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Turning ideas into reality
In the latest of our regular series profiling the leading business figures in Leeds, Business meets former apprentice bricklayer turned successful serial entrepreneur Andrew Thirkill
Your CV please and tell us about your formative years.
It quickly became apparent that I was not particularly academic and I left Central High School in Leeds without any qualifications. However, feeling that I needed some qualifications behind me, my mother enrolled me at Park Lane College and I somehow left with four O-Levels to my name – interestingly, one in commerce.
Although I did not particularly enjoy schoolwork, I did get a tremendous buzz out of making money and my entrepreneurial skills first appeared when I was 12.
Living close to Headingley Cricket Ground, I used to collect empty lemonade bottles from the Western Terrace and take them to the local newsagent, immediately outside the ground, for the 6d deposit on each bottle.
My first job was as an apprentice bricklayer. Later I went to work at Kays Catalogue as a filing clerk.
Without my knowledge, my mother wrote to the Yorkshire Post on my behalf about a trainee sales rep position she had seen advertised. I was called in for an interview and was given the job in August 1978, working on the classified section of both the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post. This was an extremely valuable period in my life as I was taught the basics of good communication and selling, which has stood me in good stead ever since.
Tell us about your diverse business interests and how they came about.
Although I was successful and thoroughly enjoyed my time with the YP and YEP, I realised that I had the potential to make more money if I worked for myself. So I decided to set up my own advertising agency in early 1981.
With only 60 savings and a 1,000 overdraft facility, I set up the business in my sister's back bedroom. Armed with nothing more than a second-hand Peugeot, a shoebox containing space orders and a strong desire to succeed – ATP Advertising & Marketing, as it is known today, was born.
I sold it to Moss Trust in 1988 on a part cash/part shares deal for 2.7m, thereby achieving my aim of becoming a millionaire before I was 30.
Unfortunately, my millionaire status was short-lived as Moss Trust, which owned 27 different advertising, design and PR companies in the UK and the US, was in serious financial difficulty at the time ATP was purchased.
This not only rendered my shares effectively worthless but the 650,000 ATP had in the bank at the time of the sale was lost too.
Lloyds Bank (which was owed several million pounds) essentially asked me to take control of the group. I took on the role of chairman and chief executive and appointed a new board.
In doing so, I became the youngest person, at the age of 30, to hold these roles in a publicly quoted company. With a great deal of hard work, sleepless nights and the support of institutional shareholders, I managed to salvage ATP from this crisis and took it private again in 1992.
Lloyds Bank also came away unscathed. Today ATP still employs 25 people and has billings of more than 5m.
It was during this time that I became a serial entrepreneur.
In 1989, I started a premium-rate telephone information service called Talking Ads. I sold it for 7m in December 1999, to PNC Telecom plc.
In 1993, I took advantage of the deregulation of TV listings guides and produced the Leeds & District Express, which employed over 20 editorial and sales staff and had a readership of 150,000. It was very hard work and when we were about to open our second title in Harrogate an approach for the title was made, rather ironically, by Yorkshire Post Newspapers to whom I sold it in the summer of 1994.
My entrepreneurial skills started to attract attention and I was very flattered to be approached in 2003 by the venture capitalist behind laser eye surgery specialist Ultralase.
The whole sector was struggling at the time and I was asked to help turn around its fortunes. I joined the board in 2004 with responsibility for the company's marketing and took equity in the business.
As a team we built an extremely successful business, which was sold just two years later for 30m to a Spanish company.
My time at Ultralase facilitated my introduction to Tim Loy, the then finance director, and other very talented people, many of whom I now continue to work with today in different business enterprises.
During 2004 I became aware that the equity release industry was to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority. I realised there were a lot of people over a certain age who were asset rich and cash poor, as they had a great deal of money tied up in their house.
I spotted the opportunity to form an ethical company to help people over 55 to free up the equity so that they can enjoy the money now or use it to benefit their families.
I therefore founded Age Partnership which is currently enjoying great success.
Tim Loy joined the company as chief executive in October 2005 and we have since become the UK's leading over-the-phone equity release provider, employing more than 35 staff, and have just moved to new 5,000 sq ft premises on Thorpe Park in Leeds. This year we will help release more than 100m worth of equity.
