Richard Thompson (businessman)

Richard Charles Thompson (born 31 July 1964) is a British entrepreneur. Thompson entered the business world via his father David in his early 20's. He gained significant early experience in the Plc world and notably, as the youngest Premiership chairman of Queens Park Rangers F.C. at age 24. Thompson has been involved in businesses spanning sport, retail, fashion, property and brands.

Early life

Thompson was educated at Haileybury until 1982. He went to work for his father, David, immediately, who at that time was the majority shareholder of Hillsdown Holdings. In May 1982 David Thompson had acquired businesses from the Imperial Food group, including his old family business Eastwood Thompson Ltd.

Career

Thompson went to work for Eastwood Thompson Ltd in 1982 and stayed there for a couple of years. This company was the original family business that was the result of a merger between B Thompson Ltd and JB Eastwood Ltd in 1969. B Thompson Ltd was founded in 1952 by his grandfather Bernard Thompson and had floated on the stock market in 1966.

After a couple of years working in the mean business Thompson went to work for Rugby Securities for one year (a property investment company). In February 1985 David Thompson floated Hillsdown Holdings on the stock market and Hillsdown soon became a renowned company for the number of acquisitions it made in 1985 and 1986.^[1]

Fred Copson

In November 1986 at the age of 22 Thompson took control of his first public company called F. Copson, a builders merchant based in Birmingham. He then acquired LCP from Ward White PLC in May 1987 for 2 million pounds. He eventually sold his interest in Copson PLC in March 1989 to the Ugandan Chatwani brothers.

In May 1987 David Thompson stepped down from Hillsdown Holdings selling 50% of his shares and became a non executive director in 1987. In April 1989 he sold all of his shares in a transaction that was arranged by Thompson himself.^[2]

Hobson PLC Public Limited Company & Union Square PLC Public Limited Company

In 1990 Thompson became chairman of two public companies, Hobson plc and Union Square plc. The biggest shareholder in both companies was his father. Thompson saw the restructuring for both companies as they had got themselves into problems in the Early 1990s recession. Having cleaned Hobson into a cash shell he then acquired a company called Cadismark Ltd in December 1992. Cadismark was a company controlled by Andrew Regan who then used the vehicle to buy the Cooperative manufacturing interests in April 1994.^[3] Thompson stepped down in December 1993. Andrew Regan went on to be entangled in the Cooperative scandal in the late 1990s.^[4]

Queens Park Rangers Football Club.

In September 1988 Thompson became the youngest chairman of Queens Park Rangers F.C.. He was also chairman of the club when it became a founder member of the Premier League in 1992.^[5] QPR had been a 100% subsidiary of Marler Estates of which his father had a 28% stake. It was Thompson's idea to inject Marler Estates into a cash shell called Conrad plc where his father also had a stake which then created Cabra Estates run by John Duggan.^[6] Simultaneously to this 100% of QPR got bought by Thompson investments. Thompson was chairman for 8 years of 1988-1996. He was voted the most unpopular man in football in 1994.^[7] He worked with managers such as Jim Smith, Trevor Francis, Don Howe, Gerry Francis and Ray Wilkins. In July 1996 the club was sold to Chris Wright of Chrysalis Records fame.

Windsor Racecourse

In August 1987, his father acquired a majority interest in Windsor Racecourse and Thompson became chairman from August 1987 until the sale to Arena Leisure plc in 1999.^[8]

Planal SA

In 1989 Thompson's father became involved in the financing of the acquisition of Planal SA (the company behind Quinta do Lago estate). In January 1990 Thompson's father assumed complete control and Richard became Deputy Chairman until the sale in 1998 to Denis O'Brien of Esat Telecoms fame. During that period of time Thompson was also involved in the acquisition of the Vilar de Golf from Trafalgar house in 1992 and the acquisition of Pinheiros Altos in 1991. Thompson and his father were also caught up in a long running litigation with the previous shareholder/partner Roger Abraham.

Muirpace Holdings

In early 1987 his father acquired a majority stake in a commodity broker called Muirpace Holdings, this company was run by Allan Leonard. Thompson stepped down in 1995 but later in 1997 it became clear that Allan Leonard had been involved in a complex fraud, which cost the shareholders and clients close to 30 million pounds.^[9] Allan Leonard was sentenced to 7 years in prison. The company was liquidated in 1998^[10]

Storm Public Limited Company

In 1994 Thompson bought into Storm plc and reversed in some private interests in early 1995. Soon after that Chris Akers joined the board and the company was renamed Caspian plc.^[11] This company’s objectives were in identifying a reverse takeover target. Through Thompson's contacts in football, Leeds United A.F.C. was identified as a good opportunity and the acquisition was completed in August 1996 with the renaming of the company from Caspian to Leeds Sporting plc.^[12] After the sacking of Howard Wilkinson, Richard was instrumental in taking George Graham (footballer) (who was previously the Arsenal F.C. manager) to Leeds as manager. Coincidently George was also his next-door neighbour in Hampstead. George stayed at Leeds for two years until he became Tottenham Hotspur manager in mid 1998.^[13] Richard sold his shares and resigned as a director at the end of March 1999.

Other plc involvement during the mid to late 90’s included the acquisition and disposal of a major stake in Ferrum plc and also the acquisition of majority stake in Westport plc, which was the vehicle for the reverse takeover of Sportsworld in late 1997. Thompson also bought a major stake in Whitchurch plc and then sold some private interests simultaneously. Whitchurch consisted of some catering butchers and a pet food manufacturer in Suffolk. Thompson sold the meat assets to Prosper de Mulder and then acquired some film production companies plus the acquisition of a lottery franchise called the Film Consortium from Virgin and renamed the company Civilian Content plc.

Brand companies

In 1998 Thompson backed the Elizabeth Emanuel brand. He also acquired a majority interest in Macintosh ltd in 2000, which was the original manufacturer of cotton rubberised coats. This company was sold to a Japanese group called Yagi in 2007. In 2000 he also acquired Chester Barrie ltd from Austin Reed (retailer) for £4 million. He sold the business in 2002 to a group of local businessman and kept the property, which then got redeveloped and sold to B&Q.

Other brands that Thompson backed during that phase were Patrick Cox (the shoe and leather goods brand), Miller Harris (the fragrance brand,) Frost French (fashion brand) and Elemental Herbology (skincare brand).

Jaeger and Viyella

In 2003 Thompson acquired two fashion retail businesses called Jaeger (clothing) and Viyella from Coats PLC, paying £1 for both.^[14] The company was generating a revenue of over £100 million a year but losing £1.5 million a month. It had 300 shops and concessions. Within 7 weeks he sold both businesses, Jaeger (clothing) to Harold Tillman and Viyella to a Birmingham based business called Harris Watson.

Current projects

Since 2003 Thompson has focused on backing and supporting creative individuals in private companies. He is Chairman of Sportsdata Ltd, a private company in the education/sport technology sector. He also serves as Chairman on Guscio Plc [ guscioplc.com ]. Thompson is also a 20% shareholder in Fonix Ltd (telephony), a company he backed in 2006.

Personal life

Thompson's big interest outside business is in horse racing. His father bought Cheveley Park Stud in 1975 and Richard has taken an active interest in the Cheveley Park Stud farm over that time. The farm has owned horses such as Pivotal, Medicean, Russian Rhythm, Confidential Lady, Peeress and Nannina. His mother Patricia was also the owner of the 1992 Grand National winner, Party Politics (horse).

References