Property/Automotive
2016: No.12 - £475m
2015: No.12= - £450m

Lord Bob Edmiston has announced that he is to quit the House of Lords to spend more time on his charity work. He is one of the UK’s biggest philanthropic donors and wants to devote more of his time to religious and educational charities.

Meanwhile his Coleshill-based property investment and development group IM Properties is doing very well indeed. Pre-tax profits more than doubled in the year to December 31, 2014, driven by a significant development pipeline.

The company posted profits of £33.2 million while net assets increased from £324 million to £379 million. At year end the total value of IM’s investment portfolio stood at £577 million, which is £120 million up on the previous year.

The company owns a string of landmark sites across the UK, including Birmingham’s prestigious 55 Colmore Row which is undergoing redevelopment as prime city centre office space, and the Blythe Valley Business Park near Solihull.

IM has unveiled plans to develop a new business park near the M1 motorway in Nottinghamshire which could support thousands of jobs. Nottingham 26 will be located on site off the A610 and will be made up of four large industrial units including a 460,000 sq ft distribution centre.

Business in the UK continues to be brisk, while in Munich IM Properties concluded the disposal of the logistics hub for vehicle giant BMW in a deal worth more than £36 million. The prestige project – BMW’s largest non-production facility – represented the biggest deal to date for award-winning IM Properties on mainland Europe. The 99,000 sq m distribution facility was sold to a private consortium. IM has also sold a number of logistics properties in Germany to Valad Europe for £21.4 million.

The company’s bespoke residential arm, Spitfire Properties LLP, celebrated its fourth full year of trading with rapid expansion and construction underway on developments at Little Aston, Solihull, Bath and Ascot among others

Meanwhile things are progressing well at IM Group’s other major business – its automotive arm, which imports Subaru, Daihatsu, Great Wall and Isuzu vehicles. In August the company acquired Citroen Motors Ireland, which includes the Airside retail group in Dublin.

IM Group continues to support Lord Edmiston’s charity Christian Vision with substantial donations from its bottom line. Lord Edmiston remains in the top 10 list of Britain’s biggest philanthropists, having donated to religious, humanitarian and educational charities through Christian Vision. He donated £36 million in 2013 and since 1998 he has donated well over £300 million to various causes. He is also a significant donor to the Conservative party.

Christian Vision sponsors three city academies in the Midlands including the Grace Academies in Darlaston, Solihull and Coventry. Teaching is based on Christian principles, encouraging decency, respect and compassion.

A former finance director at the failed Jensen Motors, Lord Edmiston used his £6,000 redundancy pay to set up International Motors in 1974. He began as the world’s only distributor for Jensen parts before acquiring the franchises for Subaru and Isuzu.

The IM group is housed on a purpose-built 200-acre site in Coleshill which is the headquarters of its global operations.

Sixty-nine year-old Lord Edmiston is a committed and active Christian and began Christian Vision in 1988. This charity has helped families and children around the globe, and has a presence in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Zambia, Mozambique, Australia, East Timor and Angola.