The Broadcast Rich List 2000

 

 

Sir Peter Michael (1)

 

(dob 13/06/38)

 

GWR Group

 

£175 million

 

 

Michael worked for large electronics companies before starting his own company, Micro Consultants, in 1968. He reversed Micro Consultants into the UEI conglomerate, which in turn merged with Michael Green’s Carlton Communications in 1988. But he left the merged group shortly after with£60m from the sale of his UEI stake. Since then, Michael has developed into an astute investor. Aside from his role in helping turn round an ailing electronics group in the early 1990s, he was also an early investor in Classic FM. His investment there has grown to a£54.5m stake in GWR, the quoted radio holding company. Michael’s other business interests include a hotel, a top-notch Berkshire restaurant and a Californian winery, noted for the quality of its wines. These other assets, share sales and past dividends take him to at least£175m.

 

 

 

Anne Wood and family (2)

 

(dob 18/12/37)

 

Ragdoll Productions

 

£150 million

 

 

Anne Wood used to produce children’s programming for Yorkshire TV before going on to head the children’s department at TV-am where she (and not, as is widely reported, Greg Dyke) invented Roland Rat. Husband Barrie was formerly the programme scheduler at ATV and was latterly a film buyer for the ITV network. We have not seen the latest accounts for Ragdoll Productions which, in the opinion of American merchandising experts, will show a huge stream of income crossing the Atlantic courtesy of the success of the Teletubbies there. The Financial Times reported that New York analysts reckoned the figure would be£40m. In April 1999, Ragdoll made£9m profit on sales of£20m - a huge margin. On that figure alone, Ragdoll would be worth around the£150m mark. However, industry sources say that the full potential of the Teletubbies could be a lot more and that sales and profits will increase for the foreseeable future at least. On that basis, we are safe to say that the Wood family is now worth£150m.

 

 

 

Michael Green (=3)

 

(dob 02/12/47)

 

Carlton Communications

 

£140 million

 

 

A prominent figure in the latest round of ITV consolidation, Michael Green left north London’s prestigious Haberdashers’ Aske’s school with four O’levels but he could read a balance sheet aged 12. That helped him become a key player in independent television through his chairmanship of Carlton Communications which has three ITVlicences, serves an audience of over 20 million people and recently called off its merger plans with United News & Media, which is to be taken over by Granada instead. A low-key operator in a high-profile industry, Green has built Carlton into a£6bn company. He bought Carlton TV studios in 1982 and formed Carlton Communications a year later, appointing himself as chairman. Shortly after going public it began aggressively buying TV, film and electronics companies. But he only has a relatively small stake worth around£78m. Share sales (including a£28m disposal in March), his property and art take him to around£140m. There are whispers in the industry that Green is tiring of business - the failed merger with United News & Media will not have helped - and wants to spend more time at his Queen Anne country mansion where he has become a keen shot and member of the squirearchy.

 

 

 

Chris Wright (=3)

 

(dob 07/09/44)

 

Chrysalis

 

£140 million

 

 

Shares in Chrysalis, the media group, rocketed at the end of last year as the City took note of Wright’s marriage of the radio and the internet. They have settled back since in the wake of the dotcom massacre. But for Chris Wright, Chrysalis co-founder and chairman, life is still pretty good. And it is a long way from his early days in the music business in the 1960s when, as the social secretary of Manchester University, he booked bands. He later formed Chrysalis with a now departed partner (whom Wright bought out for $20m) and took the group public in 1985. He brought Italian football to our screens and Heart FM to the airwaves. Wright’s stake is worth about£115m and he sold£8m worth of shares last year. He has been a hugely successful racehorse owner and breeder and says that his stud farm in Gloucestershire is profitable. The stud, his£2m stake in Queens Park Rangers football team and other assets take him to£140m.

 

 

 

Jeff Chapman (5)

 

(dob 22/02/48)

 

Sportsworld Media Group

 

£101 million

 

 

Aussie businessman Jeff Chapman, who is the founder and former chairman of broadcaster Sportsworld Media, has just retired, selling the 20 per cent shareholding he held in the UK broadcaster. The London-based company came to the stock market in 1998 and its shares soared last year. It recently raised£73.4m by placing 13.5 million shares at 545 pence each. Chapman has 18.3 million shares in the organisation, equating to around£101m.

 

 

 

Thomas Kressner (=6)

 

(dob 25/10/54)

 

Yes TV

 

£100 million

 

 

Kressner, a former Morgan Stanley stockbroker, was so successful in investing in a set-top box maker in 1991 that he decided to launch his own business. He is now chairman and chief executive of Yes TV, a broadband internet TV portal which provides video on demand to cable and digital subscribers. The company’s£560m float was abandoned after two attempts earlier this year following the dotcom share rout. Kressner’s 25 per cent stake would have been worth at least£140m if the float had gone ahead. But in the prevailing climate we reduce that to around£100m.

 

 

 

Mike Luckwell (=6)

 

(dob 31/05/42)

 

Hit Entertainment

 

£100 million

 

 

Mike Luckwell first worked as a junior dealer on the stock exchange before joining the television industry. In 1970, he formed Moving Picture Company (MPC), which developed into one of the largest producers of TV ads in Europe. He reversed the business into Michael Green’s Carlton Communications in 1983 and became Carlton’s largest shareholder and its managing director. But following an acrimonious court battle with Green he left three years later, selling his Carlton stake for£25m. A series of deals since with TV-am and WPP, the advertising and communications group, followed. He is now a director of Hit Entertainment, in which he has a£40.6m stake. With his other assets, including a£13m investment in Convergence Holdings, an AIM-quoted media and new technology group, Luckwell is easily worth£100m.

 

 

 

Chris Evans (8)

 

(dob 01/04/66)

 

Ginger Media Group

 

£80 million

 

 

Since his days on The Big Breakfast, Evans has attracted large audiences and also commanded premium ratings on radio and television. But he is also an astute businessman and in December 1997 he took over Virgin Radio. The£83m deal gave Evans 55 per cent of what became the enlarged Ginger Media Group (against Branson’s 20 per cent). But it was sold in January this year to Scottish Media Group, netting Evans£75m in cash and shares. Evans was already rich. He has a Belgravia flat, a country estate and drives a Bentley. But he remains a creative driving force behind Ginger TV. We reckon he has another£5m in assets to bring him up to£80m.

