Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C) can count on the marketing skills of its affable chief executive, Maurice Pratt, when it comes touting the drinks and snacks group in the run-up to its proposed stock market flotation. He will need to muster all his not inconsiderable sales skills to help float the company at a time when stock markets are in the doldrums.

Pratt's arrival at the helm of C&C in January this year is believed to have put some noses slightly out of joint initially. But it is believed that he has won over his colleagues with his amiable style, while he is also credited with modernising the old world atmosphere at the company where until recently people were formally addressed as Mr and Mrs. "He manages to win extreme loyalty from those around him," said one source.

Pratt has been a high profile figure in Irish marketing since the early 1980s when he fronted Quinnsworth's own label TV campaigns. But while his marketing skills are not in doubt, this is the first time he has headed a publicly quoted company. Previously, he worked within strong support systems provided by the multinational Tesco, which acquired Quinnsworth from its former owner, ABF. Prior to that he worked under the leadership of senior supermarket bosses such as Don Tidey and Richard Reeves at Quinnsworth.

By switching to C&C, Pratt has gone to the other side of the fence: from buying product to selling it. He has had to familiarise himself with new areas such as production and handling overseas subsidiaries.

When Tesco entered the Irish market following its acquisition of Quinnsworth, it initially made a number of errors, according to retailing sources. Tesco then appointed Pratt to the top job in an effort to ease the British supermarket's entry into the Irish market.

He became managing director of Tesco in 1997, having joined Quinnsworth in 1982 from advertising agency Des O'Meara & Partners. He oversaw a €240 million investment in the shops and presided over their gradual `Tescoisation'. Even so, retailing gurus reckon that Tesco's grocery market share has dropped from 26 per cent to 23 or 24 per cent since it bought Quinnsworth.

Since Pratt took over at the helm of Tesco, the supermarket has been dogged by a number of controversies. In July 2000, it emerged that Pratt was at a dinner with Tánaiste Mary Harney where the cap on supermarket square footage was discussed. At the time, Tesco wanted to build very large supermarkets with no cap on square footage. The government subsequently increased the square footage that Tesco was allowed to build, a move that led to criticism from the opposition.

In 1999, Harney resisted pressure to publish two reports carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) monitoring the level of Tesco's purchases from Irish suppliers for the two years ending February 1998. The problem was that Tesco had funded -- and therefore technically owned -- the reports.

Pratt is on record as saying that Nicolo Machiavelli's The Prince is the best business book ever written. Apparently, he particularly liked Machiavelli's advice always to be innovative and to take care to bring people with you. Another piece of advice Pratt apparently liked is to prepare for war even in times of peace.

With Tesco's core food business actually decreasing, Pratt's innovations included diversifying into selling financial products to customers, internet shopping, CDs, videos, newspapers, magazines and mobile phones. He may need the same innovative spirit at C&C to diversify the offering away from its core cider business.

In his spare time Pratt numbers tennis, golf, cycling and travel among his pastimes. He does not seem to smoke or drink, although he has downplayed his abstemiousness since joining the drinks group. He is also a strong family man, living with his wife, Pauline, and five sons.

His father died of heart problems, with the result that Pratt strongly supports the Irish Heart Foundation, and sits on its board. He is also on the board of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and is vice-president of employers' group Ibec.

Trade unionists seem to get on well with him. When Tesco took over Quinnsworth, he proved very useful in explaining to them the different industrial scene in Ireland.