In addition to being chairman of Age Partnership and ATP Advertising and Marketing, I once again act as marketing consultant for Ultralase, which is UK-owned again and has 26 clinics nationwide.
I also offer strategic marketing advice to SK:N Clinics, a leading provider of non-invasive cosmetic surgery with 30 clinics throughout the UK.
In addition, I am a non-executive director of local online business search company Infoserve and deputy chairman of Harrogate Town.
Explain your business philosophy.
I love turning ideas into reality. This doesn't mean just any idea but one that has been carefully thought through with a full market analysis to ensure there is an excellent potential for growth.
Naturally, with the skills and experience I have, I like to concentrate my efforts on businesses that are marketing/consumer-driven, where there is opportunity for strong growth and the business is scalable.
If you weren't doing the job you are doing now, where might you be – or where might you like to have been?
Probably buying and selling sports memorabilia and famous autographs, which is my personal passion.
I have been collecting for several years now and own some interesting items including the shirt Syd Hynes, the Leeds captain, wore at Wembley in 1971 when he was sent off after his infamous clash with Alex Murphy.
I was at the game that day as a 12-year-old with my father and can still remember the occasion vividly.
What do you feel are the major business issues affecting Leeds and the country in general?
We need to get the banking system back to normal and encourage the support of entrepreneurial business owners, particularly in the SME sector. It is this sector that employs the majority of working people in the UK and it is their spending that drives strong economic activity.
With regard to Leeds, I know through my involvement with Harrogate Town the importance to a town or city of a successful football team.
Leeds is far too big and influential not to have a football team in the Premier League. I hope that under Ken Bates, Leeds United can soon be back where they belong.
If you had the power to tackle the issues listed above, how would you go about it?
I would reduce the plethora of "red tape" worryingly introduced by this Government. They do not seem to see things from a business owner's perspective. It is hard enough to run their businesses and provide employment for others without being tied up by rules, regulations and endless paperwork.
As regards Leeds United getting back into the Premier League, there is not a lot I can do apart from continue to support them and keep the faith!
Looking at your own business sector in Leeds, what do you feel are the challenges it faces currently and how will you be addressing them?
Being a serial entrepreneur, I am involved in numerous business sectors but as marketing is my background I will concentrate on that area. Leeds has always been able to boast some of the brightest talent in the country.
I would therefore like to see more major high-profile accounts, currently managed by the big London agencies, take note of what we have on offer here in Leeds.
They may get a surprise and suddenly discover that the account is being managed by some "hungry" and enthusiastic people, resulting in their marketing spend suddenly delivering more "bang for its buck" with the creative application beyond their expectations.
The onset of the credit crunch will mean that many London-based accounts will be reappraising their requirements and I would hope that Leeds is perfectly placed to benefit from this situation.
Who in the world most impresses you a) in business and b) in life generally?
Lots of people have impressed and influenced me in business. I love to listen to the "Sage of Omaha", Warren Buffett; he just speaks so much sense and every sentence is an education.
In life, generally, it would be my parents, without a shadow of doubt. They taught me the value of good manners and honesty. If you have these virtues, you will be a wealthy man – and this does not apply to your financial status either.
Away from the office where are we most likely to find you?
At our second home in Naples, Florida, with my partner of 20 years, Jill, and our two children, Stephanie and Jonathan.
I spend a great deal of time in the States, from where I get a lot of my enthusiasm and inspiration.
The Americans have enormous respect for people who are risk takers and wealth creators, which sadly is sometimes not always the case here in the UK.
You're hosting a dinner party and can invite one extra person from history – either living or dead. Who would you invite... and why?
As I love meeting interesting people, this is a difficult question, as there are probably about 100 people I could invite.
However, the one person would have to be Queen Elizabeth II who has been such a wonderful ambassador for our nation for over 50 years.
She has never responded to media criticism although she must have wanted to at times.
Wherever you travel in the world, you hear nothing but praise and respect for her, which makes you proud to be British.
It would be fascinating to spend just a short period of time in her company and she would definitely be my number one choice.
Published EP 21 January 2009
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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