 

 

 

Allan McKeown (=9)

 

(dob 21/05/46)

 

Tracey Ullman

 

ex-SelecTV and Fox TV

 

£75 million

 

 

McKeown made his name as producer of Porridge and Auf Wiedersehen Pet, and as chairman of SelecTV. Now based in California, he is married to actress Tracey Ullman, who has her own HBO TV show in the US. We estimate Ullman has earned£60m in the past 10 years and she also collects royalties from The Simpsons, the hit cartoon that her show brought to light 10 years ago. McKeown had a£3m stake in SelecTV (sold to Carlton in 1996), and he has invested in internet businesses here and in the US. He is a 10 per cent shareholder in restricted licence TV12, valued at£5m. The couple have a home in London’s Mayfair and we estimate their combined£75m wealth may be conservative.

 

 

 

Michael Watt (=9)

 

(dob 16/12/40)

 

CSI

 

£75 million

 

 

Watt started CSI, the company which provides satellite television coverage of racing. It is used by bookmakers and BSkyB and has become a hugely profitable business. A New Zealander by birth, he arrived in the UK as manager of racing legend Lester Piggott. Watt now lives in Ireland, where he has a thoroughbred stud. He also has houses in London, Australia, New Zealand and the US. In 1998, CSI sharply increased profits to£5.1m on a greatly increased turnover of£58.5m. It also paid out a£1.3m salary to the highest paid director. The company is now owned by French advertising giant Publicis, but Watt continues to be actively involved. A large contributor to Labour party funds, Watt is also an angel for West End and Broadway shows and is the backer of the West End hit Spend Spend Spend. We think Watt is an extremely shrewd operator and we put him at£75m.

 

 

 

Simon Hochhauser (=11)

 

(dob 19/11/52)

 

Video Networks

 

£50 million

 

 

Hochhauser founded Video Networks in 1992. The Hertfordshire-based company offers interactive television and is running a pilot service in west London. It also recently won a non-exclusive local delivery licence, which will allow it to become a direct competitor to cable and satellite pay-TV. Video Networks had been tipped for a£1bn float, but in June it secured£102m in private financing. At the time of the flotation reports, Hochhauser’s stake was around nine per cent, but it will have been diluted since. We reckon that his stake will now be worth around£50m, with Video Networks valued at between£800m and£1bn by the recent financing operation.

 

 

 

Avtar Lit (=11)

 

(dob 07/04/50)

 

Sunrise Radio

 

£50 million

 

 

Lit is well known in the Asian community for his local radio station service, based in west London. Sunrise, a subsidiary of Asian Broadcasting Corporation, was incorporated in 1989. It is worth perhaps£35m based on£1.2m profit in 1999 and£3.2m sales. Lit says he has turned down a£22m bid for the business and is rapidly expanding into Sri Lanka where his operations made an additional£1m profit. In all, we value his radio and other assets at about£50m.

 

 

 

Jimmy Mulville (=11)

 

(dob 05/01/50)

 

Hat Trick Productions

 

Denise O’Donoghue (=11)

 

(dob 13/04/55)

 

Hat Trick Productions

 

£50 million

 

 

Former husband and wife Jimmy Mulville and Denise O’Donoghue are joint managing directors and co-shareholders in Hat Trick Productions, the leading comedy, light entertainment and drama indie that makes the domestic and worldwide export hits Have I Got News For You and Whose Line is it Anyway? Other BBC and Channel 4 credits include Room 101, Drop the Dead Donkey, Father Ted and Clive Anderson All Talk. On the back of its roaring success on ABC with Whose Line, the indie has set up shop in Los Angeles and has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. O’Donoghue is said to be the business brains behind the partnership while Mulville has the creative expertise. The company made£1.5m profit in the year to June 1998. Adding in at least£500,000 of directors’ remuneration gives a bottom line figure of£2m and a£100m valuation on the company.

 

 

 

Peter Orton (15)

 

(dob 17/06/43)

 

Hit Entertainment

 

£47 million

 

 

Orton is chairman of Hit Entertainment, the children’s television producer and rights group. Shares in the London-based company soared last year on the back of the success of sales of TV properties such as Kipper the Dog, Angelina Ballerina and Bob the Builder and revenue generated by merchandising spin-offs. Last year the company rolled out hundreds of Bob products and its consumer range took a 43 per cent slice of turnover in the last six months of 1999. Orton expects consumer products will account for up to 60 per cent of revenue this year. Earlier this year the company tried and failed to take over Britt Allcroft, the company behind Thomas the Tank Engine. Orton’s stake is now worth£42m. A£5.6m share sale in May takes him to around£47m.

 

 

 

David Sproxton (=16)

 

(dob 06/01/54)

 

Aardman Productions

 

Peter Lord (=16)

 

(dob 04/11/53)

 

Aardman Productions

 

£45 million

 

 

David Sproxton and Peter Lord were schoolboy friends in their native Walton-on-Thames, united by their passion for cartoons. Sproxton’s father lent them a cine-camera and they made their first animation work one rainy afternoon on the Sproxton family kitchen table. Later, they created a short film with characters made from clay featuring a superhero called Aardman. After college, Lord and Sproxton moved to Bristol where they formed Aardman Productions in 1976. They did well from the 1980s boom in advertising and commercials, but it was the arrival of Nick Park as animator in 1985 that transformed Aardman. He launched Wallace & Gromit, and won three Oscars for his work. Aardman has impressed Hollywood so much that in October 1999 it was able to sign a£150m deal with Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks studio to produce films. The hugely successful Chicken Run is its first production and took£28m in its first 12 days on release in the US. Sproxton and Lord each own 45 per cent of Aardman Holdings. In 1998, its Aardman Animations subsidiary made£2.4m profit and, early in 1999, the business was valued at£60m for a share option scheme. On the back of Chicken Run’s success and the increased value of media companies, Aardman is easily worth£100m. Sproxton and Lord are worth around£45m on paper.

 

 

 

Rowan Atkinson (=18 )

 

(dob 06/01/55)

 

Tiger Television

 

£40 million

 

 

Atkinson, one of Britain’s leading television and film comedians, came to prominence with Not the Nine O’Clock News in the early 1980s. But it is the hit series Mr Bean and Blackadder that have made his fortune. His company, Hindmeck, paid him£3.7m from 1992 to 1995. In addition, his share of takings from the 1997 Bean movie, which grossed $218m (£145m) adds to his bank balance. He also has a 26 per cent stake in the Tiger Television production company which is worth£80m in the current climate where independents are being snapped up for enormous multiples. In all, we value Atkinson at around£40m.

