Here are the 2019 entrants on the Birmingham Post Rich List - the organisation in brackets is the brand they are most closely associated with.

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1. Nassef Sawiris (Aston Villa) £5.2 billion Football/Construction – new entrant

The Egyptian businessman bought 27.5 per cent stake in Aston Villa along with Wes Edens, who bought another 27.5 per cent stake in the football club – taking majority control from Tony Xia.

He is the youngest of three brothers who run his family’s business; the multi-faceted conglomerate Orascom Construction Industries, which has interests in telecommunications, construction and tourism.

2. Lord Bamford and family (JCB) £4.5 billion Manufacturing – 2018 No 2 £3.6bn

A massive 75 per cent surge in demand from China has resulted in high-powered profits and revenue for Lord Bamford’s JCB, which has more than 10,000 employees around the world and exports more than three-quarters of its UK production.

In June the Rocester-headquartered business announced that it is to build a new £50 million factory in Staffordshire turning out more than 100,000 cabs a year and creating 200 jobs – one of the biggest investments in its history.

3. Guo Guangchang (Wolverhampton Wanderers) £4.2 billion Football/Investment – 2018 No 1 £4.6bn

Bought Wolves for £30 million in 2016 and saw the club achieve promotion to the Champions League last year.

His company, Fosun International, a diversified company involved in healthcare, fashion, tourism and property – founded in China in 1992 – has racked up latest reported profits of £1.5bn, sales of £10bn and assets of £60bn.

Birmingham Post Rich List 2019 - the 10 billionaires

4. (3) Guochuan Lai (West Bromwich Albion) £2.5 billion (£2.6bn) Football/Eco-towns – 2018 No 3 £2.6bn

In its last year in the Premier League, West Brom achieved a record turnover of £140 million and a £39 million pre-tax profit boosted by a bumper windfall from the Premier League’s TV deal.

But a after a £40 million transfer market spending spree and declining income following relegation, the club has taken the precaution of establishing short term financial support, setting up an overdraft facility for the first time in more than a decade.

Guochuan Lai is a director of subsidiaries of Chinese landscaping giant Palm; including Belt Collins International, Palm Landscape (Hong Kong), and Palm Design Holdings.

In addition he has a number of growing private investments in technology, virtual reality, tourism and sport.

5. Wes Edens (Aston Villa) £1.9 billion Football/Investment – new entrant

American investment banker Wes Edens is co-chairman of Aston Villa, having taken a 55 per cent stake in the club jointly with Nassef Sawiris.

He is also co-owner of US basketball team the Milwaukee Bucks where he has just part-financed a new £400 million stadium.

The 57 year-old is co-founder of Fortress Investment Group, a private equity firm set up in 1998, and now focussed on investment in major infrastructure projects, including a £2.5 billion project to build a private passenger railroad in Florida.

6. John Bloor (Bloor Homes/Triumph) £1.85 billion Manufacturing/Construction – 2018 No 5 £1.45bn

A buoyant housing market, rising values and low interest rates have resulted in growing profits to more than £185 million, and a turnover of £1.44 billion for Bloor Homes.

Triumph Motorcycles made a profit despite challenging market conditions.

It continues to invest heavily in new models and export performance remains strong, with production facilities and distribution networks in Brazil and India delivering an important contribution. 

7. John Caudwell (Phones4U) £1.56 billion Mobile Phones – 2018 No 4 £1.55bn

The 65 year-old entered the realm of the super-rich in August 2006 when he sold his Phones4U mobile phone empire for £1.46 billion. It was sold on again, which was good news for John, who had retained a stake in it.

He is still involved with mobile phones, backing Unshackled.com which allows phone users to convert from payment plans to SIM-only contracts.

But most of his interests are in property through his Caudwell Collection business, which increased its assets by £54 million in a year and is busy converting a multi-storey car park in Mayfair into luxury apartments.

8. Lord Paul of Marylebone (Caparo) £1.5 billion Manufacturing – 2018 No 11 £700m

Lord Paul’s business interests have pretty much recovered from the steel industry crisis which saw much of its UK assets go into administration before being acquired by the Gupta family’s Liberty House Group.

