Bike boom brings OBE for boss of Brompton
THE boss of British folding bike manufacturer Brompton Bicycle is among the businessmen and women to receive awards in the New Year Honours.
Will Butler-Adams, appointed managing director in 2002 at the age of 28, has been made an OBE for services to manufacturing.
The award comes as the firm posts a 28pc surge in sales last year when it peddled 44,755 of the cycles beloved of commuters.
In accounts filed to Companies House, Brompton said pre-tax profits rose 42pc to £3.46m from £2.44m a year earlier.
Lorne Vary, Brompton’s finance director, said: ‘Particularly pleasing is the growth in exports across the 42 territories.’
‘September 2013 saw the opening of our flagship Brompton Junction store in London’s Covent Garden which has been a huge success, surpassing year five targets in its first year.’
Among the principal risks and uncertainties Brompton outlined in its accounts was competition from rivals selling folding bicycles.
Other business world honours were handed out to leading figures. James Caan, the former Dragons’ Den investor, and the lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman both receive CBEs.
Caan, the founder of the Start Up Loan Company, is recognised for services to entrepreneurship and charity, while Hoberman has been honoured for his services to entrepreneurship.
Julie Deane, the co-owner and founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company, whose bright bags have celebrity fans including Alexa Chung and Rita Ora, gets an OBE for services to entrepreneurship.
Charlie Mullins, the lifelong Tory who built up Pimlico Plumbers after leaving school at 15, becomes an OBE for his services to the plumbing industry.
Dianne Thompson, former group chief executive at the National Lottery operator Camelot becomes a dame for services to the National Lottery and charity.
Fiona Kendrick, the chair and chief executive of Nestlé UK and Ireland, also rises to the rank of dame. Jane Shepherdson, the chief executive at clothing firm Whistles, collects a CBE. Other business leaders who become CBEs include Andrew Wyllie, the chief executive Costain, and Anne Richards, chief investment officer at Aberdeen Asset Management.