 

 

 

Noel Edmonds (=18)

 

(dob 22/12/48)

 

Unique Group

 

£40 million

 

 

Edmonds started as a BBC tea-boy before becoming a disc jockey and going on to front BBC Saturday children’s show Swap Shop. Today, he is still a major media figure and has built up a large business empire on the back of his television work. He was paid£2m a year by the BBC. The various companies in his Unique Group are growing strongly and Edmonds is now worth at least£40m as a result. Edmonds also has a£5m stake in the recently floated UBC Media Group.

 

 

 

Phil Redmond (=18)

 

(dob 10/06/49)

 

Mersey Television

 

£40 million

 

 

Redmond started as a television scriptwriter with Grange Hill. But Brookside for Channel 4 made his name and generated the profits for his production company, Mersey Television. Never one to shirk responsibility - or press coverage - Redmond has consistently meted out jobs in the north west and put Liverpool jointly on the TV map and stamped its identity on programming. Redmond earns£500,000 a year in dividends alone, while Mersey is easily worth£40m, based on profits of£1.4m and sales of£2.9m in the year to September 1998.

 

 

 

Paul Smith (21)

 

(dob 16/01/47)

 

Complete Communications

 

£36 million

 

 

Smith is the managing director of Complete Communications Corporation, which is the holding company for Celador, the production company behind the domestic and worldwide export hit Who Wants to be a Millionaire? now regarded as the world’s most popular gameshow. City analysts are reported to have valued the gameshow to be worth some£200m as of June this year. That would value Smith’s 18 per cent stake in Complete Communications at£36m.

 

 

 

Jasper Carrott (22)

 

(dob 14/03/45)

 

Complete Communications

 

£32 million

 

 

Comedian Jasper Carrott, born Robert Davies, is a 15 per cent shareholder with his wife and managing director Paul Smith in Celador parent Complete Communications Corporation. Carrott made his name fronting Celador-produced The Jasper Carrott Show, Carrott Confidential and The Detectives. Carrott and his wife also own the fast-growing Jasper Carrott Ltd. We value their Complete Communications stake at£30m and add£2m for other assets.

 

 

 

Peter Clark (=23)

 

(dob 26/01/44)

 

Media Ventures

 

£30 million

 

 

Clark, an experienced television executive with the BBC and former ITV franchise TVS, was chief executive of television rights group Circle Communications, which floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 1996. He had a£3m stake in the company at the time. He now runs Media Ventures, the company which is co-owned by Arthur Price, the wealthy American founder of the MTM organisation in the US. Media Ventures is an investment company that takes strategic stakes in media companies. It has a significant stake in Kelvin MacKenzie’s Wireless Group and Teletext as well as Newsworld, a conferencing company, and investments in two distribution companies. Although Clark went through an expensive divorce a few years back, we reckon he is now worth at least£30m.

 

 

 

Gerry Robinson (=23)

 

(dob 23/10/48)

 

Granada

 

£30 million

 

 

Genial Irishman Gerry Robinson was destined for the priesthood, but became a cost clerk. He qualified as an accountant, and eventually rose through the ranks of British industry, leading the management buyout of catering group Compass. When Compass floated, Robinson’s stake was worth around£12m. He later joined Granada, where he is now chairman, and has built it into a leading force in catering, hotels and broadcasting. Following the recent flotation of its television subsidiary, Granada Media, and his subsequent deal to buy United News & Media’s TV assets, Robinson is retiring, though he will remain a consultant to Granada. His Granada stake is currently worth£3.6m. Share options, past share sales and a£1m-plus annual salary increase his fortune substantially. Last year, for example, he made a profit of around£5.3m on share options before tax. With his property and art thrown in, he is easily worth£30m.

 

 

 

Peter Bennett-Jones (=25)

 

(dob 11/03/55)

 

Tiger Television

 

Charles Brand (=25)

 

(dob 01/07/54)

 

Tiger Television

 

£28.5 million

 

 

Both television producer/director and founder of Tiger Television Peter Bennett-Jones and director Charles Brand have a 35.7 per cent stake - valued at£28.5m each - in the privately owned company which exploits the rights of the programmes it owns. Its main operation, Tiger Aspect Productions, produces comedy and entertainment shows such as Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Harry Enfield and Chums and Streetmate, but it has also moved into drama with productions including Births, Marriages & Deaths and Playing the Field. Rowan Atkinson, the comedian, is a shareholder and director. It also owns documentary-maker Tigress and a film production arm. In the year to July 1998, Tiger made a£829,000 profit on sales of£2.9m. We value it at£80m on the back of mooted deals for other production companies. Bennett-Jones also lends his name to talent arm PBJ Management and, this summer, KBJ was launched to manage television presenters’ careers.

 

 

 

Sir David Frost (=27)

 

(dob 7/4/39)

 

David Paradine/David Frost Enterprises

 

£25 million

 

 

Now a British institution, Frost has been in television for 40 years, graduating from radical firebrand and inquisitor of the famous or corrupt to talk show host. Along the way, he has made a fortune. We can see some of it in his British companies, David Paradine Ltd and David Frost Enterprises. The latter paid him£460,000 in the year to June 1999 and on top of that made a£374,000 profit on£1m sales. With his lavish Chelsea home and Hampshire estate thrown in, a£25m valuation is easily justified. Frost has married into the aristocracy by way of the Duke of Norfolk’s family, which will add to his wealth.

 

 

 

Lord Hollick (=27)

 

(dob 20/05/45)

 

United News & Media

 

£25 million

 

 

Clive Hollick, a Labour peer, started work at merchant bank Hambros where he became one of the UK’s youngest directors. But he made his name when he struck out on his own at 30 building what eventually became MAI. It merged with United Newspapers in 1996 to create United News & Media of which Hollick became chief executive. Following its aborted merger with Carlton this summer the group agreed to sell its broadcasting concerns to Granada for£1.75bn while the rest of the media group, which includes the Express newspapers, is to be transformed into a market information provider. Hollick’s stake was worth£4.5m, while share options add another£8m. Deals from his days in the City and other property assets will take him to perhaps£25m.

