Property/Automotive
2018: No.7= - £1bn
2017: No.9 - £750m
The value of Lord Edmiston's IM Group property portfolio continues to grow and that means has now joined the exclusive billionaire's club.
The Coleshill-based IM Group is made of the property company and the International Motors automotive franchises and has net assets of close to £650 million. Turnover for the group rose to £48 million in 2016.
Profits were slightly down at £68.5 million, in part a result of lower rental income following the disposal of logistics properties. The business's stellar performance in 2015 was always going to be difficult to match.
Lord Edmiston was made a Conservative life peer in 2011 but quit the Huse of Lords in 2015 to spend more time on his charity work. He is one of the 海角视频's biggest philanthropic donors and wants to devote more of his time to religious and educational charities. He set up Christian Vision in 1988, a worldwide charity aiming to help a billion people.
The charity benefited from a £58.9 million personal donation from Lord Edmiston.
His Coleshill-based property investment and development group IM Properties continues to perform very well indeed with significant land investments. At year end the total value of IM's projects under construction stood at £279 million.
The company owns a string of landmark sites across the 海角视频, including Birmingham's prestigious 55 Colmore Row which is being developed as prime city centre office space, and the Blythe Valley Business Park near Solihull. A major expansion is taking place at Blythe Valley including a 200-bed hotel, a 250 bed care home, 27,000 sq ft of office space and 750 houses.
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IM is developing a new business park near the M1 motorway in Nottinghamshire which has the potential to support thousands of jobs. Nottingham 26 will be on a site off the A610 and will be made up of four large industrial units including a 460,000 sq ft distribution centre. Meanwhile a new warehouse on The Hub business park in Witton will use solar panels to generate its own electricity supply
The company’s bespoke residential arm, Spitfire Properties LLP, celebrated its sixth full year of trading with rapid expansion and construction underway on developments at Little Aston, Solihull, Bath and Ascot among others.
Meanwhile things are progressing well at IM Group’s other major business – its automotive arm, which imports Subaru, Daihatsu, Great Wall and Isuzu vehicles. The launch of the D-Max pick-up is helping Isuzu sales. The company has taken 100 per cent ownership of Isuzu Nordic which is boosting sales in Sweden and the Nordic countries.
Lord Edmiston remains in the top 10 list of Britain’s biggest philanthropists, having donated to religious, humanitarian and educational charities through Christian Vision. Since 1998 he has donated more than £400 million to various causes. He is also a significant donor to the Conservative party.
Christian Vision sponsors three city academies in the Midlands including the Grace Academies in Darlaston, Solihull and Coventry. Teaching is based on Christian principles, encouraging decency, respect and compassion.
A former finance director at the failed Jensen Motors, Lord Edmiston used his £6000 redundancy pay to set up International Motors in 1974. He began as the world’s only distributor for Jensen parts before acquiring the franchises for Subaru and Isuzu.
The IM group is housed on a purpose-built 200-acre site in Coleshill which is the headquarters of its global operations.
Seventy-one year-old Lord Edmiston is a committed and active Christian. His charity has helped families and children around the globe, and has a presence in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Zambia, Mozambique, Australia, East Timor and Angola.