and riddled with problems. It was a loss-making turnaround before I got involved but I conned myself into thinking it was going to be a great deal. I can't remember exactly how much I lost, but it was painful.

My best investment was in Pizza Express, not on the basis of the financial return, but because that's the one that made all the other things possible.

4 Do you wish you'd persevered with Sunday Business, given that it became a success?

No, because the money required to do what they've done has been in the many millions. The paper I bought had struggled from the start. It not only had the wrong management but it was inadequately funded. I inherited a history of debt and liabilities and a general mess.

I only dropped a couple of hundred thousand, which was the extent of my capabilities at the time. Life is about taking risks and suffering losses and exploiting the winners. If you try to enter the media sector and it doesn't work, your failure is much more visible than if you tried to enter a new form of rivet manufacture.

5 Do you have a business philosophy?

Not to dwell on mistakes and not to get overwhelmed with regret. When things go wrong you have to move forward and look at each week afresh.

6 What's the best piece of advice anyone gave you?

One of the best pieces of advice is the one JP Morgan gave to a frantic man who asked him what the markets would do. JP Morgan said: "Young man, the market will continue to fluctuate." It's a great piece of advice because if you're involved in the stock market you should never worry about the day-to-day price of your shares. What's more important is the reality of your day-to-day business.

7 Which single task do you hate doing most?

Paying tax.

8 Are you easy to work for and what makes you lose your temper?

I'm much better to work for than I used to be because I'm not so bad-tempered these days. I think it was a combination of getting older and realising that losing my temper and getting angry wasn't doing me, or anyone, any good. I just risked alienating people.

What makes me lose my temper is me doing stupid things then blaming them on others. In an ideal world I shout at my computer or the car. It's desperate when I shout at someone.

9 You have a reputation for being rathertemperamental and extremely rude. Do you think that's a fair description?

I think my people skills could do with refining because I'm a bit blunt and impatient, but then the same could be said about my dear friend David Ross from the Carphone Warehouse. Compared to David, I'm a schmoozer.

I'm always rushing around, which is a symptom of trying to do too much, so sometimes I appear distracted and abrupt. I'm working on it.

10 If you hadn't become an entrepreneur, then what else?

I'd like to have been an inventor of useful universal products, like a James Dyson. I'd also like to have written one great song everyone knows.

11 Who do you most respect in the business today?

Rupert Murdoch, because in his lifetime he's built up an enormous worldwide empire. He's also kept control, which is remarkable. He's made a lot of enemies and some might say he's dumbed things down a bit yet he still has a lot of highbrow stuff among his empire.

12 You've been described as a "corporate bric-a-brac merchant" because of your diverse investments. Do you feel you spread yourself too thin?

Yes. Probably at some point I will start to rationalise the portfolio and focus on things that matter. In the ones where I'm not able to make a difference or give enough attention to, I'll step aside. I've been called worse things. Another word for that is a venture capitalist. Why can't I be that? Nine out of 10 VCs don't invest in just one industry, they invest in 20. No one calls 3i a bric-a-brac merchant.

13 In personal wealth, how much is enough?

What might be enough today won't be enough in 10 years because of inflation and tax. For many entrepreneurs it's not about money, it's about playing the game and being part of the circus. Obviously money is a way of keeping a score, but it's not the only way. An obsession with money alone can lead to a fairly unhappy existence.

I would have thought the only rational reason to generate a lot of cash would be to spend it, but I'm not that bothered about spending money. I'm more pre-occupied with building things than spending cash?

14 Would you describe yourself as mean?

Meanness is about being ungenerous to other people and I don't think I am.

I would hope the people who know me would not consider me mean. One of the pieces of advice my mum gave to me before university was: "Buy your round, and don't be mean."

I would rather be seen as generous, with a bad temper, than to never shout at anyone but be seen as tight-fisted. It's one thing to go baggage class because that's being abstemious; it's quite another to go out to dinner with people and get your calculator out at the end of the night and say: "You had an extra glass of wine so you should pay more." I can't bear that and I'd rather pay for the lot myself so there isn't an argument.

15 What's your greatest personal indulgence?

Hardback books and travel.

16 Are you pro-Europe and the single currency?

I'm very pro-Europe but vehemently anti the euro. If we adopt all the baggage, which would undoubtedly accompany adopting the euro, it would cripple us economically.

In the last 12 months the news has been horrific for pro-euro people. The market has defeated the argument in favour.

17 Where do you want to be five years from now?

I never plan. The great idea of the five-year plan is bullshit because all our markets, industries and economies change so much.

18 If your briefcase were about to be confiscated, which three things would you retrieve?

My diary, address book and notebook.

19 Do you ever think about retiring?

I occasionally dream of escaping and having no obligations, but I would have to have specific plans running for me to retire. Boredom is the greatest enemy because it kills people.

I've been in situations where I've offered the owner of a business a large sum only for them to pull out because they realised retirement is worse than death. They enjoy running the business and to a degree that's what gets me up in the morning. I read once: "Pleasure is best courted against a background of discipline and endeavour." We all need to do something purposeful to give us a sense of worth.

20 If you went bankrupt tomorrow would you start again?

Yeah, sure. I'd probably start a restaurant.