 

 

 

Ron McCullogh (=27)

 

(dob 29/03/53)

 

Beat 106FM

 

George Swanson (=27)

 

(dob 02/07/50)

 

Beat 106FM

 

£25 million

 

 

Both McCullogh and Swanson each have a 31 per cent stake in Big Beat Holdings, the Glasgow-based club operator. It was founded by McCullogh and Swanson, the former head of Whitbread Scotland, is a director of the business. A former architecture student, McCullogh spent his weekends in the 1970s as a disc jockey. He now runs a string of clubs including The Tunnel in Glasgow and London’s Home. Big Beat Holdings made£353,000 profit on sales of£17.6m last year. It has a strong assets base, and is easily worth over£40m. Among its former subsidiaries is Beat 106FM, the Scottish radio station, bought by Capital Radio in July for£33.75m, which has boosted both their fortunes.

 

 

 

Terry Bate (=31)

 

(dob 03/08/33)

 

The Television Corporation

 

£20 million

 

 

Bate chairs The Television Corporation, the quoted London-based company that owns Channel 4 cricket coverage producer Sunset + Vine, facilities house Molinare, outside broadcast outfit Visions and last year struck a£25m deal to buy leading indie The Mentorn Group (Robot Wars, Question Time). Bate, the former boss of Radio Caroline, has a 21.6 per cent stake in the company worth around£19m and we add another£1m for options and salaries.

 

 

 

John McGuckian (=31)

 

(dob 13/11/39)

 

Ulster Television

 

£20 million

 

 

A prominent Northern Ireland businessman, McGuckian is also non-executive chairman of Ulster Television, one of the last remaining independent ITV franchises. He has an 8.9 per cent stake worth£14.1m. Other assets, including a family-owned textile group in Antrim, easily take him to£20m.

 

 

 

Neil Record (=31)

 

(dob 26/06/53)

 

RDF Productions

 

£20 million

 

 

Financier Neil Record is a director of RDF Productions, the fast-growing independent production company, and he has a 29.6 per cent stake in the business. Though RDF only made£167,000 profit on sales of£4.9m last year, it has won a huge workload for the BBC and others, following the appointment of former BBC man Steven Lambert to the RDF board. On this basis, the 2000 figures will value the company at£30m. That values Record’s stake at£8.8m. His 39 per cent stake in NP Record, takes him to£20m easily.

 

 

 

Griff Rhys Jones(=31)

 

(dob 16/11/53)

 

Talkback Productions

 

Mel Smith (=31)

 

(dob 03/12/52)

 

Talkback Productions

 

£20 million

 

 

Besides their on-screen partnership in Not The Nine O’Clock News, and Alas Smith and Jones, doctor’s son Griff Rhys Jones and bookie’s son Mel Smith were also equal shareholders in Talkback, the indie they set up to produce radio ads. They became seriously rich when Talkback was sold to Pearson in June this year netting both£23m for their 37.5 per cent stakes, or around£18m each after tax. Cambridge graduate and former Footlights member Rhys Jones owns Griff Rhys Jones Ltd which has£1m worth of assets. Meanwhile Oxford graduate Mel Smith owns Mel Smith Enterprises which has£400,000 of assets. We value both halves of the duo at around£20m each.

 

 

 

Tom Gutteridge (=36)

 

(dob 02/02/52)

 

Mentorn Barraclough Carey Productions

 

£16 million

 

 

In 1984 Gutteridge left his job as a BBC director to set up an independent production company called Mentorn Films. Despite failing to win its bid for a television franchise, Mentorn went from strength to strength. Later as Mentorn Barraclough Carey, it became one of the leading independent producers and was sold to the quoted Television Corporation in September 1999 for around£25m in two tranches. As the second tranche of the sale is completed, Gutteridge, who had a 65 per cent share, will be worth around£16m.

 

 

 

Britt Allcroft (=36)

 

(dob 14/12/43)

 

Britt Allcroft Group

 

£16 million

 

 

A former television presenter and producer, Allcroft secured the worldwide licensing rights for Thomas the Tank Engine. It has become big business for the Britt Allcroft Group, which floated in October 1996. Allcroft’s 2.3 million shares are worth£13.3m. But share sales and options take her to around£16m. Earlier this year, the company bought Media Merchants which makes a number of children’s programmes including Art Attack.

 

 

 

Sir Christopher Bland (=38)

 

(dob 29/05/38)

 

BBC and ex-LWT

 

£15 million

 

 

A former leading light of the Tory Bow Group, Bland was also a GLC councillor and deputy chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority from 1972 to 1979. But he is best known as chairman of LWT from 1983 until its takeover by Granada in 1994. He made£12m from the sale of his LWT stake, and three years later secured another£3m from the sale of his stake in the quoted Life Sciences business. Knighted in 1993 for his NHS work, he succeeded Marmaduke Hussey as chairman of the BBC governors in 1996. He was unwavering in his support for Greg Dyke during the storm over the latter’s appointment as DG. With Bland’s 50 per cent stake in the Prue Leith restaurant chain, he is easily worth£15m after tax.

 

 

 

Rod Bransgrove (=38)

 

(dob 20/09/50)

 

Entertainment Rights

 

£15 million

 

 

Bransgrove chairs Buckinghamshire-based Entertainment Rights, a quoted cartoon-maker and distributor, formed last year when SKD Media bought Carrington Productions cartoon library. Bransgrove has a£5m stake in the company which owns the rights to kids’ programmes Basil Brush, Cubeez and Budgie the Helicopter. With his wife, he also owns Matrix New Professionals, a television production company which only produced modified accounts in 1998, but which has£866,000 of net assets. Bransgrove also made around£10m from the sale of his pharmaceutical company, Imperial Pharmaceuticals, which merged with Shire Pharmaceuticals in 1995 and is worth perhaps£15m in all.

 

 

 

Greg Dyke (=38)

 

(dob 20/05/47)

 

BBC and ex-LWT

 

£15 million

 

 

Dyke, who became the BBC director general in February this year, is the man credited with saving TV-am and later became chief executive of LWT, where he tried to fight off a bid from Granada. Although he was unsuccessful, he collected nearly£9m for his shares in 1994. His other assets and stakes take him to around£15m.

 

 

 

David Frank (=38)

 

(dob 24/09/58)

 

RDF Productions

 

£15 million

 

 

Frank is managing director of RDF Productions, an independent television production company based in London. While RDF made only£167,763 profit on£4.9m sales in the year to January 1999, it has expanded enormously recently on the back of a stream of commissions from the BBC and others. The 2000 figures will reflect this, and a£30m valuation is appropriate and may even be conservative. Frank and his family own just over half the shares.