However, some of the Caparo group – of which Lord Paul is chairman – survived, and it still has extensive property investments in the UK and Switzerland, as well as three hotels. And the group’s international operations are performing extremely well.

9. Jacques Gaston Murray and family (Andrew Sykes) £1.2 billion Manufacturing – 2018 No 9 £1.2bn

At just under a year off 100, Jacques Gaston Murray is the oldest person in our list by some distance, but he still takes an active interest in his  Wolverhampton air conditioning Andrew Sykes Group and heating firm, despite being resident in Switzerland.

Andrew Sykse turnover rose by £5.9 million to £71.3 million for the year to December 2017 with pre-tax profits t £17.3 million.

His other business is the £125 million tunrover Leeds-based London Security plc.

The family also has six hotels worth around £400 million.

10. Lord Edmiston (IM Group) £1.0 billion Property/Automotive – 2018 No 7= £1.0bn

The IM Group’s offices in Coleshill have been acquired by HS2 to make way for the London to Birmingham high speed line, so they are moving to Solihull.

The company – made of the property company IM Properties and the International Motors automotive franchises – has net assets of close to £630 million and a string of landmark sites, including Blythe Valley Business Park.

Lord Edmiston is one of the UK’s biggest philanthropic donors and wants to devote more of his time to religious and educational charities.

11. Sir Peter Rigby (Rigby Group) £950 million IT/Aerospace – 2018 No 9 £620m

Sir Peter Rigby
Sir Peter Rigby

Revenues at the Rigby Group have increased by nearly 10 per cent with profits higher than at any time in its 43 year history.

The diversified Stratford-upon-Avon based company is seeing across-the-board success in its six divisions of technology, airports, hotels, real estate, aviation and financial services.

The airports division owns Bournemouth, Coventry, Exeter and Norwich airports and runs  XLR Executive Jet Centres at Birmingham, Exeter and Liverpool.

The business has nine hotels under the Eden Hotel Collection brand, including Brockencote Hall in Worcestershire and Bovey Castle in Dartmoor.

Its subsidiary, British International Helicopters, is operating search and rescue services in the Falkland Islands for the Ministry of Defence.

Liverpool-born Sir Peter, aged 75, founded the company in 1975 with just £2,000 in cash.

12. Tony Gallagher (Gallagher Developments) £925 million Construction – 2018  No 9 £900m

Tony Gallagher
Tony Gallagher

Tony Gallagher, aged 67, is busy building up a £1 billion private rented sector portfolio in London and other major cities.

He’s not short of the cash to do it, having pocketed £525 million from the sale of Gallagher Estates in 2017.

The sale did not include his retail and property investment and development business – Gallagher Developments – which continues to acquire and develop prime commercial land, and develop land in Wednesbury.

13. Tony Xia (Aston Villa) £900 million Football/Industry – 2018 No 7= £1.0bn

Tony Xia co-chairman Aston Villa.

Sold a majority stake in Villa to Nassef Sawris and Wes Eden, while retaining a stake in the club and remaining co-chairman.

The 42 year-old owns Chinese conglomerate the Recon Group which employes more than 35,000 people in 75 countries and operates in IT, health, logistics, culture, engineer and finance and capital.

In February 2017 Recon bought a 51 per cent stake in Millennium Films, a Hollywood film studio specialising in action films, including The Expendables series.

14. Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan (2 Sisters) £700 million Food – 2018 No 10 £750m

Ranjit Boparan, owner of 2 Sisters Food Group
Ranjit Boparan, owner of 2 Sisters Food Group

The 2 Sisters Food Group, based in West Bromwich, has been selling off loss-making divisions and streamlining the business to concentrate on core operations as it copes with falling profits and a challenging marketplace.

The company’s new chief executive Ronald Kers, previously global chief executive at Muller, is overseeing the turnaround plan.

The business is the UK’s largest grocery supplier and owns brands including Bernard Matthews and Giraffe Concepts – which includes Ed’s Easy Diner, Harry Ramsden’s and The Cinnamon Collection – Buxted Chickens, Hovis breakfast biscuits and Fox’s Biscuits.

