Page 15 - Yorkshire Rich List 2017

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Philip Meeson £350m
2016
Position: 12 £385m
Philip Meeson’s Leeds-based Dart Group, which owns budget airline Jet2.com, saw its share price tumble a er the vote to leave the EU. While it has recovered ground, the business’s profits have been hit by the fall in sterling, currency revaluations and customer discounting.
In the year to March 2017 pre-tax profits dropped 14 per cent to £90.1m, and earnings
per share fell by a similar proportion. However, turnover rose from £1.4bn to £1.72bn, and the group is investing in new Jet2.com operating bases at Birmingham and Stansted airports.
Jet2.com is making serious inroads into the low-cost airline sector. With its focus on customer- friendly staff and generous baggage allowances, it is giving its bigger rivals food for thought.
Jet2 carries more than seven million passengers a year. It can trace its roots back to 1971 when the Channel Express airline was born, flying flowers from the Channel Islands to markets across the UK. Having changed its name to Express Air Services, it expanded its business to include mail delivery for Royal Mail – a relationship which continues today.
In 1983 Mr Meeson, executive chairman of
the Dart Group, bought Express Air Services. Changing its name back to Channel Express,
he expanded its service to cover fresh fruit and produce delivery and general cargo. Two years later the company secured a lucrative overnight parcels contract with TNT. In 1991 the Dart Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange and then moved to AIM in 2005.
With a growing fleet of aircra , Jet2 was launched in 2002 to service the European holiday market. Flying initially out of Leeds Bradford, it sold 12,000 seats online in the first 24 hours of operation. This was followed in 2007 with Jet2 Holidays.
Mr Meeson, 70, has aeroplanes in his blood. London-born but now living in Leeds, he trained as an RAF pilot when he was 17. A er leaving the RAF he set up a car dealership and vehicle distribution business before buying the Channel Express group. He was five-times British aerobatics champion in the 70s and 80s. He flies helicopters, light aircra and vintage aircra including Rapide and Tiger Moth biplanes in his own private collection.
HIGH FLIER: Dart Group CEO Philip Meeson trained as an RAF pilot and was five-times UK aerobatics champion.
2016
Position: 23= £240m
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Adrian Binks £300m
Yorkshireman Adrian Binks chairs Argus Media, a London-based group of companies which is growing fast with profits rising by around 25 per cent and turnover of nearly £142m.
Argus produces bulletins on the global energy and commodity markets, which are used by traders and organisations worldwide including Opec.
Mr Binks, 63, has a substantial stake in Argus, of which he is chairman and chief executive.
An investment partnership with global equity firm General Atlantic signed last year valued the business at £1bn, and its most recent trading figures suggest that was conservative.
General Atlantic bought out the majority interests of the Naysmith family. The late Jan Naysmith – a former Daily Telegraph journalist – founded the company in 1970.
Argus reported record profits of nearly £43.5m on a turnover of £141m in 2016. The previous year it had acquired Houston-based MetalPrices.com, further boosting its international revenue.
The business has more than 750 employees in
21 offices worldwide, producing 160 publications. General Atlantic’s expertise in the information services and technology sectors is enhancing
the business. Argus tops the annual Energy Risk So ware rankings and has featured in the Sunday Times International Track 200 list of fast-growing exporters.
Argus supports several UK and international charities including the Anthony Nolan Trust, the British Diabetic Association, Children in Crisis and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Mr Binks built up Argus Media a er buying a partnership in a small newsle er business. Before he bought into the business he had worked for BP and as an oil analyst in the City.
In 1984 he took management control of Argus and began to develop it internationally, building its brand and reputation.
Brought up in Leeds, Mr Binks read history at Cambridge. He is a regular commentator on the BBC and other news channels and writes occasional pieces for the Financial Times, the Observer and the Economist.
MEDIA MOGUL: Adrian Binks has a substantial stake in Argus, which produces bulletins on global markets.
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2017 THE YORKSHIRE POST 15
AP PHOTO/JIN LEE SIMON HULME