 

 

 

Chris Wronski (=38)

 

(dob 11/01/61)

 

Zone Vision

 

£15 million

 

 

Wronski, the son of a Warsaw airport engineer, arrived in Britain in 1981 as a penniless refugee. He has built a satellite TV and internet company, Zone Vision Enterprises, which is looking to float on Nasdaq next year with a reported valuation of£190m. Wronski is the majority shareholder of four directors with around 10 per cent of Zone and we value that stake cautiously at around£15m. The company employs 250 people, has launched two channels in Turkey since June and will launch another in Israel in September. It is poised to launch joint-venture channels in the UK ahead of a global push.

 

 

 

Kelvin MacKenzie (43)

 

(dob 22/10/46)

 

The Wireless Group

 

£14 million

 

 

Former Sun editor and BSkyB managing director Kelvin MacKenzie put around£1m into The Wireless Group in 1998, representing all his wealth at the time, to take over national station Talk Radio (now Talk Sport). The Wireless Group is playing a strong part in the growth of digital radio, being part of the Switch Digital consortium that runs London’s second digital multiplex. It also runs Bloomberg TalkMoney, one of the 10 national services on the national digital multiplex Digital One, with Bloomberg News. The radio operator floated in May and shares have soared valuing Mackenzie’s 7.15 per cent stake at over£14m.

 

 

 

Nick Park (=44)

 

(dob 06/12/58)

 

Aardman Productions

 

£12 million

 

 

Park, the son of an architectural photographer, went to the National Film and Television School. His big break came in 1985 when he joined Aardman to finish the film A Grand Day Out which he had started at college. He went on to win three oscars for his work on the Wallace & Gromit films. His recent work on Chicken Run has been highly acclaimed in the US and at home. Though not a director or shareholder in Aardman, he has a 25 per cent stake in Wallace & Gromit Ltd. With options in Aardman, he is reckoned to be worth£12m on paper.

 

 

 

Sam Chisholm (=44)

 

(dob 08/10/39)

 

Ex-British Sky Broadcasting

 

£12 million

 

 

Tough New Zealander Sam Chisholm was chief executive of BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster, which floated on the stock market in 1994. Chisholm is largely credited with making the business a huge success. He received a£2.7m bonus as part of the flotation. Salaries and bonuses in the following two years topped£10m. He was also on the receiving end of a controversial payout from the Premier League earlier this year which saw him and business partner David Chance pocket£12m. He left BSkyB in 1997, but remains active in the industry.

 

 

 

Peter Fincham (=44)

 

(dob 26/07/56)

 

Talkback Productions

 

£12 million

 

 

Like fellow Talkback shareholder Griff Rhys Jones, managing director and executive producer Peter Fincham is also a Cambridge graduate where he was musical director of the amateur review company Footlights. He didn’t join the broadcasting industry until he was about 30, when he was hired by Peter Bennett-Jones who then headed Talkback. A year later, in 1986, Fincham became Talkback managing director. He built the company from a three-man radio producer into one of the UK’s biggest and most prominent television indies whose productions - mainly for the BBC and Channel 4 - include They Think It’s All Over, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Smack the Pony, Da Ali G Show and Shooting the Past. The company was bought by Pearson in June this year for£62m. Fincham had a 25 per cent stake worth over£15m or about£12m after tax. He will remain at Talkback as managing director and executive producer.

 

 

 

Peter Donebauer (47)

 

(dob 31/05/47)

 

Diverse Group

 

£11 million

 

 

Donebauer is managing director of Diverse Group, a television film producer based in west London, specialising in documentaries. Although profits fell from£330,000 to£96,922 in the year to June 1999, the company is an attractive asset with a valuable interactive side and would easily be worth£10m in the current climate. Donebauer probably has another£1m in assets and we value him at£11m.

 

 

 

Charles Allen (=48)

 

(dob 04/01/57)

 

Granada Media

 

£10 million

 

 

Allen is executive chairman of recently floated Granada Media. An accountant by training, Allen started his career with British Steel. But it is as Gerry Robinson’s right-hand man at Granada that he has made his name and fortune. His stake in the former Granada Group was worth around£500,000, but share options and past salaries take him to around£10m. In his new role at Granada Media he could collect up to£30m in bonuses and options in the next few years.

 

 

 

Bruno Brookes (=48)

 

(dob 24/04/59)

 

Storm Radio

 

£15 million

 

 

Former Top of The Pops presenter and Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes will make around£10m when he floats Storm Radio, an internet-only celebrity-led radio station that transmits music around the clock under the slogan ‘the future has no frequency’. He owns a third of the company which has been broadcasting on its own site: www.stormlive.com. Storm is expected to be worth£30m after a float.

 

 

 

David Chance (=48)

 

(dob 22/04/57)

 

Ex-BSkyB now Granada

 

£10 million

 

 

Chance joined BSkyB in April 1989 as marketing distribution manager and rose to become deputy managing director. In the year to June 1996, he received a salary of£2.4m from BSkyB and he shared a£12m payout with Sam Chisholm, following aborted consultancy work for the Premier League. After leaving Sky, he has had a number of ventures and reportedly made£10m on share options in an internet venture. He is joining Granada’s media division and is worth£10m in total after tax.

 

 

 

Bob Geldof (=48)

 

(dob 05/10/52)

 

Planet 24

 

£10 million

 

 

In the 1970s, Geldof launched a group which was later renamed the Boomtown Rats. The band topped the charts for several years, but Geldof made his name in pop with the Live Aid concerts. He had a one-third stake in the Planet 24 independent company, but the sale of the company early last year to Carlton netted him£5m. Yet even before that he was a rich man. Geldolf maintained that by the end of the 1980s he could have retired in financial security. He has invested in an internet holiday company, Deckchair.com, which is worth around£30m. In all, Geldof is easily worth£10m taking his Deckchair.com stake into account.

 

 

 

Harry Goodman (=48)

 

(dob 12/11/38)

 

The TV Travel Shop

 

Denis Strauss (=48)

 

(dob 25/10/46)

 

The TV Travel Shop

 

£10 million

 

 

Former holiday and travel king Harry Goodman started The TV Travel Shop, a satellite and cable channel in 1995 with Denis Strauss. The company is being groomed for a stock market float and was valued late last year at over£50m when Barclays Bank took a£20m stake. The co-founders have a 12.5 per cent stake between them making them worth£10m apiece. The company recorded sales of£72m in its first year and claims to be the country’s fifth largest travel retailer. Other share holders include travel firm Kuoni, which bought a 12.5 per cent stake from Flextech for£7m earlier this year. Flextech retains a 37 per cent shareholding.

