By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Boral had established itself as a major player in the building and construction materials industries. This was due in part to one of Neal's first moves on becoming chief executive. Ian Potter, who had advised Griffin in the company's early years, was still on Boral's board but Neal employed Brian Saunders, who had been a management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand, to come in full-time as corporate planner. This role was directly related to acquisitions and he worked directly for Neal. Saunders used a computer modelling program called the International Financial Planning System (IFPS), to assess the effects of acquisitions. Boral was among the first Australian companies to use this kind of modelling. Using this system, they could put in all the variables: how much Boral paid; how much Boral should offer in shares or cash, as well as making projections - for example, the likely outcome if the profits did not meet budget. A major complication for Boral when it acquired companies was that Caltex still had an interest in the company. This meant that Caltex had the right to participate in any share issue. If Boral offered shares to shareholders in the company it was taking over, it had to issue extra shares to Caltex. An extensive article in the now defunct Australian Business Magazine of October 1981 profiled the company, by that time Australia's twentieth largest. The magazine quoted Neal's criterion as simply: earnings, not assets. The following excerpt gives an insight into how Boral's operations were perceived by the financial press at that time.           Female palletisers loading bricks for distribution at Clark Brick, Moorebank, Sydney, in 1974.     Boral's tough task master For a company the size and power of Boral Ltd, it seems odd that the only evidence of the Computer Age at its North Sydney headquarters is a single terminal. But this innocuous looking business aid is, in fact, chief executive Eric Neal's secret weapon in elevating Boral to among the top ten within the next few years. The terminal, linked via Control Data to a computer bank in Melbourne for security reasons, contains the inner financial details of the 100-odd companies Boral has selected as potential takeover targets - a corporate shopping list that includes some big names. Indeed, if yours is a company with a strategic interest in building materials, resources or a similar growth area, then chances are Boral is eyeing your property. The terminal, employing a sophisticated program known as Interactive Financial Planning system, which provides not only key financial ratios within half-a-second but also the effects on Boral of any changes in those ratios, was introduced by Eric Neal in 1975 to handle the takeover of Cyclone Company of Australia, the steel products maker. And it has been the selector of the most suitable targets ever since, including the acquisition of Australian Gypsum Industries, Quarry Industries, Pacific Brick, and the group's push into the US roofing tiles and bricks market. If the computer says 'go', Boral moves - its usage remains a well-kept secret. Only two executives know how to operate the terminal, using a passcode which changes every two months. Boral's five chief general managers - the next line of management below Neal - are called in to contribute, but they are given access to only part of Boral's knowledge of the bid. The company's computer division was also centralised by Neal under David Pennells, who was appointed Boral's first manager, computer services in March 1976. Apart from the 'takeover terminal' the company's computers - two Burroughs main frames - are located where much of Boral's work is, Melbourne and Brisbane.         The article also speculated on Boral's next move in terms of acquisitions. The companies mooted were ACI, BMI and Pioneer Concrete. John Alexander, the journalist who wrote the article, surmised that ACI was probably too big, BMI might not fit Boral's strict criteria and Pioneer Concrete might be a problem because relations between Neal and Antico, in Alexander's words, 'were not close'. Boral's next acquisition turned out to be BMI in 1982.         »»