Business - Lord Ashcroft

“The economic future of this country depends on the next generation of young entrepreneurs and business leaders.”

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. He has been a successful entrepreneur for 50 years.

His business career began when he was in his twenties. In 1977 he became Chairman of Hawley Group plc and within less than a decade transformed it from near collapse into a leading international business services company employing over 100,000 people. Following a US merger in 1988, Hawley was re-branded ADT. In 1997, he negotiated the sale of ADT to Tyco International for $6.7 billion (£3.7 billion).

His business interests include investments in Waterloo Investment Holdings Limited (an international company based in the Caribbean and Central America), Rendeavour (utilities and urban management operator in Africa), Impellam Group plc (global workforce and specialist recruitment), Jaywing plc (marketing and data science), Merit Group plc (data and intelligence business), Total Politics (media, events and training focused on politics, government and public policy), Marlowe plc (providing business-critical services and software which assure safety and regulatory compliance) and Gusbourne plc (wine producer).

Impellam Group plc is a connected group providing global workforce and specialist recruitment solutions. Its 2,000 people and market leading brands work across a broad spectrum of industries and job categories throughout North America, the UK and Europe and Asia Pac.

Their award-winning Global Managed Services provide a diverse range of digitally enabled multi-disciplinary workforce solutions to organisations around the world. Impellam is an upper quadrant industry leader in Managed Service Provision and Services Procurement, and the seventh largest Managed Service Provider in the world with over £4bn SUM (Spend under Management).

Impellam’s STEM businesses are specialists in recruiting and engaging talent in the key growth markets of technology, digital, data, science, clinical and engineering and work with clients across all sectors and sizes delivering services that span Managed Services (MSP), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Statement of Work (SOW) and specialist recruitment.

A digital first strategy is underpinned by Impellam’s proprietary applications and unique partnerships with market-leading software providers, enabling it to transform and future-proof services.

Lord Ashcroft was a Non-Executive Chairman of Impellam Group plc from 2014 to 2024.

Impellam Group plc [IPEL] is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in the UK.

Stock Exchange Info

impellam.com

Jaywing plc is a marketing and data science business, specialising in integrated marketing and risk and data consulting, operating in both the UK and Australia. Headquartered in Sheffield, and with offices in Leeds and Sydney, Australia, the Company employs approximately 300 people, of whom 1 in 6 is an experienced data scientist.

Both strands of the business, integrated marketing and risk and data consulting, are underpinned by data science, in the form of advanced modelling and analytics. This combination of people and technology represents a distinctive positioning within the market.

Jaywing plc [JWNG] is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in the UK.

Stock Exchange Info

investors.jaywing.com

Merit Group plc is a technology enabled, data and intelligence business within the business information sector. The Company uses proprietary technology and expert human analysis to provide clients with valuable business information through two complementary operating businesses, Merit Data & Technology and Dods Political Intelligence.

Merit Data & Technology is a technology enabled business that gathers, organises and enriches the data that informs some of the world’s leading b2b intelligence brands. The business also researches prospect and customer data to make it rich, compliant and relevant for defined target audiences. It provides cost efficient technology solutions and resources for clients.

Dods Political Intelligence specialises in content and data within policy, public affairs and politics. The business is focused on the gathering and analysis of political data in the UK and Europe. Dods is a leading provider of intelligence and data in its market.

Lord Ashcroft was a Non-Executive Director of Merit Group plc from 2022 to 2024.

Merit Group plc [MRIT] is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in the UK.

Stock Exchange Info

meritgroupplc.com

Marlowe provides a broad range of compliance software and services in areas which pose a high risk for businesses.

From safety software to manage organisational risk, the provision of Regulatory Data to assist key decision-makers, eLearning to foster a compliance-led workforce culture, services to assure health and safety standards, consulting on an employee health issue, implementing enhanced employment law governance, right through to testing and inspecting fire safety or water hygiene standards across business premises.

Lord Ashcroft is a Non-Executive Director of Marlowe plc.

Stock Exchange info

marloweplc.com

Gusbourne PLC is engaged, through its wholly owned subsidiary Gusbourne Estate Limited, in the production and distribution of a range of high quality and award-winning English sparkling wines from grapes grown in its own vineyards in Kent and West Sussex. The majority of the Group’s vineyards are located at its freehold estate at Appledore in Kent where the winery is also based.

An integral part of the Group’s approach is to age its traditional method sparkling wines for as long as is necessary to produce wines with exceptional character and depth of flavour. Their wines are always vintage, unique to each growing season and an authentic reflection of a time and place. The average production cycle for the wines is four years from harvest to sale.

Gusbourne sparkling and still wines continue to win prestigious national and international industry awards every year.

Gusbourne PLC [GUS] is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in the UK.

Stock Exchange Info

gusbourne.com

Total Politics group provides everything you need to understand and engage with government and the public sector from one trusted partner. Specialising in media, events and training focused on politics, government and public policy, they believe in the value of expert insight and engagement.

Their respected media brands span the UK, EU, USA and Mexico and specialise in high quality media covering current affairs, politics, policy and the public sector. They believe in the value of insightful, expert content to illuminate the political and democratic process.

Total Politics delivers award-winning events, from large scale exhibitions and conferences to intimate roundtables across the UK and EU, connecting senior government and public sector stakeholders.

The Training team has been delivering policy, communication and governance courses worldwide for over 20 years, and are the leading provider of policy training for the UK Government.

totalpolitics.com

Waterloo Investment Holdings Limited (“Waterloo”) is a registered company in the BVI that possesses significant investments in the Caribbean and Latin America that spans several sectors including agriculture, banking, hospitality, port operations, education and real estate development. Its headquarters are located in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where it has a long history of investing and continues to believe in its future as one of the most pristine destinations in the Caribbean.

Lord Ashcroft is Chairman of Waterloo Investment Holdings Limited.

Waterloo’s shares are listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange and traded on JP Jenkins, the largest European platform exchange, on a matched bargain basis.

Stock Exchange Info

wihl.com

Rendeavour is a utilities and urban management operator in Africa, providing an integrated utilities approach with future-proofed power, water, sewerage, roads and ICT.

Africa is the fastest urbanising region on the planet.

The continent’s rapid population and economic growth demand large-scale solutions.

Rendeavour – backed by American, Norwegian, British and New Zealand investors – builds new cities in the growth paths of some of Sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest growing urban areas.

By providing secure land title, world-class master planning, high quality infrastructure and utilities, Rendeavour de-risks large land holdings for city-scale developments. Our mixed-income cities provide homes, offices, industrial areas, schools and hospitals, allowing residents to live, work and play without the daily burden of commuting into and across congested regions.

Lord Ashcroft is Deputy Chairman of Rendeavour.

rendeavour.com