 

 

 

David Green (=48)

 

(dob 12/11/48)

 

September Films

 

£10 million

 

 

Green is chief executive of Soho-based September Films, which has specialised in glitzy, showbiz documentaries such as the Hollywood… and the Truth about… franchises. Having directed the Phil Collins film Buster (1988) and the Disney action adventure Wings of the Apache, Green has once again returned to the feature film business to direct Breathtaking for Sky Pictures. Last year, September made£515,221 profit on sales of£5.6m. In the current climate, it is easily worth£10m. Green and his family own all the shares. He also owns half of the smaller Buster Films.

 

 

 

Paul Killik (=48)

 

(dob 24/12/47)

 

The Money Channel

 

£10 million

 

 

Killik, a City stockbroker, came up with the idea of a dedicated financial channel after talks with Adam Faith in 1996. They launched The Money Channel which started broadcasting in February this year. Killik’s shares are worth£3.5m and the company, floated on the Alternative Investment Market, intends to raise a further£10m for future investment. Killik’s other assets easily take him to£10m.

 

 

 

Hilary Lawson (=48)

 

(dob 19/01/54)

 

Television and Film Productions

 

£10 million

 

 

Lawson is managing director of London-based Television and Film Productions, a small but consistently profitable television film producer. He owns all the shares in the company which we reckon is worth around£10m in the current climate on the back of£370,000 profit and£4.4m sales in the year to May 1998.

 

 

 

Stephen Leahy (=48)

 

(dob 30/05/49)

 

Action Time Holdings

 

£10 million

 

 

Game show supremo Leahy, who devised The Krypton Factor, founded and runs Action Time, which develops and markets television programmes. The business is now owned by Carlton, but Leahy is still chief executive. He has made a fortune out of the business and, with several homes round the world, is reckoned to be worth at least£10m.

 

 

 

Henry Meakin (=48)

 

(dob 02/01/44)

 

Aspen/GWR

 

£10 million

 

 

Meakin was chairman of Aspen Communications, a quoted printing and media group where he had a£6m stake. Three years ago, Aspen sold the 80 per cent it held in film camera hire outfit GP Film back to the company’s management for£1.6m. Meakin also has extensive interests in various radio stations and is chairman of GWR, the quoted radio group. His other interests will take him to£10m easily.

 

 

 

Richard Murray (=48)

 

(dob 19/02/50)

 

Avesco

 

£10 million

 

 

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, the hugely successful television gameshow, has made Murray a multi-millionaire. He is deputy chairman of Avesco, the quoted media group, which holds half the rights to the game show. The Chessington-based business has seen its share price surge on the success of the show, valuing Murray’s 988,024 shares at over£10m.

 

 

 

Jennifer Saunders (=48)

 

(dob 06/07/58)

 

Mr & Mrs Monsoon

 

Adrian Edmondson (=48)

 

(dob 24/01/57)

 

Mr & Mrs Monsoon

 

£10 million

 

 

Jennifer Saunders and her husband Adrian Edmondson, two of Britain’s leading comedy stars, also own a television production company, Mr & Mrs Monsoon, which made£1.4m profit on£1.7m of sales in 1998. The pair took out£876,000 in dividends, but the company is still very profitable and we judge it to be worth at least£10m.

 

 

 

Ron Miller (62)

 

(dob 29/05/36)

 

ex-LWT

 

£9.45 million

 

 

Miller was the sales director at LWT, the television contractor taken over by Granada in January 1994. At the takeover price of 784 pence, his 1.2 million shares were worth£9.45m. He later went to work for another television company, Southern Star Circle, and is now based in the Channel Islands.

 

 

 

Brian Eastman (=63)

 

(dob 03/09/49)

 

Carnival (Films and Theatre)

 

£8 million

 

 

Eastman is managing director of Carnival (Films and Theatre), a TV and film production outfit based in west London. He has a near 60 per cent stake in the company, which could be worth up to£15m in the current climate on the back of£556,000 profit and sales of£11.8m in 1998.

 

 

 

Timothy Blackmore (=63)

 

(dob 03/07/44)

 

UBC Media

 

Simon Cole(=63)

 

(dob 20/02/58)

 

UBC Media

 

£8 million

 

 

UBC Media director Timothy Blackmore and chief executive Simon Cole both have a 23.8 per cent stake in the independent radio company which they set up together and recently became the first to float on the Alternative Investment Market. Best known for its weekly Pepsi Chart Show, it is a leading supplier to the BBC. Noel Edmonds is a non-executive director and shareholder. UBC Media has stakes in national digital channel One Word, as well as G One (in partnership with Ginger Media), MTV Radio productions (in partnership with Viacom) and Gilmour Broadcasting. No doubt the flotation means the empire will expand further. Their stakes alone are valued at£8m.

 

 

 

Barry Firmin (=66)

 

(dob 14/04/50)

 

Ex-The Television Corporation

 

£8 million

 

 

Chartered accountant Firmin was chief executive of The Television Corporation, a quoted broadcasting contractor which was created by the merger of Sunset + Vine and Molinare, until he left in 1996. At the time, he had a£5.28m stake. He is now a director of over 20 small media companies. With other assets, he will be worth at least£8m.

 

 

 

Lord Puttnam (=66)

 

(dob 25/02/41)

 

Enigma Productions

 

£8 million

 

 

Puttnam is one of Britain’s great film-makers, with works such as Chariots of Fire and The Mission to his name. He was a non-executive director of media group Chrysalis, until his resignation in September 1996. He now owns 76 per cent of Enigma Productions, a London-based film and television production company. It is worth around£5m on the back of£228,523 profit and£904,802 sales in year to August 1998. He sold his west country home to James Dyson for£3m. We value him at around£8m in all.

 

 

 

Stephen Redfarn (=66)

 

(dob 07/05/43)

 

Ex-Westcountry Television

 

£8 million

 

 

Redfarn was instrumental in putting together the group that won the television franchise for the west country in 1993. In November 1996, Westcountry Television was taken over by Carlton Communications in an£85m deal, Redfarn is reported to have received around£4m for his Westcountry stake. Now based in Belgium, his other interests take him to perhaps£8m.