15. Caspar MacDonald-Hall (LCP) £600 million Property – 2018 No 13 £560m

London and Cambridge Properties (LCP), based in Kingswinford, has become one of the most active players on the Midlands property scene, and is currenty working on a £9m development at Prime Point on thePensett Estate.

It has more than 400 sites across the Midlands, the south west, Yorkshire, Lancashire, London and County Durham.

16. Richard Harpin (HomeServe) £520 million (£360m) Insurance – 2018 No 18 £360m

The rapid growth of Walsall-based HomeServe, especially in the US, has increased the share price and dividends.

The company strengthened its grip on the trade sector with the acquisition of online platform Checkatrade in 2017.

It ha 8.3 million customers in the UK, US and Europe.

17. Roy Richardson and family (Richardsons) £480 million Construction – 2018 No 15 £480m

Roy Richardson
Roy Richardson

One of property magnate Roy Richardson’s latest investments has nothing whatever to do with construction.

He has put £30,000 into Burning Barn, a smoked rum producer in Solihull.

It’s all part of the Richardson Brothers Foundation’s efforts to support young businesses and back entrepreneurs in the region.

Indian snacks firm Green Sisters and hi-tech cycle helmet developer Beacon helmet have also received help.

The Richardson family is best known for creating Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

The company is now run by Roy’s sons.

Projects include a two-third stake in Manchester-based commercial property developer Ask, transforming the Lowesmoor area of Worcester and 50 per cent stake in a £600 million scheme to resurrect Ravenscraig steelworks near Motherwell.

It is also growing internationally and has developments across Europe.

18. Thomas Hartland-Mackie and family (CEF) £470 million Electricals  – 2018 No 16 £455m

City Electrical Factors Holdings Ltd (CEF), based in Kenilworth, has customers around the world and is the UK’s leading electrical wholesale network.

Thomas Mackie, an ex-GEC employee and former Royal Air Force radio operator, founded the business with just one outlet in Coventry 1951.

He died in January 2012 aged 89. His son, Thomas Hartland-Mackie now runs the company.

19. Paul Suen Cho Hung (Birmingham City) £420 million Football/Energy  – 2018 No 17 £445m

Paul Suen Cho Hung’s Birmingham Sports Holdings – the owners of Birmingham City FC – has issued a series of profit warnings, expecting to record a substantial increase in losses in the year to June 2018.

As a result, shares in the company – majority owned by Trillion Trophy Asia, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, and traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange – are 40 per cent down on last year, although they have recovered of late.

20. Dean Hoyle (The Works) £310 million Stationery – 2018 No 20 £290m

Dean Hoyle, Chairman of The Works

Dean Hoyle’s Hams Hall-based stationery business The Works floated on the London Stock Exchange in the summer in a listing which valued the business at £100 million.

Leeds-based private equity house Endless which has backed the company since 2008 was bought out with some of the proceeds of the listing. Dean Hoyle remains a director.

21. Sir Paul Ruddock (Landsdowne) £300 million Hedge Funds – 2018 No 19 £300m

Sir Paul Ruddock

Lansdowne Partners, the award-winning London-based hedge fund was co-founded by Sir Paul Ruddock in 1998. He retired from the business in 2013.

Since his retirement  Sir Paul has devoted himself to the arts.

He currently sits on the board of the British Museum. He is an honorary senior research fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a trustee of its foundation. He has funded galleries at the museum.

22. Julia and Guy Hands (Hand Picked Hotels) £265 million Hotels – 2018 No 21 £265m

The grand Ettington Park Hotel
The grand Ettington Park Hotel

Own a collection of 20 four-star country hotels aound the UK, including the magnificent neo-Gothic Ettington Park near Stratford-upon-Avon, the fashionable late-medieval New Hall hotel in Sutton Coldfield and the 16th century Stanbrook Abbey Hotel in Callow End, Worcester.

Established in 2001 the group has won the AA Hotel Group of the Year award twice.

