Care Homes/Automotive
2016: No.19= - £180m
2015: No.20 - £172m
Keith Bradshaw co-founded the Listers car dealership with business partner Terry Lister 36 years ago. Since then it has grown into England’s largest independent dealer group.
The Stratford-upon-Avon-based company makes good profits, turns over close to £1 billion a year and is worth at least £200 million.
The motor group’s performance is boosted by its expanding portfolio of dealerships across the Midlands, East Anglia and the north of England, with substantial sales volumes coming from the group’s Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen divisions. The Volkswagen emissions scandal doesn’t seem to have made too big a dent in sales to date.
A couple of years ago the company invested almost £1 million to give Listers Volkswagen Coventry in Quinton Road a major facelift. Meanwhile the group’s dealerships pick up awards on a regular basis.
Keith Bradshaw, aged 72, is chairman and 50 per cent owner of the Listers Group which remains is proudly independent.
With more than 50 outlets across the country, Listers employs 1,700 people. It is co-owned by Keith Bradshaw’s partner and public face of the group, Terry Lister. The two began in business with a single dealership and body shop in Coventry.
Listers runs an extensive portfolio of franchises, including BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar, SEAT, Audi, Honda, Toyota, Lexus, Mercedes and Volkswagen. The company also has a franchise for Volkswagen commercials.
Keith Bradshaw is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. After qualifying as an accountant in Birmingham in 1966 he attended Handsworth Technical College.
He spent time in West Africa before returning aged 30 and setting up a number of private companies, the foremost of which was BP Nursing Homes Ltd which became Takare PLC and which was sold to BUPA in 1998 for close on £300 million. When it was sold it was the largest operator of its type in Europe, employing 14,000 people.
He is non-executive chairman of property company Nurton Developments, run day-to-day by his son David who is managing director. His brother, also David, is Nurton’s construction and technical director. The company has a policy of bringing unloved and neglected buildings back to life.
Nurton has become one of the region’s leading developers of industrial, office and mixed use retail and leisure space. It has a residential offshoot – Urban Cube. Nurton recently acquired a Birmingham city centre office building as part of a £9 million deal. The company bought Aspect Court in Temple Row and Wireless House in Warwick in a joint venture witrh a private investor, Nurton plans to extensively refurbish and asset manage both buildings.
Nurton’s flagship property is the landmark Two Colmore Square, which has undergone a £25 million transformation.
Keith Bradshaw also has an interest in Laney Headstock, which produces a range of musical instruments and sound reinforcement products.