 

 

 

Adam Faith (=69)

 

(dob 23/06/40)

 

The Money Channel

 

£7.5 million

 

 

Faith, the former pop star, is now managing director of 24-hour consumer finance service The Money Channel, which launched on Sky Digital in February. He is the main presenter on the station and has 5.8 million shares which have fallen sharply in value in recent weeks to just£5.6m. Other assets will take him to around£7.5m. The channel has recently raised£11m in funding after posting a loss of£4.1m for the year to 31 March 2000.

 

 

 

Brian True-May (=69)

 

(dob 03/07/45)

 

Bentley Productions

 

£7.5 million

 

 

TV and film producer Brian True-May is a director of Bentley Productions, the television production house that is owned by Chris Wright’s Chrysalis Group. The company makes the hit series Midsomer Murders which has been successfully sold not only to the ITV network but at home and in north America. True-May used to own the other half of the company through Loxfast Associates but this was sold to Chrysalis for£6m at the end of 1998. We reckon he has another£1.5m of personal assets and so value him at£7.5m.

 

 

 

Ralph Bernard (=71)

 

(dob 11/02/53)

 

GWR

 

£7 million

 

 

As chief executive of GWR Group, Bernard has steered the Swindon-based radio group to a market value of nearly£900m. He once said that building the GWR empire was just like playing a game of Monopoly, in which he snapped up properties to make sets. Most recently, the group bought the Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) radio assets in June. Wholly owned GWR subsidiary Now digital has also recently won the Coventry, Bath and Bristol digital multiplex licences. GWR has teamed up with the Wireless Group and Scottish Radio Holdings to form the Digital Radio Group consortium to bid for regional digital multiplexes. Bernard’s 400,000 shares in GWR are worth over£3m, but share options and his past salaries take him to£7m easily.

 

 

 

Leslie Halpin (=71)

 

(dob 20/02/57)

 

RDF Productions

 

£7 million

 

 

Leslie Halpin is a non-executive director of RDF Productions, the fast-growing independent television production house. He has an 11.8 per cent stake in the London-based company, which we value at around£30m on the back of its order book. Last year, it made just£167,763 profit on£4.9m sales, but the 2000 figures will show a sharp rise justifying our valuation in the current climate. Halpin also has an 8 per cent stake in NP Record, a finance group worth over£20m. In all, he is worth around£7m.

 

 

 

William Harris (=71)

 

(dob 17/09/56)

 

Britt Allcroft Group

 

£7 million

 

 

Chartered accountant William Harris is finance director of the Britt Allcroft Group, which markets Thomas the Tank Engine products. He joined the company in 1986 and helped to float it on the stock market in October 1996. His 1 million shares, at 582.5p each, are worth£6.1m. Share options take him to£7m.

 

 

 

Lynda La Plante (=71)

 

(dob 18/09/46)

 

La Plante Productions

 

£7 million

 

 

Liverpool sales rep’s daughter Lynda La Plante trained at Rada to be an actress, but turned to writing for television. Her earnings and popularity soared with the award-winning series Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren. She has also written a handful of thrillers. She has several small television productions companies, including La Plante Productions which made£2.1m profit on£2.7m of sales in 1999. With her baronial home in Kingston and continuing royalty flow, a£7m valuation is fair.

 

 

 

Wilf Shorrocks (=71)

 

(dob 13/04/49)

 

Just Group

 

£7 million

 

 

Shorrocks is chief executive of Just Group, the AIM-quoted children’s television programme maker. In the year to April 2000, Just’s profits soared to£1.2m on the back of the success of Jellikins, the bouncy jelly baby-type characters. This year, the Derbyshire-based company hopes to roll out four more television projects including a revival of Pinky and Perky and two more series sold to ITV. Shorrocks’ 8.8 per cent stake is worth£6.7m. Share sales in 1999 and other assets take him

 

to£7m.

 

 

 

Lord Alli (=76)

 

(dob 16/11/64)

 

Planet 24

 

Charles Parsons (=76)

 

(dob 07/08/58)

 

Planet 24

 

£6 million

 

 

Waheed Alli is managing director of Planet 24, the youth-friendly television production company. Now a Labour peer, Alli made his fortune when Planet 24 was sold to Carlton in March 1999, netting him around£6m for his one-third stake. Parsons, a former television researcher and journalist, built Planet 24 into a major force, with programmes such as The Big Breakfast for Channel 4. He also owned a third of the equity until the Carlton takeover.

 

 

 

Peter Tabern (=76)

 

(dob 01/02/49)

 

Childsplay Productions

 

£6 million

 

 

Tabern is managing director of Childsplay Productions, a London-based television production company. He has a 60 per cent stake in the company, which only produces modified accounts. But it had solid and growing assets of£850,000 in the year to March 1999 and would easily be worth£10m. That values Tabern’s stake at£6m.

 

 

 

Neil Buchanan (=79)

 

Media Merchants

 

Tim Edmunds (=79)

 

(dob 02/06/51)

 

Media Merchants

 

£5 million

 

 

Buchanan, who presents the children’s television programme Art Attack, made by Media Merchants, garnered at least a£5m fortune when Media Merchants, his television production company, was taken over by Britt Allcroft in a£14m deal early this year. Edmunds also gained at least£5m for his stake in Media Merchants.

 

 

 

Brian Klein (=79)

 

(dob 24/02/57)

 

Charmaine Klein

 

On The Box Productions

 

£5 million

 

 

Brian and Charmaine Klein run and own On the Box Productions, a north London based production company. Enjoying strong growth, On The Box made£135,000 profit on£1.3m sales in the year to September 1999. With these healthy margins, and a strong balance sheet, we reckon the company could be worth around£5m.

 

 

 

Paul Shields (=79)

 

(dob 04/04/43)

 

Little Bird Co

 

£5 million

 

 

Shields is managing director of Little Bird Co, a small but fast-growing television and film producer. He also owns half of Box Office Ltd, another small but fast-growing business and is a director of various Indigo Film and Television subsidiaries. Figures are scarce but he is reckoned by industry insiders to be worth at least£5m.

 

 

 

Jenny Barraclough (=83)

 

(dob 02/05/38)

 

Mentorn Barraclough Carey Productions

 

George Carey (=83)

 

(dob 13/03/43)

 

Mentorn Barraclough Carey Productions

 

£4.5 million

 

 

Television producers Jenny Barraclough and George Carey both had a 17.5 per cent stake in Mentorn Barraclough Carey Productions, the successful independent television production company, until it was taken over by the Television Corporation in September 1999 for£25m. The deal was structured in two 50 per cent tranches. The first went through at the sale, while the second was triggered in July with completion expected in September. We assume it will go through, netting both partners around£4.5m for their stakes.

