Property/Construction
2016: No.19= - £180m
2015: No.23 - £150m

The upturn in the regional property market is leading to a stellar performance from Simon Clarke’s St Modwen regeneration company. The developer saw a massive 306 per cent increase in pre-tax profits in the first half of 2015 to £203 million compared to £51.3 million in 2015. The trend is expected to continue for the full year.

Realised property profits were also up to £41.3 million compared to £19.1 million the previous year. The company says the results are record-breaking, underpinned by growth in the UK property sector and the regional marketplace. The firm has a property portfolio worth £1.5 billion.

The performance was buoyed by further advances in its residential business as the housing market continues to lift, and a continued focus on London and the South East. St Modwen was granted unconditional planning permission from the London Borough of Wandsworth for the redevelopment of New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms in April resulting in a £128 million revaluation gain. The project is a joint venture with VINCI.

Elsewhere the company has a significant number of development projects reaching completion including Swansea University’s £450 million Bay Campus and the opening of the 150,000 sq ft Marks and Spencer at Longbridge.

St Modwen has relocated its office from Quinton Business Park to the Longbridge site where it is carrying out a £1 billion regeneration project. The company is occupying 11,300 sq ft of space at Park Point, the new-build office development in the newly-created Longbridge town centre. St Modwen is also continuing with its 10 year £150 million redevelopment of the Goodyear site in Wolverhampton where 600 homes will be built.

Simon Clarke, aged 50, takes an active part in the running of St Modwen, the company founded by his late father Sir Stan Clarke who died in 2004.

In 2007 the family sold their 56 per cent stake in Dunstall-based Northern Racing for £65.9 million.

Simon Clarke lives on his Staffordshire estate at Dunstall.