Conversation flows effortlessly between John Elliott and Pamela Petty, as they talk in the boardroom at Ebac, a family-run manufacturer in north east England. They pick up each other’s points and explore tangential thoughts in easy exchange.
It is like listening to a family chat. And in a sense it is, because Mr El-liott and Ms Petty are father and daughter, as well as leading a team that aims to treble Ebac’s £20m an-nual turnover by reviving UK production of chest freezers and washing machines.
“Your strengths are more of an engineering background, mine are more business [and] numbers,” says Ms Petty, 46-year-old managing director and financial director, to Mr Elliott, 70-year-old chairman and founder.