From trainee to chief executive

AS he sits down for lunch, Adam Applegarth admits to feeling a mite grumpy. It is Wednesday, and just 24 hours earlier, Applegarth, chief executive of Northern Rock bank, told the City that profits for the year would be at the top end of analysts' expectations. In response, shares in Northern Rock fell by more than 2%.

On the morning of our meeting, Abbey National was forced to admit to City investors that it was having a less happy time and would suffer a full-year loss for the first time since it floated. Abbey's share price went up. The voluble Applegarth makes no effort to hide his irritation at this apparent injustice. 'But still,' he quips, 'it gives me a chance to have a rant. I suppose when you get sacked and the share price goes up, then you can worry.'

Applegarth's tongue-incheek display of irritation rapidly subsides. But he resolutely refuses to let go of the subject of the share price. He is clearly preoccupied with how his company is perceived in the City.

'The share price was £6 at the beginning of the year. It's £6.80 now. On the day I was appointed chief executive it was £4.25,' he says. And all this accuracy comes from a chief executive who, despite a degree in economics and maths, claims that facts and figures are not his strong point.

This, of course, is a complete affectation. Applegarth gaily reels off a string of facts - albeit pretty useless ones. How many people carry in their heads the fact that the battle of Neville's Cross was fought in 1346? Indeed, Applegarth says he fluffed his first job at Northern Rock as a management trainee in a local branch in 1983 because of his ineptitude at balancing the books.

'If you're £2,000 out at the end of the day, that's okay. And if you're a couple of pence out, that's still okay. But I found I was, like, £17.32 out at the end of a day. So how exactly can you make that happen? You have to be inspired to be that bad,' he says.

Whether Applegarth was actually bad, or is simply being self-effacing, it clearly didn't get in the way of his career, the whole of which has been spent at one company. After just six months as a trainee, Applegarth joined Northern Rock's head office, where he was nurtured through the ranks by the head of the then building society, Christopher Sharp.

Sharp died of a heart attack in 1997, but Applegarth, who at 40 is the second-youngest chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, will be eternally grateful for his good faith. 'Chris would always allow people to grow, irrespective of their age,' he says.

Applegarth has a hectic working life. The bank's head offices are in Newcastle, but he comes to London at least once a week for roadshows and City presentations.

He also travels regularly in Europe and the US, but though happy to tell tales of crossing continents, Applegarth truly comes alive when talking about his native North-East.

Born in Sunderland, he now lives a few miles from Newcastle and takes great pleasure in the 25-minute drive from his home into work. And in a laudable commitment to the region, Northern Rock has a charitable foundation. Each year, the bank gives 5% of its pre-tax profits to the Northern Rock Foundation, which then ploughs the money into charities in the North-East. 'We've given them about £75 million over the past five years,' he says.

Applegarth brims with confidence about his business. A conservative approach means that virtually no single borrower has a loan of more than £1 million, and the bank has avoided the treacherous buy-to-let market. Maybe Northern Rock's share price fell on Tuesday. But rather that than having Abbey National's problems to fret about.