Over thirty years on the road and planning a new journey

The mainstay of Pat Foley Transport is work for Tirlán, the food and nutrition business. In the peak months of the year for milk processing, the Foley trucks are on the road seven days a week. The winter months are quieter, when many of the drivers are happy to avail of an extended vacation.

Built on loyalty

The company’s staff are very loyal, according to Mary. “We have a high retention rate and our best advertisement is our staff - they recruit for us. So we’re very lucky in that regard. If a driver feels they’re in a job where they’re acknowledged, rewarded, and have decent working conditions, they’ll tell their friends, and that’s worked out well for us over the years.”

The couple have four children. The eldest girls, Grace and Áine, are primary school teachers, while twins Padhraic and Rosín, 23, work in the business, learning the ropes from their parents. Despite the firm’s success, the two founders are as wedded to operations as when the children were born. As they approach their 60s, Pat and Mary have commenced planning for some lifestyle changes.

Planning the exit

“We’d see ourselves pulling back over the next couple of years,” says Pat. “The last thing you want is a timeline - it’s like putting a gun to your head. We’re not in a desperate hurry but we are thinking about it.” Mary adds: “Our business operates 24 hours a day and the responsibility and the sacrifices involved in keeping it going are considerable. I’ll be 60 this year and my mother died at 55. The ten years between 60 and 70 are very important. We’ve worked hard over the years and we want to be able to enjoy some of the benefit of that.”

Working with their advisory team, Mary and Pat are confident that their business is truly understood, with Mary noting “we’ve been having conversations we never had before because they put options in front of us we didn’t even know existed.”

Seeing the wood from the trees

James Farrell, Head of ifac’s SME advisory team, observes that founders who retain close control of their family business is a reason why the venture has thrived. “This repeats itself across family firms up and down the country. You build something so successful that it becomes difficult to extricate yourself from it, to see the wood from the trees and actually enjoy the benefits of what you’ve built.

“One of the things we’ll be looking at outside of the tax planning is the management structure. How do Pat and Mary step back from their intense current roles? Building that knowledge out beyond just the two of them, without putting too much pressure on the successors, is going to be critical. Our job is to try to pull them out of the day-to-day, even for an hour or two every other month, and look at the wider picture.”

A bigger picture emerges

“What we’ve seen with James and ifac so far has been very impressive,“ says Mary. “We were existing in a small bubble and suddenly a much bigger bubble has opened up with a lot more options. When you’re a small business you do your core things right but you might not have time for everything else.

“Ifac ticks the boxes across the areas where businesses struggle - identifying where management needs to step up, where you need outside help, and when you need to step back. Business is tough and you need good people behind you, supporting you and giving you confidence that you can do this.”

The family business exiting and succession space is at the core of what ifac does. It’s holistic client care - financial planning, tax, exit structures, and wealth management, all brought together. With Pat and Mary, the reason these conversations are possible is that they built something remarkable over the past 30-plus years.