Construction/Manufacturing
2016: No.4 - £1bn
2015: No.6 - £750m

The upturn in the housing market, escalating prices and ultra-low interest rates have propelled miner’s son John Bloor, 72, into the exclusive billionaires’ club.

While Hinckley-based Triumph Motorcycles isn’t making a massive contribution to the Bloor Holdings balance sheet, the company as a whole is doing well, thanks to the Government’s continuing incentives for house buyers and the rise in the housing market which have boosted Measham-based Bloor Homes – the other part of John Bloor’s business.

Triumph Motorcycles’ underlying performance remains strong with sales boosted by export growth and success on the track. The firm’s entry into the Brazilian market has also proved successful. The company has a factory there as well as three factories in Thailand and one in India.

Motorcycle sales comfortably exceed 50,000, with more than 85 per cent coming from exports including the US. As well as Brazil, India is being targeted for another sales boost. In the UK Triumph retained its number one market position.

Turnover for the Bloor Holdings group was close to £900 million – a rise of more than £140 million on the previous year. Pre-tax profits came close to £62 million.

Bloor Homes is building houses at a rate of more than 2000 a year – everything from one-bedroom apartments to seven-bedroom luxury homes.

The slump in house sales of a few years ago hit Bloor Homes hard but that’s now history as the house market recovers. In 2014 the firm reported revenue of £373 million.

New developments have been built across the UK including Rugby, Portsmouth, Altrincham, Wednesbury, Bath and Frome.

Bloor Homes is one of the largest privately-owned housebuilding groups in the UK. The combined group is worth around £725 million.

Derbyshire-born John Bloor – who lives in Swadlincote - bought the collapsed Triumph for £150,000 in 1983 and the brand displayed the first products from its new Hinckley factory in 1990. John Bloor, who trained as a plasterer, has poured more than £80 million into rebuilding the 100 year-old brand. He was awarded the OBE in 1995 for services to the motorcycle industry and holds an honorary law degree from Leicester University.