City profiles
Simon Arora Who are the role models for Britain’s next generation of home-grown tycoons, asks Iain Dey in The Sunday Times. “One contender should be Simon Arora” – boss of one of Britain’s most successful, but little known, shop chains – B&M Retail. Since buying a Blackpoolbased chain of 21 stores with his brother Bobby in 2004, Arora has expanded the outfit to 500 sites, employing nearly 22,500. B&M, which listed three years ago, is “now bigger than Woolworths ever was”. About half of the company’s shareholders are US funds who are tracking its progress against that of Dollar General, the Tennessee discount chain which has rapidly expanded into 43 US states. If Arora can maintain the same pace of expansion in Europe, “his name will soon enter the pantheon of British business heroes”. The US billionaire behind Arsenal FC is known as “Silent Stan”, owing to his low profile and reluctance to talk to the press, says Murad Ahmed in the FT. But after the club’s FA Cup victory, he certainly has something to talk about, even if it’s just his relief at avoiding “a hostile reception from fans bristling at the club’s performance under his ownership”. Arsenal have not won the Premier League since Kroenke took a controlling interest in 2011, and critics suggest this failure stems from a lack of investment. Kroenke, who recently rejected a reported $1.3bn offer for his 67% stake in the club from fellow Arsenal shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, is not short of readies. Married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton, his own wealth, derived mainly from property, is put at $7.5bn.