3 APRIL 1971, Page 28

Export and be damned

The Rolls-Royce crash was supposed to be a salutary lesson to all irresponsible strikers. It wasn't. They went on as if it had never oc- curred. But it has struck deep into the hearts of many businessmen, my inquiries reveal. Perhaps they, too, have been operating con- tracts which are prestigious and yet un- profitable. They have looked—and, lo, it has been so. If the Rolls debacle did nothing else, it downgraded the Queen's Export Award Scheme. One managing director of a major British supplier told me: 'We have now decided that we will not take on an export order unless the chances of making a profit are greater than those of making a loss. Already we have plenty of those kinds of contract on our books. We don't want any more'.