Page 12 - Yorkshire Rich List 2017

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Peter Wilkinson £390m
2016
Position: 11 £390m
TECHNOLOGY TYCOON: Peter Wilkinson has developed some of the sector’s most successful companies.
Internet millionaire Peter Wilkinson has struck a seven-year deal with the Football League to install free wi-fi hubs in all 72 clubs’ stadiums.
The Harrogate-based tycoon has spent 30 years developing some of the UK’s most successful technology companies. He made £65m when he sold his InTechnology Managed Services business to Redcentric in a reverse takeover. He remains the company’s hands-on chief executive.
InTechnology declared a £8.3m loss in 2016 owing to high operating and development costs. However, turnover increased from £7.3m to £9m.
The son of a builder, Mr Wilkinson’s entrepreneurial spirit was apparent at school where he employed five fellow pupils to chop and fry potatoes for his chip production enterprise in the school kitchen. A er leaving school he went to Sheffield Polytechnic. He was a keen cricketer – a fast bowler – and almost turned professional.
He began his career in technology as a so ware programmer for Leeds-based Systime, becoming international so ware director.
He founded data storage company Storm in 1983
and VData in 1998. Both businesses were sold to InTechnology in a reverse takeover in 2000. They were sold off in 2006 and 2013 respectively. In 1995 he launched internet service provider Planet Online with Paul Sykes. The business was sold to Energis in 1998 for £85m. He was also the brains behind internet service provider Freeserve.
He retained Planetfootball.com which was reversed into the Sports Internet Group in 1999 before being sold to BSkyB the following year, a deal that ne ed him £90m in BSkyB shares.
Mr Wilkinson, 63, bought the assets of a collapsed Israeli communications firm. He is using the technology from that to offer free wi-fi to customers through his AIM-listed Mobile Tornado subsidiary.
He is a director and majority shareholder of Holf Investments, which controls Alvarion Telecom UK and also owns 40 per cent of InTechnology Wi-Fi Ltd, providing wi-fi services to cities, arenas and greenfield sites.
He has held the titles of Internet Personality of the Year, North of England Entrepreneur of the Year and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.
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Jack Tordoff and family £380m
2016
Position: 13= £380m
The Volkswagen emissions scandal had a negative effect on profits at Jack Tordoff ’s JCT600 motor dealer group, with 2016 pre-tax profit slipping to £13.6m from £18.6m. However, a strong increase in used car sales and a ersales revenues helped push turnover up seven per cent to £1.226bn.
JCT600 has more than 50 dealerships across the North and the Midlands. The business continues
to invest in its network, with a new Porsche centre opening on Teesside and major refurbishments at dealerships in Leeds, Newcastle, Lincoln, Bradford and Hull. Almost £15m has been invested in the year.
The Bradford-based group is run by Mr Tordoff ’s son, John. It is the largest privately- owned business in Yorkshire and employs more than 2,000 people including four generations of the Tordoff family.
JCT600 can trace its roots back to 1946 when Edward “Ned” Tordoff and two other partners established Tordoff Motors which traded as Brooklands Garage in Sticker Lane, Bradford. A er the death of his father, Jack bought the shares
and built a showroom next to the original garage
selling Triumphs and Standards. He also bought a Mercedes 600 with the number plate JCT600 and the brand name was born.
Since then the business has sold well over a million vehicles and sells around 825 cars a week.
JCT600 retails 18 of the world’s most famous marques including Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Lotus, Maserati and Porsche, with Mr Tordoff remaining as chairman.
Tordoff employees are enthusiastic fundraisers, including competing in the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge and raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society and the Prince’s Trust.
Born and bred in Bradford, Mr Tordoff, 82, le school with no qualifications and started working as an apprentice mechanic in the family business. With a loan of £1,000 from his mother, he began selling cars rather than repairing them.
He was a successful rally driver in the 1960s
and 1970s and was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to business and sport. He is life president of Bradford City and stepped in to secure the club’s financial future in the 1980s.
DRIVING FORCE: JCT600 chairman Jack Tordoff pictured at Lister Park BMW, in Sticker Lane, Bradford.
12 the magazine TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2017
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
BRUCE ROLLINSON SIMON HULME