 

 

 

David Mansfield (=83)

 

(dob 12/01/54)

 

Capital Radio

 

£4.5 million

 

 

Former Thames Television executive David Mansfield is chief executive of Capital Radio, the£1.1bn radio group. It started as London’s local radio station and is now becoming a serious player in the digital age, having recently bought Border Television Group and Scottish radio outfit Beat 106FM. Its share price has reflected the change rising to around£17.30 as we went to press, which values Mansfield’s share options at around£4m. With his salary and other assets, he is worth around£4.5m.

 

 

 

Roger Llewellyn (86)

 

(dob 03/01/47)

 

Britt Allcroft

 

£4.2 million

 

 

Llewellyn, a banker by training, is non-executive chairman of the Britt Allcroft Group, which markets Thomas the Tank Engine products. The company was floated on the stock market in October 1996. His 720,000 shares are worth£4.2m.

 

 

 

Charles Armitage (=87)

 

(dob 06/08/54)

 

Noel Gay Organisation

 

Alexander Armitage (=87)

 

(dob 17/05/58)

 

Noel Gay Organisation

 

£4 million

 

 

Charles Armitage is managing director of The Noel Gay Organisation, where his brother Alexander is also a director. Between then, they own about 80 per cent of the Noel Gay Organisation. The London-based business is the parent of Noel Gay Television, a small television production company, which made£139,649 profit on sales of£1m in 1998. It could be worth perhaps£3m. Other business assets take the Armitage brothers to around£4m apiece.

 

 

 

Lord Bragg (=89)

 

(dob 06/10/39)

 

LWT and ex-Border Television

 

£4 million

 

 

Bragg is best known as a novelist and as Britain’s premier arts broadcaster through his role as presenter of The South Bank Show. But he was also chairman of Border Television, which covers his beloved Lake District. He had shares in LWT which were worth£3.97m at the time of the takeover by Granada in 1994.

 

 

 

Kim Burke (=89)

 

(dob 23/05/57)

 

Childsplay Productions

 

£4 million

 

 

Kim Burke, a television producer by training, is a director of and 40 per cent shareholder in Childsplay Productions, a London-based television programme maker. Childsplay only produces modified accounts, but in the year to March 1999 it had a solid and growing balance sheet with£850,537 of net assets. We assume the company will be worth perhaps£10m at present, valuing her stake at about£4m.

 

 

 

Nick Elliott (=89)

 

(dob 21/05/44)

 

ITV and ex-LWT

 

£4 million

 

 

Elliott was former director of programmes at London Weekend Television, which was taken over by Granada in January 1994. At the takeover price of 784 pence a share, his 460,000 shares in LWT were worth£3.6m, placing him firmly in the group of multi-millionaires who wore ‘golden handcuffs’ throughout the course of the deal. He later moved to the BBC where he was head of drama series before joining ITV as controller of drama.

 

 

 

Malcolm McCalister (=89)

 

(dob 03/11/42)

 

Scope Productions

 

£4 million

 

 

Television producer Malcolm McCalister is managing director of Scope Productions, a fast-growing independent television production company based in Glasgow. McCalister has a 40 per cent stake in the company, which we value at around£10m, despite the fact that Scope only made£168,418 profit on£3.29m sales in the year to May 1999. That values McCalister’s stake at£4m.

 

 

 

Brendan Murphy (=89)

 

(dob 04/03/56)

 

Wildflower Productions

 

Paul O’Grady (=89)

 

(dob 14/06/55)

 

Wildflower Productions

 

£4 million

 

 

Murphy is managing director of, and 51 per cent shareholder in, Wildflower Productions, an independent radio and television production company based in London. Wildflower is worth around£8m on the back of£112,546 profit and£603,977 sales in 1998. Actor Paul O’Grady - alias Lily Savage - is a director of, and 49 per cent shareholder in, Wildflower Productions.

 

 

 

Geoffrey Posner (=89)

 

(dob 07/07/49)

 

Pozzitive Television

 

David Meek (=89)

 

(dob 24/06/61)

 

Pozzitive Television

 

£4 million

 

 

Both Posner and Meek are directors of Pozzitive Television, a Soho-based television and radio production company. They each have a 50 per cent stake in the fast-growing company, which we value at around£8m on the back of£261,822 profit on£495,958 sales in the year to April 1999. With a strong balance sheet, that seems appropriate in the current frenzied world of television valuations. Meek’s stake could be worth around£4m. The indie’s production credits include Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies, Harry Enfield and Chums Christmas Special for BBC 1 and Steve Coogan vehicles The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon, Coogan’s Run and Three Fights, Two Weddings and a Funeral (The Pauline Calf Wedding Video) for the BBC.

 

 

 

Jonathan Thoday (=89)

 

(dob 07/05/61)

 

Avalon

 

£4 million

 

 

Thoday runs Avalon Television, a production company based in London’s Leicester Square, where he has an 80 per cent stake. He also has two other separate Avalon companies, again with an 80 per cent stake in each. Together the businesses made nearly£100,000 profit on just under£6m sales in 1998. We value them in the current climate at about£5m and Thoday’s stakes at£4m.

 

 

 

Nigel Walmsley (=89)

 

(dob 26/01/42)

 

Carlton Communications

 

£4 million

 

 

Ex-civil servant high-flyer Nigel Walmsley runs Carlton Communications’ extensive media operations. As one of the most important men in British television, he has a£1.3m stake in Carlton and share options worth nearly£2m. With past salaries and other assets he will be worth around£4m.

 

 

 

Kirsty Wark (=99)

 

(dob 03/02/55)

 

Wark, Clements & Co

 

Alan Clements (=99)

 

(dob 27/05/61)

 

Wark, Clements & Co

 

£2 million

 

 

Kirsty Wark, the Newsnight presenter, and her husband Alan Clements own and run Wark, Clements, an independent television production company based in Glasgow. It has recently won a£3m BBC contract and has taken on James Boyle, the former head of BBC Radio 4 as a director. The company also recently set up a joint-venture with Tiger Aspect - Tiger Wark Clements - to produce comedy and entertainment shows in Scotland. Wark, Clements, which is growing fast, plans to double its£2.5m turnover within two years. We value the company at around£4m.