23. Geoff Wilding (Victoria Carpets) £250 million Carpets

Kidderminster-based Victoria Carpets – the UK’s largest carpet maker – has pulled off an impressive turnaround under the stewardship of New Zealand-born ex-banker Geoff Wilding.

He is executive chairman of the flooring group which saw its sales revenue jump by more than £100 million in the first half of its financial year.

The company was established in 1895 in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

24. Paul Newey (Ocean Finance) £240 million Finance – 2018 No 22 £240m

Paul Newey
Paul Newey

Semi-professional poker player Paul Newey didn’t need a big win to make his fortune.

He did that when he sold Ocean Finance – the Tamworth debt consolidation business he founded in 1991 – for £200 million.

He is now chairman of London-based New Wave ventures, which has net aassets of £22 millon and investments which include Aeristech, a Kenilworth-based engine turbo-charger company, Nottingham synthetic bone graft company Orthogem, Cambridge drug company Bactevo and Cambridge Scientific Innovations Ltd, a food and pharmaceutical product testing company.

25. Andrew Thorpe and family (FW Thorpe) £230 million Lighting – 2018 No 23= £220m

Redditch-based lighting company FW Thorpe is growing in all respects. Sales revenue is up, operating profits are up, earnings and share dicvidends are up.

The business is continuing to expand its global footprint with the £7 million acquisition of Dutch emergency lighting business Famostar and the acquisition of the remaining shares in Thorlux Australia.

Andrew Thorpe has stepped down as chairman, but remains as executive director.

26. Andrew and Linda Leaver (Clinigen) £225 million Pharmaceuticals – 2018 No 23= £220m

Burton-on-Trent based pharmaceutical company Clinigen is continuing on the acquisition trail, funded by an £80 million share placing.

The placing went towards funding the acquisition of CSM Parent for £114.2 million in September.

CSM is a specialist provider of packaging, labelling, warehousing and distribution services in Europe and the US.

Clinigen has also acquired Swiss-based iQone Healthcare Holdings for £6.7 million.

Earlier in the year Clinigen acquired the global rights to Proleukin from Novartis for an undisclosed sum.

Proleukin is licensed in 20 countries around the world and is used for renal cell cancers and melanoma treatment.

27. Keith Bradshaw (Listers) £220 million (£215m) Care Homes/Automotive – 2018 No 25= £215m

Keith Bradshaw
Keith Bradshaw

Co-founded the Listers car dealership with business partner Terry Lister (No 44=) 39 years ago. Since then it has grown into England’s largest independent dealer group.

The Stratford-upon-Avon-based company makes good profits boosted by its expanding portfolio of dealerships across the Midlands, East Anglia and the north of England.

28. Simon Clarke and family (St Modwen) £210 million Property/Construction – 2018 No 27 £190m

Simon Clarke, owner St Modwen
Simon Clarke, owner St Modwen

Half year revenues at Simon Clarke’s St Modwen surged by more than £60 million in the first half of 2018. the company turned over £211.9 million compared to £151.4 million for the same period in 2017.

It sold 301 homes during the period as well as 21 acres of residential land. Its portfolio vale stands at £1.5 billion and first half profits were £26 million.

Simon Clarke takes an active part in the running of Longbridge-based St Modwen, the development company founded by his late father Sir Stan Clarke.

29= Chris and Michael Miller (Harris & Sheldon) £200million Investment/ Country Sports – 2018 No 31 £165m

The Harris & Sheldon Group, a property and investment group, was formed in 1981.

Since then the operating businesses have been sold or discontinued and the group now concentrates on investments and private equity, property and sporting lets.

Chris Miller also runs the  Melrose industrial group and turnaround specialist, which bought the 260 year-old automotive to aerospace group GKN for £8 billion.

29= James Holder (Superdry) £200 million Fashion – 2018 No 30 £170m

Strong growth in online sales is boosting performance at James Holder’s fashion brand Superdry, while retail sales in-store are reflecting the general sluggish performance of high street stores.

He began his career in fashion 25 years ago when he sold T-shirts from the back of his mother’s car at BMX events. He was brought up in Stragrod-upon-Avon and went to college in Leamington Spa.

