William Archer

William (or Bill) Archer may refer to:

See also

Bill Archer (businessman)

William Ernest Archer is a British businessman.

Career

In 1987 Archer and Greg Stanley of Fads DIY acquired Choice DIY, a small do it yourself (DIY) company with six stores in the Midlands and the north of England for £900,000. In 1988 the Focus DIY company was bought by Archer and all stores were re-branded Focus DIY. With the help of private equity the chain grew to 72 stores in the United Kingdom.

By 2002 the chain had grown to over 450 stores following several buyouts including the Wickes DIY chain. Archer and his partners received over £650 million from the sale of Wickes in 2005. When his core Focus business was in financial difficulty, US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management bought Focus for £1 in June 2007. Cerberus, which also took on debts of £180m, brought in Bill Grimsey, former chief executive of Wickes. “When we came in, staff morale had been wiped out and the shelves had no stock because suppliers thought it was going bust. The business was still selling eight-year-old kitchens because there had been no investment,” said Grimsey.(subscription required)

Conservative Party of Canada candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election

The Conservative Party of Canada ran a full slate of candidates in the 2004 federal election, and won 99 seats out of 308 to form the Official Opposition. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; information about others may be found here.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Rick Dalton (Avalon)

Dalton received 9,173 votes (29.3%), losing to the region's incumbent, John Efford.

Wynanne Downer (Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte)

Wynanne Downer lost to incumbent Gerry Byrne of the Liberal Party of Canada. Downer received 6,538 votes to Byrne's 17,820.

Downer sat on the Corner Brook City Council following there local election in September 2005 serving until she died of cancer in July 2007.

Merrill Strachan (Labrador)

Strachan lost to Lawrence O'Brien of the Liberal Party of Canada, receiving 1,400 votes to O'Brien's 5,524.

Larry Peckford (Random—Burin—St. George's)

Larry Peckford lost to Bill Matthews of the Liberal Party of Canada, receiving 4,820 votes to Matthews's 12,383. He is the younger brother of former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford.