Brethren Rich List - UK
The Rich List : Part 1
The Exclusive Brethren Rich List, following our extensive investigations & research, Open & Candid have produced the brethren rich list.
The Rich List - Part 1
The information was compiled between October 2022 & March 2023. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, though we accept we may have missed links or companies. There are a number of companies owned by members of the brethren, that we would suspect to be on the rich list, but due to their unlimited status, we are unable to gain a full picture of their accounts. It is our intention to do a separate article on the unlimited companies in the next couple of months.
1. Global Consortium Ltd
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Family: Campbell & Andrews
Assets: £34.5 million Turnover: £43 million Employees: 163 |
Business: Care Home supplies & consultancy
Location: Horsham & Chatham Covid Contracts: Yes Website: www.blueleafcare.com |
Directors/Shareholders: Jonathan Andrews, Charlie Campbell, Nathan Campbell
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Summary
The Horsham based Global Consortium reported assets of over £34.5 million in their 2021 accounts. Included in the group are a number of subsidiaries including Blueleaf, Frog Grp, Stadir & Steiss Global.
Turnover dropped from £98.7 million in 2020. This was due to 2020 turnover benefitting from PPE contracts for VIP list Blueleaf. We have highlighted previously that though UK contracts finder shows contracts worth £4 million, that DHSC spend, shows the UK govt spending over £31 million with Blueleaf. The company also benefitted from being listed as PPE supplier on a list sent to local councils & care homes by the DHSC at the start of the pandemic. The company reported a loss after tax for 2021 of £641k compared to a profit of £11.6 million the previous year. Since this loss, the company has took on a senior brethren member as a non exec director in Rob Critchley. |
Plymouth Brethren links
Charles Campbell is a trustee of brethren charity Central Hardship & Relief Trust (CHART), The Broomhill Trust a brethren charity which helps maintain the Gillingham & area meeting rooms. He is a former director of Linton projects Ltd. Linton Projects is the trading company that raises fund for the brethren OneSchool at Maidstone, through the Campus & Co shop, it is a subsidiary of the charity Medway Education Trust. Jonathan Andrews son & former Blueleaf director, Scott Andrews, is a trustee of the brethren meeting room charity, Whitmoor Way Gospel Hall Trust. Jonathan is the brother in law of Oliver Whiley, a Lancaster based senior brethren member, who is a director of Havwoods, another company on the rich list. |
2. Havwoods Global Holdings Ltd
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Family: Whiley & Hales
Assets: £21.3 million Turnover: £53.8 million Employees: 119 |
Directors/Shareholders: Simon Whiley, Dean Hales, Oliver Whiley, Nicholas Whiley
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Summary
The Carnforth based Havwoods saw an increase of £11 million in turnover in 2021. 25% of the total turnover was outside the UK. Profits after tax increased to almost £4.3 million. The directors of the business are the Lancaster based Whiley family. They are what we could class as senior brethren members. The shareholding of Havwoods shows that the business is part owned by Dean Hales, son of cult leader Bruce Hales. This is via Australian company Duroline Products Pty Ltd, which in turn is owned by a Dean Hales company Shavano Consulting Pty Ltd. Though no covid contracts were won directly by Havwoods, the Whiley/Hales connection can also be found in a company called 2San Global, based on the same brethren owner business park in Carnforth. 2San was incorporated in May 2020 in the UK. 2San have won covid testing (RAT) contracts in Australia. They have also recruited at least 13 employees from the UKHSA Government test & trace teams including Mark Hewlett, one of the highest paid members of the test & trace team. We estimate that the salaries of those recruited could well be more than £1 million per year. 2San have also been awarded a PPE contract by Cumbria County Council, a framework agreement with a total of 8 suppliers, of which 4 suppliers are Brethren linked companies. |
Plymouth Brethren links
The Hales & Whiley are senior members of the Plymouth Brethren, the links are therefore substantial. Dean Hales is son of church leader, Bruce Hales Simon Whiley is a trustee of the Whinfield Study Trust, the charity is a fundraiser for the Lancaster OneSchool. It also runs the trading company The Wenning company Ltd, which operates as a Campus & Co shop(s), both Simon & Oliver Whiley are ex directors of The Wenning company. Oliver Whiley is a trustee of the Central GH trust, the national meeting room charity, located at PBCC HQ at Chessington, he is also a director of Silverdale gospel hall trust, the Lancaster meeting room. Nicholas Whiley is a trustee of Cross Hill gospel hall trust, the Carnforth meeting room. One of either the Silverdale or Cross Hill trusts is responsible for the meeting room on the same brethren owned gated business park as Havwoods & 2San. Simon & Oliver were also directors of Strategic DB Group Ltd, formerly known as Unispace Properties Ltd, with Gareth & Charles Hales, 2 more sons of church leader Bruce Hales & big winners of covid contracts. |
3. Uphall Cambridge Ltd
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Family: Drake
Assets: £20.7 million Turnover: £36.7 million Employees: 83 |
Directors/Shareholders: Tim Drake, Laurie Drake, Samuel Drake, Anthony Drake, Nicholas Drake
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Summary
The Cambridgeshire based Uphall Cambride Ltd is owned by the Drake family. In the second half of 2022 a parent company Accora Holdings Ltd became the ultimate parent of Uphall Cambridge Ltd. The subsidiaries of Uphall Cambridge are Accora Limited, Accora Inc, Accora Limited Ireland.
The group posted turnover of £36.7 million in 2021, down from £43.5 million in 2020. They won covid contracts with the UK govt, including to supply covid testing facilities, which we believe may have covered both years. This contract was won by VIP channel, after assistance from former MP & now peer Lord Lansley. Prior to the pandemic the company turnover in 2019 was £19.8 million. Clearly substantial growth through the covid contracts. Shareholders funds more than doubled from £9.2 million in 2019 to £20.7 million in 2021. Accora is a clinical seating & specialist bed supplier for home & care environments. Profit pre tax in 2021 was almost £9.5 million, with profit after tax of £9.25 million. The low tax payment was due to Patent box deduction, R&D tax relief and an adjustment to previous tax periods charges. In our research the Patent box & R&D relief was evident in a number of companies. In this case it equated to an almost £1 million tax reduction. In 2021 Tim Drake was appointed a director and a substantial shareholder in another of our rich list, Kingsway Group Global. This followed investment from the Vision Accelerator fund, the brethren investment arm. We will be covering this fund in a separate article in the coming weeks. It would suggest he has some involvement with the Vision fund, he was previously appointed a director of Moroak Management another Vision fund investment. Yeovil based Moroak is also in the list. |
Plymouth Brethren links
Tim Drake is a trustee of the Causeway gospel hall trust. One the Cambridgeshire meeting room trusts. Anthony Drake is a trustee of the Mowbray gospel hall trust. Another of the Cambridgeshire meeting room trusts. Nicholas Drake is a trustee of the Radegund gospel hall trust. Another Cambridgeshire meeting room trust. Samuel Drake is a trustee of Beechwood Education Trust, one of the fundraising charities for the Biggleswade OneSchool. Beechwood premises were used by the Rapid Relief Team during the last year. |
Rich list Coincidence
In a strange brethren coincidence, we have been reliably informed that the top three on our rich list all have a family link! It starts with the picture below taken in 2021. Rishi Sunak now PM of the UK, visits a brethren company in his constituency, called Sterling GP.
In the picture the older gentleman to Sunak's left hand side is Antony James. Antony has a sister called Nina, and she is married to Tim Drake of Uphall Cambridge. He also has a brother called Terry, and he married Victoria Whiley, and she is the sister of Simon Whiley and the daughter of Oliver Whiley. We mentioned above that Oliver Whiley is the brother in law of Jonathan Andrews of Global Consortium.
The brethren world is such a small world, often with a Conservative politician to hand!
The brethren world is such a small world, often with a Conservative politician to hand!