31= Michael and Kenny Bruce Purplebricks £190million Estate Agency 

Shirley-based Purplebricks.com is probably the best-known property seller in the UK, thanks to an intensive TV advertising campaign.

Since it appeared seven years ago, Purplebricks has torn up the estate agency template. Instead of commission, sellers pay a flat fee to list their property on the Purplebricks web site following a local valuation.

The disruptive idea is the brainchild of bothers Michael Bruce, 45, and Kenny Bruce, 43.

It has proved a very successful concept, and is now being rolled out overseas. An Australian operation has been opened and expanded, as well as launches on the east and west coasts of the United States.

A Canadian operation has resulted from the acquisition of leading Canadian digital real estate brand DuProprio.

31= Jeremy Peace (WBA/Quadrant) £190 million (£200m) Finance/Football 2018 No 36 £200m

Jeremy Peace, West Bromwich Albion chairman
Jeremy Peace, West Bromwich Albion chairman

After nearly 16 years at the club Jeremy Peace sold his 88 per cent share of West Bromwich Albion football club in 2016, netting more than £175 million.

Aged 62, the former banker Jeremy Peace is a lifelong Baggies supporter – he was born and bred in West Bromwich and later attended Shrewsbury School.

33= Anthony and Graham Coombs and family (S&U) £185 million Finance – 2018 23= £160m

Twins Anthony and Graham Coombs and their families have a 52 per cent stake in S&U, the Solihull credit business founded in Birmingham before the war by Welshman Clifford Coombs.

33= Sir Euan Anstruther Gough-Calthorpe (Calthorpe Estates) £185 million Property – 2018 No 28 £160m

Sir Euan Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe
Sir Euan Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe

Architects Broadway Malyan has been commissioned to develop a vision for Sir Euan Anstruther-Gough’s historic estate in Edgbaston.

It is placing residential and education at its heart with a mixed business community covering medical, cultural and tourism.

The 1580-acre estate has been in the Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe family since 1717.

35. Peter Horton (Hortons’ Estate) £180 million Construction – 2018 No 32= £160m

Sir Peter Horton
Sir Peter Horton

Hortons’ Estate showed an impressive increase in pre-tax profits in 2017, falling just short of the £20 million milestone, boosted by a £9 million revaluation surplus.

Turnover rose to a record £19.6 million, up from £16 million the previous year.

The company traces its roots back to the1870s when Peter Horton’s great, great, great grandfather developed the Midland Hotel in Birmingham city centre.

Now Birmingham’s historic Grand Hotel in Colmore Row is getting back to its former glory thanks to a £14 million restoration project carried out by Hortons’ Estate.

36. Michael Wright (Riviera Travel) £175 million Travel – 2018 No 37= £145m

Burton-on-Trent businessman Michael Wright had a substantial Christmas payday in December 2017 when Riviera Travel, the business he founded, was sold on to European private equity firm Silverfleet for £250 million

Phoenix Equity Partners had previously invested in Riviera in 2014 in a deal which netted founder Michael Wright and his wife Claire around £130 million.

Phoenix has exited the business with Silverfleet becoming the major shareholder. Michael Wright resigned as a director but retains a 20 per cent stake.

The award-winning business, which specialises in cruises and tours for the over-55 year-old customer, was established by 62 year-old Michael in 1984.

37. Nick Grey (GTech) £155 million Domestic appliances – 2018 No 44= £120m

Nick Grey, founder of Gtech
Nick Grey, founder of Gtech

Profits are soaring at Nick Grey’s Worcestershire-based Gtech.

Pre-tax profits hit £15.45 million in 2017, up from £9.8 million the previous year.

Nick Grey was a lab technician with Vax vacuum cleaners when his curiosity and love for all things mechanical took over.

He left aged 32, after progressing to head of product development, to develop his idea for a cordless, lightweight vacuum cleaner.

He had just enough savings to last him 18 months and launched Gtech from his garage in 2001.

His cordless power sweeper, backed by a vigorous marketing campaign, was a runaway success.

