Boss with his eye on rich habits
IT’S tough being super-rich. You are desperate to get your hands on one of the world’s most intricate watches – an £80,000 Patek Philippe Grand Complications – but there is a sevenyear waiting list. What’s a millionaire to do? Call global concierge company Quintessentially, obviously.
It’s an example of what Quintessentially does, according to chief executive Aaron Simpson. ‘We managed to get the watch for our member in just three weeks,’ he says proudly. ‘That’s the classic concierge model: getting things done in a timely fashion for time-poor, but relatively wealthy individuals.’
‘Concierge company’ is the official term, but Quintessentially is perhaps best seen as a personal fixer for the well-heeled. For an annual membership fee, it will find you that hard-toget theatre ticket, exclusive restaurant table or rare luxury item and, perhaps, will even help to get your child into your school of choice.
Its most popular membership costs between £10,000 and £50,000 a year, but there is a super-elite membership at £150,000 a year.
However, Simpson, 43, is keen to point out that ‘we’re not just about luxury watches’. Just last week Quintessentially helped to get a child who was badly burnt in an over-chlorinated swimming pool in Ibiza flown back to the UK and into a special unit.
‘I’m pretty proud of that,’ says Simpson. Quintessentially also recently helped an employee’s son who was badly injured in a bike crash in Vietnam get to hospital.
It was founded in 2000 by Simpson, his Oxford University friend Paul Drummond and their friend Ben Elliot, nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall. Quintessentially began as a private members’ club offering retail one-offs and exclusives.
It set up hundreds of businesses, covering everything from wine and fitness to education. That model is being restructured, which Simpson says is why accounts were filed nine months late. ‘Give me a break,’ he says. ‘I’ve waited six months for my tax refund.’
However, the concierge business is no longer the main focus of the group. Instead the company is concentrating on its database of the tastes, interests and demands of its wealthy customers. ‘We’ve been collating information about our clients’ activities because these days brands are aware that their best customers are the ones they have a relationship with,’ Simpson says.
‘Anonymous data on people’s habits will be globally accessible to all our corporate partners which will help them to develop their strategy for the ultra-high-net-worth market.’ In other words, information on customers’ habits is a valuable resource. ‘All we’re doing is what Google does every day,’ he says, ‘but rather than tracking people, we are looking at behaviour patterns.’
While the concierge business has about £18.6 million in sales and makes £1 million in annual profit, these other activities mean the group’s total turnover is £65million and it makes £4million a year.
Quintessentially is amalgamating its companies into a group structure, partly so ‘all parts of the company can work closely together,’ says Simpson. But, he adds, ‘it does make it easier for us to potentially look for suitors for the business in a few years’ time.’
Just last year it was reported to be in talks with private equity group Inflexion about a buy-out, but for now it remains owned by the three founders, some smaller shareholders and US private airport operator World Fuel Services Corporation, which has a 20 per cent stake. ‘We went through a process last year that was quite public and a lot of private equity houses threw their hats into the ring,’ says Simpson. ‘What it brought home to us was that we’ve built a decent-sized business which is worth around £150million, but we think we can take that to a £300million to £400million business in the next two to three years.’
A sale is definitely on the cards. ‘We have to think, is it wise for us to take it from the £400million business to a £1billion business?’ says Simpson. A sale will make its wealthy owners richer, but Simpson is not interested in how much richer. ‘It’s anathema to a lot of people when I say this, but at the end of the day it’s just telephone numbers. We’ll know when it’s right for us to sell it.’
Quintessentially already works with 400 brands, such as Facebook, Samsung, Visa and Ferrari, and looks after the wealthiest customers of clients such as MasterCard and British Airways – ‘We’re just about to sign two very large corporate deals, one with a private bank and another with a telecoms provider, and both of those will double revenues next year,’ Simpson says.
As chief executive he is in charge of the day-to-day operation, driving from his house in Highgate, North London, to the offices in Soho, while Drummond is head of mergers and acquisitions and Elliot is the new business development director.
Elliot is also head of the Quintessentially Foundation, a charity that is organising a 500-kilometre rickshaw race in India to raise funds to protect elephants, a cause close to the heart of his late uncle Mark Shand.
Simpson is hoping to take part, but with a business to run, not to mention his two young children, aged one and three, with his wife, Leanne, he may not be able to get away. The Foundation, which has raised $10 million (£6million) so far, reflects the tastes of his members.
‘It’s all about enrichment and fulfilling experiences nowadays,’ he says. ‘People used to flop on holiday, now they want to go to Cairo and get an archaeologist to take them into the tombs that aren’t usually open. It’s also about getting a cause, going on eco-trips and helping people.’
If they want to brag about their trips on social media then ‘why not?’ says Simpson. ‘People are passing on their experiences and hopefully getting other people to do the same.’
Group is about to sign two very large corporate deals that will double revenues