11 (6=) Jorgen Philip-Sorensen £600m (£600m)
UK cash-in-transit security guards are the most attacked in the world - because they don’t carry guns. As a result, robberies and attacks on staff are an issue of concern for Group 4 Securicor of which Jorgen Philip-Sorensen is the former chairman.
The company has warned of an increase in attacks, but despite that G4S has seen strong organic growth at its cash-handling business, benefiting from a new contract to replenish cash machines for Halifax Bank of Scotland.
For the first six months of 2007 G4S reported pre-tax profits of £95.6 million, up from £87.4 million the previous year. Group revenue increased 12 per cent to £2.26 billion
Jorgen Philip-Sorensen, aged 69, retired as chairman of the massive Anglo-Danish security company in 2006 but remains a major shareholder - estimated to be worth more than £300 million - and is President Emeritus. He has also sold a considerable number of shares.
He also owns a wide range of businesses, including Belgian ecological cleaning products company Ecover, two hotels including the Dormy House Hotel in the Cotswolds, a shipyard, an internet fish distribution business in Denmark, the massive Farncombe Estate Adult Learning Centre, also in the Cotswolds and Mike Golding Yacht Racing Ltd, a business which allows him to indulge his passion for competitive sailing.
He represents the third generation of Philip-Sorensens to run Group 4 and it has flourished under his stewardship. It was in 1915 that the first of the Philip-Sorensens became involved in security in Scandinavia. In the 1960s Jorgen Philip-Sorensen was despatched from Scandinavia to the UK to build the family’s security empire. He established the then Worcestershire-based Group 4 which became the world’s largest security company.
In 2004 Group 4 Falk merged with Securicor, and through acquisitions and growth the company now employs 500,000 people in 100 countries.
Growth for the future looks inevitable, with G4S planning to spend a further £200 million on acquisitions to meet rising demand for security services in developing countries.
The Farncombe Estate Adult Learning Centre allows people to combine weekend study breaks with breathtaking views across the Vale of Evesham to Malvern. The brainchild of Jorgen Philip-Sorensen, it means that a 56 bedroom conference centre during the week is able to continue earning money at weekends, full of people on a wide variety of courses.
Father-of-four Jorgen is a passionate follower of competitive sailing, first becoming involved with his Group 4 sponsored boat in the 1992 British Steel Challenge.
