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wates group

Tech company awarded UK family business of the year

September 12, 2013

A technology company walked off with the prize for Family Business of the Year at PwC's UK Private Business of the Year Awards last night.

Midlands-based Rigby Group is one of Europe's largest IT companies, with more than 6000 employees worldwide and reported revenues of €2.7 billion in 2012.

Current chairman and chief executive Sir Peter Rigby founded the company in 1975 and his two sons Steven and James Rigby both hold director's roles.

Family control re-confirmed at Wates Group

April 8, 2013

James Wates, a fourth-gen member of the family that controls the eponymous construction business, has been appointed chairman as the family reasserts its control of the business.

James Wates, a fourth-gen member of the family that controls the eponymous construction business, has been appointed chairman as the family reasserts its control of the company.

Wates (pictured, second from left) replaces non-family Paul Drechsler, who will remain as chief executive, until a replacement can be found for this position as well.

Drechsler had been at the helm for the past seven years in the role of both chairman and chief executive, but Wates had always planned a return to family leadership.

Family business roundup: Profits drop at Wates Group and Dassault Aviation, while Li & Fung posts strong results

March 27, 2012

Two European family businesses have posted poor financial results following “another difficult year”, but Li & Fung, a family-controlled trading group in Asia, has fared better.

In the UK, family-controlled Wates Group said on 26 March that revenues rose by 13% to £1.12 billion (€1.34 billion) in 2011.

Family business wins company of the year award

July 7, 2011

Family-owned construction company Wates Group has been named company of the year, aided by a combination of sustainable practices and family values.

At the UK’s Business in the Community’s 2011 awards for excellence held on 5 July, the 117-year-old family business was recognised for reducing construction waste and following a green strategy.

Wates family increases management presence

May 27, 2011

Family-owned construction company Wates Group has added three more family members to the company’s executive board in a move to increase the family’s management role.

A spokeswoman for the group told CampdenFB that Andy, Charlie and Tim Wates have joined as directors of the board.

Constructing families

March 16, 2011

Construction might not be an area a family business would want to be in during a credit crisis – after all didn’t the crisis start with a collapse in the US property market? Katie Barker takes a look at how family businesses in the sector are coping

Huge family fortunes have been made in construction. Just ask Riley Bechtel – the chief executive of the eponymous company his great-grandfather founded in 1898 and now he heads up. In 2009, the Bechtel Group had revenues of more than $30 billion, up from $27 billion in 2007.

How to lead your family business out of the crisis

August 27, 2009

Professor Randel Carlock, INSEAD’s Berghmans Lhoist chaired professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership and director, Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise, outlines strategies to help your family business through the current storm.

In recent months many firms have laid off employees, shelved growth plans and cut budgets as the recession and general pessimism continues to afflict the business world. Amid the deepest and most widespread economic downturn for more than 50 years, international trade is forecast to fall by more than 13% and world economic activity to shrink by 2.7%, according to Paris-based body the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).