Having gained a firm grounding in the market at M&S, Hobbs managing director Nicky Dulieu is unfazed by the challenges of a rocky economy. By Amy Shields

It is difficult to picture Hobbs’ glamorous managing director Nicky Dulieu up to her elbows in mud. But when Dulieu is not steering the revitalisation of the fashion brand, the elegant blonde is at her happiest in her garden tending to her plants and vegetables.

It is this creativity, combined with an astute financial acumen and work ethic that she says makes her well placed to bring some much-needed sex appeal to the retailer after a period of stagnation.

“We have a hugely loyal customer who we will keep with us through thick and thin, but we have some fantastic plans for our evolution”, says Dulieu.

Under the direction of creative director Sandy Verdon, who spearheaded the revival of Jaeger, Hobbs will introduce edgier fashion ranges and appeal to a new, younger customer alongside its established demographic.

“The work that we will do [for the established customer] will be to add more newness, more excitement, give them slightly more trend-led pieces – but nothing that is going to frighten them in any way,” she says. “But we have also got a customer who has stopped shopping with us over the past two or three years because we haven’t got enough newness for them.” Dulieu will also evolve the offer to appeal to mother and daughter shoppers.

“The focus for us now is about the customer and the brand,” she adds. “It is about saying: ‘we have got this fantastic platform, what are we going to do with the product, the brand and the customer proposition?’ ” That platform comprises 120 stores and concessions in the UK, four Middle Eastern stores and several overseas wholesale accounts. Turnover is nudging the£100 million mark.

In June, Dulieu took over the reins from veteran Nick Samuel. A numbers person by training, Dulieu left school to join Marks & Spencer as a trainee accounts clerk – Hobbs’ private equity backer 3i was then quick to recognise her commercial abilities, she says.

“I am very much a commercial person. I have very strong finance credentials – but that is very much the given side of the role to me,” she says. “I will always be looking to how I drive the business forward using that. I think it is a great skill.”

After more than 20 years at M&S, working alongside people like Maurice Helfgott and Guy Farrant, Dulieu was able to “fully understand the drivers of a business” and “know what levers to pull”. She also discovered her “passion for retail” there.

However, it is her shrewd finance brain that crops up frequently in conversation, especially in relation to trading through the downturn.

“The credit crunch will be a very good learning point for businesses that don’t have a management team which has been through a tough time and potentially got a little carried away through the boom,” she says. “I came up through the ranks in M&S and the company itself – irrespective of what was happening in the economy – went through those huge booms and busts. That may be why, in the back of my mind, I always associated boom with cutting back.”

It was such a background that led Dulieu to focus on cutting out fat when she joined Hobbs as finance director in 2006, leaving its balance sheet in good shape as it faced the credit crunch. Dulieu says the Hobbs customer has yet to feel the full force of the downturn – sales were up single digits last month.

She cautions, however, that they are far from immune. “When they read the newspaper headlines there can be a bit of guilt about splashing the cash,” she says. “It does give businesses like us a huge opportunity. Shoppers want investment pieces. It isn’t about throwaway fashion.”

However, the wider global downturn has forced overseas opening plans to go on hold. “There is an opportunity for Hobbs in the US,” says Dulieu. “But in terms of where the economy is, it’s not [an option] for now. The upside we will see in the business through the focus on the customer and product will be phenomenally larger than any opportunity there.”

With her passion and financial nous, Dulieu will surely not be afraid to grasp the nettle.

Dulieu dilidence

Age: 44

Lives: in Chelmsford with her partner

Interests: shopping, exotic holidays, gardening and garden design

Career History

2008: managing director, Hobbs

2007: chief operations officer, Hobbs

2006: finance director Hobbs

1982-2005: head of finance food division (and other roles), Marks & Spencer