The business, which employs 180 people, is 90 per cent owned by Nick Grey, 50, and his wife Louise.

It has sold more than 25 million products in 19 countries and has employees in Worcestershire, the US and China.

38. Alan Jackson and family (Intercity Technology) £154 million Telecommunications – 2018 No 35= £150m

Alan Jackson’s Intercity Technology Holdings has ambitious plans for growth and product innovation.

Established 34 years ago, the Birmingham-based telephone technology company, is now run by his son, Andrew.

It has well over 70,000 users and has expanded its portfolio to include fixed broadband telephone systems, Ethernet services, email hosting, bespoke communications systems and vehicle tracking.

39= Jeremy Woolridge and family (Wedge Group) £150 million (£125m) Manufacturing – 2018 No 43 £125m

Jeremy Woolridge
Jeremy Woolridge

The Willenhall-based Wedge Group, which galvanises steel and iron components, has moved its head office of 150 years to a former school in Stafford Street.

Despite being hit by rising zinc prices it remains a profitable company. Jeremy Woolridge, 74, is executive chairman of  B E Wedge Holdings.

He began the Wedge Group in 1966, became managing director in 1974 and chairman in 1987.

His son, Chris, took over as managing director in 2014.

39= Simon and Yu-Lin Wilson (Intouch Games) £150 million Gaming  – 2018 No 37 £145m

Digital Business of the Year Intouch Games (from left): Stuart Middleton, Richard Crees, Robert Harrison, Adina Rutter, Tom Ford, Matt Jones and Craig Herbert
Digital Business of the Year Intouch Games (from left): Stuart Middleton, Richard Crees, Robert Harrison, Adina Rutter, Tom Ford, Matt Jones and Craig Herbert

Halesowen-based Intouch Games was crowned West Midlands Digitsl Business of the Year in 2018.

The e-gaming firm behind Pocketwin and mFortune was initialy a slot machine and jukebox manufacturer supplying the pub trade.

It developed its first mobile phone casino system in 2006 which resulted in rapid growth. It has more than 60 games and two million players across its brands, and employs more than 300 people in the UK and Bucharest.

39= Rupert Mucklow (A&J Mucklow) £150 million Construction – 2018 No 32= £160m

Rupert Mucklow
Rupert Mucklow

The listed Halesowen firm is currently recruiting a chief executive after its long-serving managing director, Justin Parker, announced he was stepping down at the end of 2018.

The business has seen profits boosted by a revaluation of its investment properties, as the regional property investment market became more subdued.

The company focussed on creating its own industrial investments, with pre-let developments where there is good occupier demand, including Mucklow Park in Tyseley.

42. Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath) Music £140 million - 2018 No 30 £140m

Ozzy Osbourne has praised fans of Black Sabbath for being so dedicated over the years

Ozzy is currently embarking on a world tour – Black Sabbath played their last ever live show in Birmingham in 2017.

Ozzy’s company, Monowise, has a turnover of nearly £5 million and is doing nicely, boosted by past tours and his 100 million album sales, not to mention royalties.

Sharon makes a sizeable contribution with US talk show earnings and TV advertising work as well as her X Factor appearances.

She has now been on X Factor for six seasons. In addition, she sold two million copies of her autobiography Extreme.

43. Constantine Folkes (Folkes Holdings) £130 million Property/Manufacturing – 2018 No 32 £128m

Chairman and chief exec of Folkes Group PLC Constantine Folkes, pictured in front of a portrait of his ancestor in his office.
Chairman and chief exec of Folkes Group PLC Constantine Folkes, pictured in front of a portrait of his ancestor in his office.

A game reserve in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa and metal-bashing in the Black Country have combined to create a healthy income for Constantine Folkes. His wealth is boosted by a portfolio of industrial property.

Its major property interest in the UK is a 1.4 million sq ft portfolio of largely industrial property with more than 90 tenants across the West and East Midlands.

In South Africa, the operation is an active developer and investor - largely in the industrial warehouse sector - with assets in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

The company also holds 25,000 acres of agricultural land in the Eastern Cape - the Glen Harry Game Reserve.

