"You can't have two generals"
Per Andersen has three sons, but there was never any discussion about the eldest, Tommy, taking over the moving company. "I've said what I wanted to do, and that has been fully accepted all the way around," says the passionate mover and cyclist. Together with his son, he has implemented a smooth generational change, and it has gone so smoothly that no one has really noticed.
"For the past 5-6 years, I have deliberately not been the face of the company. Customers shouldn't ask for me, but for Tommy, and it's gone so well that even some of our own drivers barely know who I am."
Per Andersen smiles with satisfaction. He is 65 years old, a former national team track cyclist and still strong as an ox. He has done his bit for the team in both sport and professional life, and it's clear that Per Andersen has been used to taking the lead and sitting at the head of the table.
But now he enjoys being sheltered just behind his son, 41-year-old Tommy Andersen, who today is the director and main shareholder of the moving company that Per founded over 35 years ago.
Level playing field for everyone
The formal part of the generational change was completed in 2016, but the preparations actually began 20 years ago when Tommy joined Per Andersen A/S from a position at the former FDB.
"I really liked the work and was also driven by the knowledge that it was the family business. I came from a seriously top-down organization, but here decisions were made quickly and I had a say and influence. It was much more me, and I still feel that way," says Tommy Andersen.
Tommy has two younger brothers, Peter and Simon, but it was always planned that he, as the oldest and most interested, would take over the company. "I've said how I wanted it to be, and that has been fully accepted all the way around. Peter and Simon have different interests in terms of their jobs, and financially they are all treated equally," says Per Andersen.
"We can thank the crisis for the fact that today we have a healthy company with reasonable results."
Tommy and Per Andersen
He raised his children to be hard-working and tidy, and to work their way up from the bottom - especially when you're the boss's son: "All my boys have worked in the company and it's been on equal terms with everyone else. With Tommy in particular, it was important that he got to know everything. I sent him into the field for a couple of years, first doing removals and then driving transports all over Europe. He was also in our logistics company, and of course he also came to the office."
A learning crisis
Per Andersen is self-taught and has never had a formal education, and although things have gone very well, he knew that Tommy needed to be better equipped.
The need to have the right skills came into sharp focus for Per and Tommy Andersen in 2008. The company had been growing since its inception and had been named a gazelle company two years in a row. There were 37 employees on the payroll and a fairly large fleet of trucks shuttled in and out of the company's gates at Kristinehøj in Kastrup. Then came the financial crisis.
"It hit us hard. We lost a lot of mileage and the crisis forced us to review everything and trim the business. We sold old cars, cut unnecessary expenses and depreciated fixed assets so that we ended up with a much more transparent and streamlined business. We simply learned to look at costs and where we used to review the accounts once a year, now it's once a month. We can thank the crisis for the fact that today we have a healthy company with reasonable results," say Tommy and Per Andersen.
More approaches to generational change
With the crisis fresh in his mind, Tommy 'apprenticed' with the company's former accountant and current board member. Here, the future CEO learned to read and interpret the accounts from scratch. "And then we really started to run the company as a professional business," say father and son.
"The generation change in Per Andersen A/S is a prime example of how an owner-manager can future-proof his company and his family through thorough preparation and long-term planning."
State Authorized Public Accountant Per Jensen, partner at inforevision.
In 2010, the family first considered a generational change, but decided to wait. "The crisis had made the banks very cautious. They wanted me to personally guarantee everything, and I wasn't prepared to take that risk at the time. I had two small children and a newly built house, and nothing happened by continuing as it was. The company was running fine, and Per didn't mind keeping the reins," says Tommy Andersen.
Advice at eye level
The next attempt ended with a successful generational change in 2016. inforevisionhad in the meantime become the auditor and advisor for Per Andersen A/S, and after a number of years with good accounts, it was clear that the time was right.
"inforevisionand the lawyers presented the different options and explained everything in a language we could understand. We were at eye level, and that made us feel ready because we could see what we were getting into. inforevisionalso took care of the paperwork, so all we really had to do was attend the meetings," says Tommy Andersen. His father adds: "I think I was actually more prepared there than the first time. And now I had also seen that Tommy could run the company himself and accomplish what he wanted to do. It's always great to see your children succeed in what they want to do."
"The generational change in Per Andersen A/S is a prime example of how owner-managers can future-proof their company and family through thorough preparation and long-term planning. Everyone was ready and prepared when we started the process, and financially, the change has made sense for both generations," says state-authorized public accountant Per Jensen, partner at inforevision.
"You can't have two generals"
No date has been set for Per Andersen's last working day, and he has continued to work for the company. Every now and then he runs an express trip for Tommy, and in the warehouse he has a workshop where he builds exhibition stands for some of his long-time customers. He has also kept his office. Here he lives next door to Marianne, who in addition to being the family business's accountant is also Tommy's mother and Per's wife.
But Per Andersen is no longer CEO: "You can't have two generals. I've always known that I had to learn to accept that, and I'm fine with that. I'm worn out after a physically hard working life, and now I can gradually retire," he says.
