In his career Bernard Daymon has been something of a globe trotter. Now he has global ambitions for Jeyes. Acting business editor Elaine Maslin reports

Bernard Daymon describes the past 12 months as having been 'quite an exciting year'.

That's quite a statement for someone who, for a time, covered a region which spanned from Sakhalin off the east coast of mainland Russia to Cape Town in South Africa and who has looked after some of the biggest global brands during more than 10 years at Unilever.

However, the French-born chief executive of cleaning and hygiene firm Jeyes Group, based in Thetford, is someone who likes to get his hands dirty. The top speciality listed on his CV is 'lead change, shape and execute strategy, create value'.

Indeed, since joining Jeyes 12 months ago, he has been through the company with a fine tooth comb, instituting a major change programme, including creating a new headquarters in Cambridge, and putting the firm on a footing for growth – financially and globally.

It's something he's good at.

Although his background was in finance, he has a knack of getting involved in more than just numbers, leading to roles in sales, general management and operations.

Among his achievements he lists his first business turnaround, which was for Unilever, the owner of global brands from Cif and Persil to Domestos, Surf and Dove – a job he picked over two other offers.

For Diversey, a global provider of commercial cleaning, sanitation and hygiene services, his performance in growing emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Turkey, Africa and the Middle East ultimately led to his posting looking after Europe (covering 14 countries and �1.5bn of sales) for the company.

So why did someone with such a blue chip multi-national corporate background want to relocate to Norfolk-based Jeyes? A chance to put all his skills to the test.

'I felt I had spent much of my career in big multi-national corporations,' he said. 'I set myself a task to find an opportunity of leading an organisation.'

What attracted him to Jeyes, which also makes Parozone, Easy and, of course, Jeyes Fluid, was its brand awareness and recognition, not only for the Jeyes name but also its Bloo brand and not just in the UK but internationally, dealing with major retailers in the UK, Europe and Australia.

And although it was a smaller organisation, based out of Brunel Way in Thetford since the 1960s, it was playing up there 'with the big boys' like Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever and SC Johnson.

Its claim to fame is having the most toilets per square foot in the world – in its Thetford testing laboratory where 255 loos from all over the world are used to test products.

'I felt there were a lot of opportunities for Jeyes,' he said. 'Being more global and far more focused on delivering innovation.

'Its opportunity really lies with global expansion and innovation,' he says. 'In January we started offering innovations to Australia and it really got retailers excited. There is plenty of opportunity just by leveraging what we have.'

The business is to focus on three main geographies for the next five years: Europe; Asia, Pacific (Australia, China and Japan; and the US.

The key is to 'rebalance' the business profile across those areas, says Mr Daymon. Toilet care, for example, is 50pc UK but 0pc US. Air care (air fresheners) is mostly US, offering opportunities in the US and UK. Cleaning, the smallest area of the business, will launch across all three geographies.

Mr Daymon says after that it will be the rest of the world.

But first, a lot of work had to be done in the UK over the past 12 months and there is plenty more to do, he says.

As with Unilever's North American business, Mr Daymon, with his team, has analysed Jeyes and a major change programme initiated with a focus on innovation.

Research-and-development activities at Thetford have been strengthened. A �5m cash injection was supplied to the business in March to support development and product innovation.

Ongoing and new innovation streams have been separated to help both become more focused – when Mr Daymon first joined he said there was innovation but not much was getting to market.

Staffing has risen from 220 to 300 at Thetford, where R&D is based and Kleen Off, Jeyes Fluid, Parozone, Easy and Bloo are manufactured. Globally Jeyes has 1,800 staff.

New employees include people from Proctor & Gamble, PwC, Kraft and Campbell Soup.

A new campaign was launched for Jeyes Fluid – the first time the brand been advertised at least since 1877 when John Jeyes founded the firm – he says, to reconnect the brand with customers before going for a younger generation.

In the pipeline is investment in the Bloo brand. So has it been different to working at a multi-national?

'It is going to sound obvious, it does make a difference,' he said. 'The size of the business – when in Unilever or Diversey you are surrounded by people with a lot of talent. The role is leadership, inspiring, setting a course, co-ordinating.

'When I got to Jeyes, because of the size of the business, being much smaller obviously, you get to do all the inspiration but you have also got to prepare presentations, make sure the message is well articulated, go down to very detailed work as well as strategic thinking.

'I've found it fascinating understanding how that works.'

And the work is starting to pay off. A new product was launched in Germany last month and is about to launch in the UK - a toilet bowl freshening and cleaning product which gradually desolves, including the packaging.

It was a result of concern from customers about germs forming on refil cartridges.

'It is a good symbol of the direction of the company,' said Mr Daymon. 'This is part of the way we look at the new Jeyes, understanding the customer.'

Key to it all is the clear vision for the direction of the business - and that vision being communicated and enacted in every part of the business.

The firm's vision statement is now 'cleaning and freshening spaces and places', he says. Its mission includes being 'be nimble, agile, incredibly innovative, fast, global, outstanding'.

'The secret to success is when every little action day to day is aligned to broader purpose and strategic aim,' says Mr Daymon.

'You need to be clear where you are going. This is what we have done. It is a hell of a job.'

He expects the firm's headline figures will start to show results in 2012. Until then its �200m sales remain stable, having gone through the process of clearing out unprofitable or non-core lines in the past year.

'We need to be realistic,' he says. 'This business can grow, absolutely – 5pc year after year after year. There are plenty of things to do.'