The land is home to a rare game breeding programme including buffalo and sable antelope and offers eco-tourism safaris.

44= Terry Lister (Listers) £128 million Automotive – 2018 No 41 £130m

Terry Lister
Terry Lister

Terry Lister co-founded the Listers car dealership in Coventry with business partner Keith Bradshaw (No 27) in 1979.

Forty years later it is England’s largest independent dealer group.

Terry, aged 76, is 50 per cent owner of the Listers.

44= Mike Walker and family (Karndean) £128 million Flooring – new entrant

Mike Walker founded the Evesham-based international flooring company Karndean back in 1973.

The company is owned by the Walker family and family trusts.

It has a strong overseas operation, with subsidiaries in France and Germany, and is easily worth £110 million.

Karndean Australia was launched in 1982 and Karndean USA in 1996.

46= Jackie Hudson (Instarmac) £125 million Road Surfacing – new entrant

Jackie Hudson owns 90 per cent of Instarmac, the Tamworth-based construction firm set up by her late husband Charles.

He set the business up in 1977 after watching an episode of the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World which demonstrated a new type of tarmac that could be spread on the road cold rather than hot and used for pothole repairs.

He bought the idea for £1,000 and started the business - then known as Instarmac Repair Services.

46= Jo Bradwell (The Binding Site) £125 million Pharmaceuticals  – 2018 No 46 £115m

Jo Bradwell
Jo Bradwell

Professor Jo Bradwell founded Birmingham-based medical diagnostics company the Binding Site in 1983.

The company was spun out of research work undertaken at the University of Birmingham, where he studied medicine.

The team developed a new way to produce highly sensitive antibodies which could be used for diagnostic tests to identify childhood immune deficiencies and blood cancers in adults.

In November 2011, Prof Bradwell sold the majority of the shares in the medical diagnostics company to private investment group Nordic Capital.

He retains a small shareholding.

In 2009, Binding Site’s auto-immune operation was sold to Spain’s Werfen Group for £80 million.

The University of Birmingham has a pioneering centre to lead research into the world’s forests which was funded by a £15 million donation from its former student and academic and his wife Barbara in 2013.

It was one of the largest gifts ever given to a British university.

48= The Sodha Brothers (Lexon) £120 million Pharmaceuticals – 2018 No 40 £135m

Nitin Sodha from the Sodha Brothers
Nitin Sodha from the Sodha Brothers

Established their Redditch-based pharmaceuticals empire in 1995.

Their company, Lexon, now delivers drugs to more than 3,000 independent pharmacies and major groups across the UK.

Growth has been rapid at Lexon, which is run by brothers Anup, 56, Nitin, 63, and Pankaj Sodha, 65, and their nephew Pritesh Sonpal, 50.

Other members of the family are shareholders.

The company – based on the East Moons Moat estate  – has also enjoyed success importing drugs and selling them in the UK, building a reputation for fast and efficient delivery at competitive prices.

The family also operates its own chain of pharmacies.

48= Dallas Burston (Stoneythorpe Estate) £120million Pharmaceuticals/Events – 2018 No 44= £120m

Dr Dallas Burston
Dr Dallas Burston

Dr Dallas Burston is passionate about polo, and his 600-acre Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire is one of the leading venues for the sport in the UK.

The Southam-based club has been undergoing a £122 million investment programme.

Dr Dallas Burston - a former GP -  made his fortune by building up and selling pharmaceutical operations.

50. Woon Wing Yip (Wing Yip) £115 million (£115m) Food – 2018 No 47 £115m

Woon Wing Yip
Woon Wing Yip

Woon Wing Yip’s Chinese food business is facing multiple challenges from changes in consumer spending, a squeeze on disposable incomes, rising raw material costs and exchange rate fluctuations.

Nonetheless, the Nechells-headquartered business saw an improved turnover in 2017 from £101 million to £109.7 million. Profits fell from £4.8 million to £3.4 million.

Woon Wing Yip, who is 80, arrived in the UK by boat from Hong Kong in 1959, taking a month to complete the journey. He had just £10 in his pocket.

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